dpa
Paris
Didier Deschamps, who guided France to World Cup glory in 2018, will step down as national team coach after 14 years when his contract expires after the 2026 World Cup.
“I’ve done my time, with the same desire and the same passion to keep the French team at the highest level,” Deschamps told broadcasters LCI and TF1 on Wednesday.
Deschamps, 56, said his long term since 2012 “has to end at some point,” which will be after next year’s tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
“One has to be able to say stop, there’s a life after this,” he said, without outlining any future plans.
“The most important thing is that France stay at the top where it has been for many years.” The news is expected to add to speculation that Zinedine Zidane could succeed his former national team and Juventus team-mate Deschamps.
The Deschamps era Deschamps took over from Laurent Blanc after Euro 2012. He led Les Bleus to the 2018 World Cup title and 2021 Nations League success, and into the finals of the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2016.
He is France’s longest serving coach by several years and has been in charge of 165 matches so far, of which he won 105.
However, he and the team were heavily criticized for an uninspired style of play at Euro 2024 where they still reached the semi-finals.
Deschamps is only the third person - along with Brazil’s Mário Zagallo and German Franz Beckenbauer - to have won the World Cup as both a player and a coach.
He captained Les Bleus to the title at the 1998 home World Cup, and also to Euro 2000 glory.
At club level as a player Deschamps won the Champions League with Olympique Marseille and Juventus, four domestic league titles with the two sides and an FA Cup with Chelsea. He also coached Marseille to the Ligue 1 title.
‘The greatest coach’ French federation president Philippe Diallo told sports paper L’Equipe that Deschamps was “the greatest coach of the national team.
“I think Didier Deschamps’ career has been exceptional, characterised by the most prestigious titles,” he said.
Diallo dismissed suggestions that the announcement would lead to a loss of authority for Deschamps in his final 18 months, with the Nations League knock-out stages and World Cup qualifying on the 2025 agenda.
“On the contrary, it will liberate everyone,” Diallo insisted.
Zidane next?
Le Parisien paper named Zidane the “destined successor” and L’Équipe’ the “natural successor” but Diallo did not want to join a debate on whether the three-time World Footballer of the Year and 1998 World Cup winner would be next in line.
‘I’m not going to enter into this debate. Didier has two years left on his contract and, out of respect for him, his team and the players, the question of succession is not on the table today,’ Diallo said.
