French coach Guyot named Toronto FC academy director

Marseille's coach Didier Deschamps, left, speaks with Boulogne's coach Laurent Guyot during their League One soccer match, in Marseille, southern France, Saturday Dec. 12, 2009. (AP / Claude Paris)

TORONTO -- French coach Laurent Guyot has been named Toronto FC's academy director.

The 45-year-old Guyot most recently was French under-16 coach and served as a coaching instructor with the French Football Federation.

Toronto has been without an academy director since Greg Vanney was promoted to head coach of the MLS team in August 2014.

Vanney, general manager Tim Bezbatchenko and the first-team coaching staff have combined to look after the academy since then.

Guyot, who starts Aug. 1, spent the last two years as an instructor for the Elite Formation Coaching Licence program, a partnership between the French federation and Major League Soccer.

"His hiring aligns with our vision for Toronto FC to measure ourselves at an international standard and the importance we place on development at both the youth and coaching levels," Bezbatchenko said in a statement.

"It was important for us to hire someone that was familiar with and understood both North America and the landscape of Major League Soccer. Laurent has spent the better part of the past two years studying our league and its teams as part of his work as an instructor of the EFCL course for academy directors and coaches across the MLS."

Guyot began his coaching career in July 2002 as a youth coach with FC Nantes in France, running the under-15, under-18 and reserve sides. He was named Nantes' academy director and coach in 2005.

Guyot went on to coach French clubs US Boulogne and CS Sedan Ardennes. He joined the French federation in 2013 as head coach of the national under-17 team.

Guyot played professionally for 14 years as a centre back, mainly for FC Nantes where he won the Ligue 1 title during the 1994-95 season. He represented France at the U-17, U-18, U-20 and U-21 levels.