Didier Deschamps announced this Wednesday that he will leave the bench of the French national team at the end of his contract, once the 2026 World Cup is played because he considers that he has completed his time with the same desire to keep the team at the highest level. In an interview recorded for the TF1 channel, of which LCI has previewed a fragment this morning, a few hours after its full broadcast, Deschamps recalls that he has been leading the blue since 2012 and that his contract is valid until the 2026 World Cup: “It will end then because it has to end at some point.”
“I have completed my stage with the same desire, the same passion to keep the French team at the highest level,” he justifies about the end of his mission at the head of the national team. Asked why not continue with the record he has, his answer is blunt: “You have to know how to say enough is enough and there is a life afterward. I don’t know what it will be, but it will also be very good.” He remembers that he will have been leading the team for 14 years and when he is told that this will be a record, he replies that this is not his objective, but “above all” the “demand” and that “the most important thing is that the French team continues in the summit as it has been for many years.”
Since Deschamps took charge of the national team, France won the 2018 World Cup in Russia and was runner-up in Qatar 2022. In addition, they were proclaimed winners of the Nations League in 2021 and were runners-up at Euro 2016. From now on until it comes to fruition his retirement, Deschamps still has a series of challenges on the bench, starting with the quarterfinals of the Nations League against Croatia in the month of March. In case of victory, France will play in the final phase of this competition in June and then there will be qualifications for the 2026 World Cup, which will be jointly organized by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
