Bruno Irles

French footballer and manager (born 1975)

Bruno Irles
Personal information
Irles in 2018
Date of birth	(1975-08-16) 16 August 1975 (age 48)^[1]
Place of birth	Rochefort, France
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)^[2]
Position(s)	Defender^[2]
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1994–2002	Monaco	57	(0)
International career
	France U21
Managerial career
2014–2015	Arles-Avignon
2016	Sheriff Tiraspol
2018–2020	Pau FC
2020–2022	Quevilly-Rouen
2022	Troyes
2024	RWDM
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Bruno Irles (born 16 August 1975) is a French professional football manager and former player who was the head coach of Brussels top flight club RWDM where he got fired for poor results after only five games, after previously being in charge of Ligue 1 club Troyes.^[3] He is also noted for being a pundit on French television.

Early life and playing career

Irles was born in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime.^[1] He started his senior career with Monaco in the Ligue 1, where he made 83 appearances without scoring.^[4]

Coaching career

Monaco

Irles began his coaching career at the AS Monaco training centre, first scouting the opponents for Didier Deschamps' staff during their run to the 2004 UEFA Champions League Final.

For six years from 2005, he coached the club's Under-17 team, taking reins of the Monegasque reserve team in CFA 3 as well as management of the training centre in September 2011.

Many young Monegasque players born between 1989 and 1999 passed through his hands. Some play today in the biggest European clubs: Yannick Ferreira Carrasco, Layvin Kurzawa, Dennis Appiah, Almamy Touré, Abdou Diallo, Valentin Eysseric, Valère Germain and Kylian Mbappé.

Irles left Mbappé, then aged 15, out of the Monaco U-17 team for a while, citing a lack of defensive involvement.

AC Arles-Avignon

In June 2014, as part of a partnership initiated between AS Monaco and AC Arles-Avignon, Bruno Irles was appointed coach of the Ligue 2 team which plays in Ligue 2, before becoming assistant on October 6 that year.

Sheriff Tiraspol

After obtaining his professional coaching license in 2016, he became head coach at Sheriff Tiraspol in Moldova. He won the Moldovan Super Cup in August 2016 and played in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. After an away defeat at the end of September 2016, he was surprisingly relieved of his duties while his team was leading the Moldovan championship with six victories in eight matches and with the most goals scored.

TV pundit (2017-2022)

Without a club, Irles became a pundit on Canal+ in France in January 2017, starting on the Infosport+ programme, before joining the Late Football Club team when it launched in August 2017.

He continued to work as a pundit while returning to coaching with lower division clubs Pau FC and Quevilly-Rouen, until joining ESTAC Troyes in January 2022.

RWDM

After being out of football for another year, Irles was brought in to do a fire-fighting role at relegation-threatened Belgian Pro League club RWDM of Brussels. Irles was appointed on 16 February 2024, following the sacking of Claudio Cacapa with the club second-from-bottom in the table.