EXCLUDED RMC SPORT – Joined by RMC Sport, Noël Le Graët, former president of the French Football Federation (FFF) who installed Didier Deschamps on the bench of the French team in 2012, welcomes the coach's decision to stop in 2026 and its incredible longevity.
He is the one who went to find Didier Deschamps to put him on the bench of the French team in 2012 after the departure of Laurent Blanc and a Euro ended by controversies and an elimination in the quarter-finals. Joined by RMC Sport, Noël Le Graët, former president of the French Football Federation (FFF), reacts to the announcement of the departure of the coach after the 2026 World Cup. A four-year contract that he himself had proposed to Deschamps after the defeat in the 2022 World Cup final against Argentina (3-3, 4 tab 2) and which indirectly caused his fall.
A few days later, Le Graët – already in the eye of the storm of the Ministry of Sports for accusations of sexual harassment – had provoked a violent popular and media uproar by making remarks considered crude about Zinédine Zidane. Cornered by this exit and the accusations, he finally resigned from his functions in February 2023. Since then, he has not lost his affection for Didier Deschamps.
Noël Le Graët, what is your first reaction after the announcement of Didier Deschamps' departure from the French team in 2026?
It was somewhat planned. I extended it for four years after Qatar so that he could play in the fourth World Cup that he deserved. He won one (in 2018) and played in a final (2022). It seems a wise decision. Is it the right time or not? I don't know, but it was more or less planned.
Have you discussed this with him?
I haven't heard anything about this in recent days.
What memories do you have of your collaboration between 2012 and 2023?
It's the World Cup of course, it's also the recovery before going to Brazil (for the 2014 World Cup, Editor's note). We lost 2-0 (in the first leg against Ukraine) and we had to win 3-0 at the Stade de France, we did it. We were very complicit at that moment. Didier is a winner, someone who works a lot. He was lucky too. I went to pick him up in Marseille (in 2012) where he was no longer in a state of grace there, which was difficult. He is a very hardworking, serious, rigorous, very faithful man.
“We wanted to work together for a long time”
Did you imagine that he would stay 14 years at the head of the Blues when you recruited him?
No, we can't predict that. We wanted to work together for a long time, because it was not a period when France dominated as it did afterwards. Today, we are still second in the FIFA rankings behind Argentina. We are the first European country. So that shows that Didier did a hell of a job.
Do you imagine that he could take the head of the Federation?
I wanted him at one point but he's a hands-on guy at the moment. Later perhaps, but I think he prefers the field to federal management. But I could see it clearly, I had wanted at one point, but it was not at all in his objectives.
Who do you think will take over on the bench?
I don't know, frankly, that's up to the executive committee. So much happens in two years. Who will be the starting players? What form will the players be in? What will be the possible game plan depending on the quality of the players who are now above the rest? So it's too early to talk about it, it's the Comex which will decide.
Zidane? “I don’t know if he’s really interested.”
The French only see through Zidane…
This is not new, it is not a scoop.
Do you think this could be a good choice?
I don't really know if he's really interested, I haven't had any contact with him. But that’s the job of those who are in place.
You were the president of the FFF when France was world champion in 2018. In the place of your successor Philippe Diallo, would you not have pushed Didier Deschamps to wait until 2026? With a new world champion title in 2026, he could have extended it once again…
No, I think he had decided a while ago that this was his last contract, his last World Cup. I reasoned with him, we agreed: making a fourth World Cup was still deserved and logical. But then, you know, playing competitive matches again at European level, of course it's nice, but I'm not sure that… No, he decided to stop after this World Cup.
