Departing Didier Deschamps looks back on ‘wonderful’ World Cup
France coach Didier Deschamps looks on during the match against England.—AFP MIAMI: France coach Didier Deschamps said he had experienced a “truly wonderful adventure” with his players as he bid farewell to the job on Saturday after 14 highly successful years...
Didier Deschamps has described his long spell in charge of France as a “truly wonderful adventure” as he prepared to step away from the national team after 14 years at the helm.
Speaking after France’s third-place playoff against England in Miami on Saturday, the 57-year-old reflected on a campaign that ended in disappointment on the field but still carried, in his words, a strong sense of achievement and togetherness. France were beaten 6-4 by England after falling 4-0 behind by half-time, in a match that brought down the curtain on Deschamps’ tenure.
Deschamps guided France to World Cup triumph in Moscow in 2018, joining a very small group of men to have lifted the trophy both as a player and as a coach. Four years later, he took Les Bleus back to the final in Qatar, where they lost to Argentina on penalties.
This year’s tournament in North America had begun positively for France, but their run was halted in the semi-finals by Spain, who won 2-0. Deschamps said the result against Spain was the main sporting setback of the competition, though he felt the squad had still produced several encouraging performances.
“We managed to do quite a lot of positive things,” he said, according to the monitored public feed from Dawn Sport. “We failed in our match against Spain, and they were able to perform at a very high level against us.”
Despite the pain of missing out on another title, Deschamps said the experience of working with the squad, coaching staff and support team had been deeply rewarding. He said the eight weeks spent together during preparation and the tournament had been “beautiful,” and stressed the human side of the journey as much as the football itself.
“There are quite a few young players who will continue to develop, and there’s the talent to keep achieving very good results,” he said, sounding confident about France’s prospects after his departure.
Deschamps is widely expected to be succeeded by French great Zinedine Zidane, bringing an end to one of the most successful managerial eras in the history of the national side. His comments on Saturday suggested that, even with the frustration of a heavy defeat to England, he was leaving with pride in what the team had built under his leadership.
The report is based on a monitored public feed and attributes the original coverage to Dawn Sport, which published the story on July 20, 2026.
Source: Dawn Sport - https://www.dawn.com/news/2016872/departing-didier-deschamps-looks-back-on-wonderful-world-cup
