In the columns of Le Figaro, the president of the FFF Philippe Diallo reacts to the future departure of Didier Deschamps from the Blues bench, at the end of the 2026 World Cup. A decision of which he was informed during the end-of-year holidays.
“I didn’t fall out of my chair,” he assures. In an interview with Le Figaro, the president of the French Football Federation, Philippe Diallo, discusses Didier Deschamps' decision to leave the Blues bench after the 2026 World Cup, at the end of his current contract. A decision that the coach must justify on Wednesday, on the 1 p.m. news on TF1, but which he discussed with the boss of the FFF during the end-of-year holidays.
“Obviously these are questions that may be running through your head, to the extent that in 2026 he will have been at the head of the France team for 14 years,” observes Diallo. “I especially thought of him, because he devoted, or has devoted for more than ten years, his existence to making the French team shine in the highest competitions. It’s a personal, human, very important moment. “It's first of all a personal decision to make it public and then I find that doing it in these circumstances, at this time, is both responsible and very elegant on his part.”
>>> The latest information and reactions to the future departure of Didier Deschamps
“Everyone will feel much freer”
Diallo, who welcomes the timing of this announcement “far enough from the matches we have in March not to harm the French team”, praises the achievements of Didier Deschamps at the head of the Blues, and hopes for him a “tremendous apotheosis” during the next World Cup. Especially since according to the president, this clarification could be beneficial for everyone.
“This will in no way change the performance of the French team, which remains one of the best teams in the world,” he assures. “I even think that this can bring additional serenity because the French team, and Didier Deschamps in particular, have suffered a lot of unfair criticism for a long time from a certain number of observers and now that this clarification is made, everyone will feel much freer He has clarified his future and he will be able to manage this French team to take it to new titles.
The president of the FFF, who will now have 18 months to complete the file for the future coach, however refuses to enter “into this succession debate”, out of “respect” for Deschamps and the players of the France team. Noël Le Graët's successor even says he intends, today, not to announce the name of the next coach of the Blues before DD's departure.
