Camille Abily, France footballer: Profile, Career, News & Videos

Camille Abily is a French football manager and former player, who featured prominently for both the France women's national team and for Lyon in the Division 1 Féminine. She currently is the assistant manager of Chelsea.

As a player, Abily played primarily as a midfielder. She was a two-time winner of the National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP) Female Player of the Year award and, following her second consecutive honour in 2007, became the first player to win the award in back-to-back seasons. Following a move to the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league in the United States, she earned numerous Player of the Month and All-Star honors.

Abily began her football career in 1992, joining Jeanne d'Arc Bruz. In 1994, she joined FC Bruz. After a year's stint at another local club, Abily spent time in the first division playing for Stade Briochin and La Roche-sur-Yon. In 2002, she was selected to attend the women's section of the nationally recognized Clairefontaine academy. After her stint at Clairefontaine, Abily signed with Montpellier and won two league titles while at the club, as well as the Challenge de France, the women's domestic cup. After three seasons with Montpellier, Abily joined Lyon. Similar to her stint at Montpellier, she won several titles, which included three straight league titles from 2006 to 2009. In 2008, Abily joined the new United States–based women's soccer league, Women's Professional Soccer, after being selected by the Los Angeles Sol in the 2008 WPS International Draft. After helping the Sol win the league, Abily returned to France where she played for Paris Saint-Germain on loan. In 2010, she returned to the United States to play with FC Gold Pride and, subsequently, won her second consecutive title in the league. In 2010, Abily announced that she would be returning to Lyon for the 2010–11 season and, subsequently, became a part of the Olympique Lyon team that won their first UEFA Women's Champions League title.

Abily also earned 183 caps as a French international. Prior to playing for the senior team, she played at youth level representing the under-18 team at the 2001 UEFA Women's Under-18 Championship. Abily made her senior international debut in September 2001, in a friendly match against the Netherlands. She scored her first goal for the national team six years later in a 2–0 win over China in February 2007. Abily made her major international tournament debut for the team at UEFA Women's Euro 2005 and later played on the teams that qualified for UEFA Women's Euro 2009, UEFA Women's Euro 2013 as well as the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2011 and 2015, finishing fourth place in the former.