Deschamps To Step Down As France Coach After 2026 World Cup

By Onoja Baba, Nigeria

France’s 2018 World Cup-winning coach, Didier Deschamps, has announced that he will step down from his role as head coach of the national team following the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Speaking to French broadcaster TF1 on Wednesday, Deschamps confirmed his decision to conclude his tenure after the tournament.

“It will be 2026, I have been here since 2012, and it is planned that I will stay until the next World Cup. It will end there because it has to end at some point. It’s clear in my mind,” Deschamps said.

Reflecting on his career, the 56-year-old coach added, “I have done my time, with the same desire and the same passion to keep the France team at the highest level, but 2026 is a good moment to step aside.”

Deschamps has enjoyed an illustrious career at the helm of Les Bleus. He guided France to World Cup glory in Russia in 2018, defeating Croatia in the final, and narrowly missed out on a second title in 2022, losing to Lionel Messi’s Argentina in a dramatic penalty shootout during the Qatar World Cup final.

As a player, Deschamps captained France to their first-ever World Cup victory in 1998 on home soil, famously defeating Brazil 3-0 in the final. He remains one of only three individuals in football history to have won the World Cup both as a player and a coach.

The other two legends, Brazil’s Mario Zagallo and Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer, both passed away last year, leaving Deschamps as the last living member of this exclusive group.

Having spent over a decade as France’s head coach, Deschamps’ legacy is firmly etched in football history. Under his leadership, France has consistently been a dominant force in international football, also winning the UEFA Nations League in 2021 and reaching the finals of Euro 2016.