The announcement had the effect of a small bombshell. At the head of the French team for twelve years, Didier Deschamps has decided to call it quits after the 2026 World Cup. It will stop there because it has to stop there at some point. In my head, it’s very clear. I served my time with the same desire, the same passion to maintain the French team at the highest level But 2026 is very good », declared the French coach during an interview given to the 1 p.m. news on TF1.
It now remains to be seen who will take over from him on the Blues bench. The other question that arises: what will Didier Deschamps do from now on? Asked to react to the announcement of his departure, Noël Le Graët does not rule out the possibility of seeing “DD” one day – but not now – take the presidency of the French Football Federation.
Deschamps at the head of the FFF? “Later perhaps”
“ I wanted it at one point, said the former boss of the FFF? But he’s a hands-on man 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 », Slipped Graet to RMC Sport. Indeed, Didier Deschamps confided in 2022 that he would not consider it in the near future. “ Today, I am and remain a man in the field. So that’s not one of my immediate options. But I promise to think about it later », he had whispered.
Noël Le Graët also revealed that the departure of “DD” in 2026 was more or less planned at the time of signing his extension after the 2022 World Cup. It was somewhat planned, he assured. I extended him for four years after Qatar so that he could make a fourth World Cup, which he deserved because he won one in 2018 and played in another final in 2022. It seems like a wise decision. Is this the right time or not? I don’t know anything about it. It was more or less planned. »
