Thibaut FalconnatJanuary 8, 2025
Didier Deschamps announced this Wednesday that he would leave his position as coach after the 2026 World Cup. The opportunity to look back on the victories which built the DD era and made it possible to experience one of the most prosperous periods of the history of the Blues.
End clap for Didier Deschamps. The coach of the France team announced this Wednesday, January 8, 2025 that he was going to leave his post after the 2026 World Cup. The boss of the Blues therefore has 1 and a half years left before bowing out with two final objectives: the Nations League this year and the World Cup next year. Two additional titles to collect to expand a list already full since July 9, 2012, the date of his arrival on the French bench. The opportunity to look back on the most notable successes of the Deschamps era, one of the most victorious in the history of the EDF.
November 19, 2013 – Dam against Ukraine: The starting point
The first founding match of the France team under Didier Deschamps. A year and a half after the start of his mandate, the coach is already going through a crisis. The Blues finished second in their 2014 World Cup qualifying group behind Spain. And they have their backs against the wall in the play-offs after losing 2-0 in the first leg in Ukraine. On their return, the Blues will win back the hearts of the French. Karim Benzema, Mamadou Sakho and their teammates won 3-0 and reversed the score. A victory which allows you to obtain a ticket for the world championship in Brazil and which serves as a real starting point for the French revival. “That’s the magic of football. We succeeded in this match. We had missed (the first leg in Ukraine). It’s very important for French football to be present in Brazil,” explained DD after the meeting.
July 7, 2016 – Euro semi-final against Germany: Revenge
One of the best victories for the Blues at Euro 2016 in France. Two years earlier, Deschamps and his men were beaten by the same Germany (1-0), future world champion in the country of football. Antoine Griezmann burst into tears after the match. But Grizou will take his revenge. In Marseille, in a boiling Vélodrome, the number 7 of the French team, at the top of his art during the competition, scored a double and qualified his nation for the final. This meeting proved to the Blues that they could beat their German tormentor. Three days later, France cruelly lost against Portugal in overtime (1-0). But this Euro will have built the successes to come.
-June 30, 2018 – World Cup round of 16 against Argentina: the start of the victorious epic
If we have to remember one success from the 2018 World Cup, it’s this one. This round of 16 against Argentina remains the most stunning match of the blue epic. The meeting which sparked a stir in the minds of the French players. A 4-3 victory in the end after several twists and turns, including a strike from elsewhere by Pavard, took this epic duel directly into the pantheon of French football history. After this success, the Blues showed themselves unshakeable until the end of the competition. Neither Uruguay, nor the tenacious Belgium, nor the incredible Croatia managed to bring France down towards its conquest of a second star.
October 7, 2021 – Nations League semi-final against Belgium: The big upset
It’s only a Nations League match, but this victory also remains in the annals of the DD era. Beaten in the semi-final of the 2018 World Cup, Belgium wants revenge against France. She plans to hold it for half a time. The Red Devils lead 2-0 at the break and largely dominate the French. But the Blues will turn everything around in the second period. A superb goal from Benzema, a penalty from Mbappé and a final counter-attack by Théo Hernandez in added time gave the Blues victory. A few days later, the world champions won their second title in three years against Spain (2-1).
December 10, 2022 – World Cup quarter-final: The blue mind
It’s the shock of the epic 2022 World Cup. A crunch in the quarter-final of a World Cup, it can’t be a match like any other. A meeting comparable to the semi-final against Belgium in 2018. The Blues were dominated by a young English team, disrupted as rarely. But this team has superior mental resources. The experience of a star won four years ago is useful! A firecracker from Tchouaméni, a saving header from Giroud, the top scorer in the history of the EDF, and a missed penalty from Kane, that’s how to sum up this crazy evening (2-1). France reaches the final of this Qatari epic. Despite a heroic final, which they were on the verge of snatching (thanks Emiliano Martinez), the Blues gave in against Argentina (3-3, 4-2 on the tabs). All that remains is to take revenge in 2026 before the end of Didier Deschamps’ mandate.
