Didier Deschamps will announce his future departure from the Blues

It won't happen right away, but it will happen soon. A huge chapter in the history of the France team will close in 2026 at the latest. This evening, Le Figaro et The Team announce it in unison: Didier Deschamps has decided not to go beyond his contract which binds him with the FFF until 2026. He will announce it publicly tomorrow on TF1. Clearly, if the Blues qualify for the next World Cup in 2026, it will be DD's last tournament with the national team. This announcement is not really a surprise in itself, since DD had warned Philippe Diallo before the holidays. But it marks the end of a reign of fourteen years, if Deschamps holds out until the end.

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A departure announced on TF1

Never has a coach lasted so long at the head of the Blues. Currently, Deschamps has managed 160 matches and has 102 wins, 33 draws and 25 defeats. His record will forever be marked by a promising World Cup in 2014 in Brazil (eliminated in the quarterfinals against the future German champion), two unfortunate finals (Euro 2016, World Cup 2022), but above all by two sparkling victories, namely the 2018 World Cup. in Russia and the 2021 Nations League. Unfortunately for Deschamps, his end of mandate is less stellar.

Heckled before going to Qatar in 2022, DD returned from the Gulf strengthened after reaching a second consecutive World Cup final. An observation which was verified with an extension until 2026 negotiated on the sly with the former boss of the FFF, Noël Le Graët. And if this renewed confidence was justified for many, given the progress of the Blues in Qatar, the way the Deschamps-Le Graët duo did things had given rise to very big questions about the choice to have kept Deschamps in post, then that Zinedine Zidane had been knocking on the door for several weeks. An atmosphere of distrust which was subsequently confirmed.

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A chaotic end to his reign

Indeed, after being criticized by the media, DD then began to no longer have control over his group. We immediately think of the very controversial choice of having entrusted the captain's armband of the Blues to Kylian Mbappé to the detriment of Antoine Griezmann. A decision which also marked the beginning of the decline of the Colchonero among the Blues. What followed was a highly contested management of Captain Mbappé vis-à-vis the rest of the group and a massively failed Euro 2024 (both sportingly and mediatically). The tournament in Germany seemed to be too much of a loss for DD. But the coach held on.