Didier Deschamps devrait annoncer son départ ce mercredi 8 janvier. EPA – CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON
In office since 2012 at the head of the French football team, coach Didier Deschamps is expected to leave his position in 2026. His announcement should be made on the 1pm news, this Wednesday, January 8, 2025.
A bolt from the blue for Les Bleus: Didier Deschamps has decided to leave his position at the head of the French team at the end of his contract in 2026, learned AFP from a source close to the team, putting an end to a long lease that began in 2012 and was marked by the 2018 world championship title.
According to several media outlets, Deschamps is expected to make his decision official during a joint interview with Brigitte Macron broadcast on TF1's 1pm news on Wednesday as part of the “Pièces Jaunes” operation.
The departure in 2026 of the 56-year-old coach, who succeeded Laurent Blanc after Euro 2012, will sound like the end of an era, as he has become inseparable from Les Bleus over the years. This will close the most glorious chapter in the history of the Tricolores.
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An extraordinary record
In more than twelve years, Deschamps has indeed built an extraordinary track record by winning the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the League of Nations in 2021, while reaching the finals of Euro 2016 and the 2022 World Cup.
But these last two years have been very complicated for the former captain, world champion (1998) and European champion (2000).
His long four-year extension just after the World Cup final in Qatar lost to Argentina had attracted much criticism at the time. Then came the debates around the dull and unspectacular game played by the French during Euro 2024 in Germany which caused a certain disenchantment among supporters, despite reaching the semi-finals.
All eyes on Zidane
Since the European tournament, the coach's worries have only increased with the setbacks of his captain Kylian Mbappé, absent from the October and November training sessions, and the surprise announcement of the international retirement of Antoine Griezmann, once considered Deschamps' “favourite” but gradually downgraded.
Qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Nations League after a convincing victory in Italy (3-1) in November has however chased away some of the clouds and Deschamps has had the skill to open his group to new young players to launch an assault on his ultimate objectives. France will thus face Croatia on March 20 and 23 to try to secure a place in the Nations League “Final Four” scheduled for June before moving on to qualifying for the next World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, where the coach will attempt the feat of embroidering a third star on the blue jersey.
The prospect of the end of the Deschamps era will now open the way to speculation about the identity of his successor. All eyes are inevitably on Zinédine Zidane, the icon of French football and three-time Champions League winner on the bench of Real Madrid. Zizou has never hidden his desire to one day lead Les Bleus and has been patiently waiting for his moment since the end of his second adventure with the Merengue in 2021. He has never been so close to reaching the goal.