Wilfried Monthe

The Stingers have found their new head soccer coaches. Photo Caroline Marsh

Dusty Goldberg,
Local Journalism Initiative

Kouyabe Ignegongba and Wilfried Monthe named new Stingers men’s and women’s coaches

The Concordia University Stingers soccer teams have their new head coaches.

Wilfried Monthe has been named the head coach of the women’s soccer team, and Kouyabe Ignegongba has been named head coach of the men’s team. Monthe and Ignegongba were originally assistant coaches for the women’s and men’s programs, respectively. 

“Both these guys have been under my wing for some time now,” said Concordia director of soccer Greg Sutton, who was responsible for recruiting both coaches to the program. “We have a good relationship, a good trust, and I think we’re on the same wavelength of our ideas of the game and how we treat our student-athletes.”

Monthe’s passion for soccer has taken him to various continents. He was born in Cameroon but moved to France to pursue soccer. He played for FC Metz, a French football club, before bouncing around various North American teams in places like Colorado and Ohio in the US and Quebec’s Trois-Rivières. He would eventually stop playing due to a concussion and moved back to Montreal to pursue a coaching career. 

Along with practical experience, Monthe draws on traditional education as a coach as well. He studied at Cégep du Vieux Montréal, the University of Maine and Stanford University in California.

“I studied in the psychological field, so that really helps me get the most out of my players,” Monthe said. “I’m more focused on communication […] it makes it easier for me to connect with the players and understand their needs.”

After six years as an assistant coach, Monthe officially became the head coach of the women’s team in early October 2024. He was offered the title at the beginning of the season but had prior engagements. Up until recently, he was the head coach of John Abbott College’s women’s soccer team and had promised to see the season out before taking on his new role. 

“I felt like the timing was good too, for me to step up, because we [had] a good season [at] Abbott,” Monthe said. “They’re gonna get back to Division 1 next year, and I felt like I did what I had to do.”

Ignegongba too has had his fair share of travel. Born in N’Djamena, Chad, Ignegongba would also eventually travel to North America for soccer. He started as a player for Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, before moving to Montreal and enrolling at Concordia. He spent five years playing for the Stingers while studying biology. He eventually joined Sutton’s staff and spent seven years as an assistant coach.

Ignegongba believes the step to the program’s success is to create a friendly and uplifting environment for student-athletes.

“The idea is really for the players to feel at home, to develop an identity, to also feel like part of the program, and to feel like Stingers,” Ignegongba said.

Right now, the new coaches are making good use of their training season, and have noted that their players are in a winning mindset. Both the men’s and women’s teams finished with win percentages below .500 in the 2024 season. Despite this, Ignegongba is optimistic about the future of Stingers soccer.

“You have to lose a couple of times to learn how to win,” Ignegongba said. “Every great sports team that’s managed to achieve success, it’s through consistency.”

This article originally appeared in Volume 45, Issue 9, published February 11, 2025.