Aimé Jacquet celebrates his 84th birthday. The former coach of the France team is a unique personality in the French football landscape. He will forever remain the man who led the selection to its first star, on July 12, 1998, after this memorable final against Brazil (3-0).
With a strong character, Aimé Jacquet has always had the consideration and respect of his players. From Zinédine Zidane to Fabien Barthez, via Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet or Bixente Lizarazu, the heroes of the 1998 generation are unanimous about the native of Sail-sous-Couzan. Better still, Didier Deschamps, the current coach of the Blues, considers him a spiritual father.
1998 world champions.
An immaculate image which contrasts radically with the media treatment to which Aimé Jacquet was subjected in 1998. In the months which preceded the start of the tournament, the former coach of the Blues was in open conflict with the French press. And he never digested this episode.
A divide with the newspaper L’Équipe
In an era where the media were much less numerous, Aimé Jacquet had become a subject of debate for the newspaper L’Équipe. The major French daily had notably questioned the Blues coach’s game plan, deemed too defensive. The management of this coach recognized for his profile as a leader of men was not completely unanimous either.
The rest is known to everyone. Despite qualifiers like “kill the love of the central circle” or “rough tactician”, Aimé Jacquet took his revenge by leading the Blues to the roof of the world. That evening, at the end of the night, the Blues coach did not fall into general euphoria, but he directly thought of his detractors, with his few words: “I will never forget…”. There too, he kept his word.
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