DIDIER DESCHAMPS. While the executive committee of the FFF meets this Friday, January 6, 2023, before a general meeting scheduled for Saturday, the future of the coach of the Blues, Didier Deschamps, remains in suspense.
[Mis à jour le 6 janvier 2023 à 14h34] Nothing is written in stone as to the possible renewal of Didier Deschamps as coach of the Blues, when his contract ended on December 31, 2022. The executive committee of the French Football Federation (FFF), called “Comex”, meets this Friday, January 6, 2023, before a general meeting on Saturday. If we could expect an announcement on the future of Didier Deschamps this weekend, it finally seems that this will not be the case.
In the columns of The Team, Noël Le Graët, president of the FFF, has indeed declared that “the case of the coach” was not planned “on the menu of the Comex” nor of the general assembly, Thursday, January 5. “The decision will come after the meeting,” said the president of the FFF. Asked by the daily about this possible renewal, Noël Le Graët remained evasive: “We can not say anything. I have nothing to add. I have not discussed more with him. He came to Guingamp. I will see him again We’re not nearly five minutes away…”
Speaking of Guingamp, the president of the FFF refers to the meeting held between the two men on December 29, 2022. A discussion whose content has remained confidential, as recalled West France. On December 19, The Team had revealed that the coach of the Blues wanted to extend until 2026 by signing a new four-year contract. The daily explained that Noël Le Graët was, for his part, more favorable to a two-year contract which would end in 2024, after the Euro to be held in Germany.
In the event of the departure of the Blues, what future for Didier Deschamps?
The Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, returned on Tuesday December 20, 2022 to France 2, on the possible future of Didier Deschamps if he was not renewed at the head of the Blues. “When you have such an exceptional personality, you must never forget that it’s a privilege. He brings a lot to this team, he is in the top of the world. It’s a huge chance and a huge asset for the whole less than 600 days from the Olympic and Paralympic Games, he can share his experience, help the teams, talk to them… In connection with the National Sports Agency and the work led by Claude Onesta (general manager of the High performance, editor’s note), I think there are things he could bring beyond football,” said Amélie Oudéa-Castéra.
Didier Deschamps’ agent, Jean Pierre Bernes, for his part brushed aside the idea of Didier Deschamps arriving as president of the FFF, at the microphone of BFM-TV Monday, December 19, 2022. “Not at all. (…) First, Didier is still young. He still has ambitions to manage a team and players. He is not at all in this project. Not at all. It’s not at all linked to a position of president of the Federation. He’s a man of the field, that’s what he likes. That’s what he’s always liked. Since the 24 years old, he is a leader of men. He was captain in big teams in Nantes, in Marseilles, in Turin. He also managed big clubs. (…) These are not the questions or the pressures that there could be over the next few days, and that’s completely normal, that will make him change his mind.”
A new conflict with Benzema?
Some elements suggest that the disenchantment between Karim Benzema and the staff of the Blues has broken out again. The Frenchman notably decided to refuse the invitation of the FFF and Emmanuel Macron to go to Doha to attend the final of the Blues. And the player’s communication was controversial: few messages of support during the competition, but above all this photo of him, pouting, posted the day before the final with this comment: “I’m not interested”. If nothing is clear in this way of speaking, it was already quite obvious that the situation between Karim Benzema and the FFF was delicate. The newspaper The Teamwho is not one to make files on rumors, took the liberty of publishing, on Sunday December 18, 2022, a article entitled “The ‘Benzema dossier’ polluted the preparation for the World Cup final”. According to the French daily, the relationship between the Madrid player and Didier Deschamps would have deteriorated: the player would have liked to do everything possible with the medical staff of the Blues in order to be available for the France team during the final phase of the competition. , which Didier Deschamps would have refused, considering that the group dynamic takes place without the absentees.
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Didier Deschamps was born on October 15, 1968, in Bayonne, a city where he grew up with his parents Pierre and Ginette, and his older brother Philippe. After joining the FC Nantes training center in 1983, he quickly moved into the position of defensive midfielder. During his time in Loire-Atlantique, he had the happiness of meeting Claude, his future wife, but also the misfortune of losing his brother Philippe, victim of a plane crash on December 21, 1987, then his father-in-law, who died of a heart attack three days later. At the end of the five years spent under the colors of Nantes, he was transferred to Olympique de Marseille. Loaned to the Girondins de Bordeaux during the 1990-1991 season, he returned to Marseille in 1991 to win and become club captain. With OM, he won the Champions League in 1993, and two French championship titles in 1990 and 1992. In 1994, he joined Juventus in Turin where, with Zinédine Zidane, he won eleven titles, including one new Champions League in 1996 and three Italian league titles. At the same time, called up to the France team since 1989, he became captain of the national team in 1994 and established himself as the relay on the field of the coach Aimé Jacquet. With the Blues, he won the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship. He signed for Chelsea in 1999, then for Valencia in 2000. At the end of the season, he retired as a player.
In 2001, he was appointed coach of Monaco, a club with which he played in the Champions League final in 2004. In 2006, he coached Juventus Turin for a season, relegated to Division 2. After a two-year break, he returned to OM where he won five titles, including that of French champion in 2010. He left the club in 2012 to take the reins of the French team, which he took to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where France reached the quarter-finals. In 2016, the Blues are in the final for the Euro, beaten in overtime by Portugal (1-0). The French team takes its revenge two years later, winning its second World Cup in Russia. After a mixed start to the competition, victory in the round of 16 against Argentina propelled the Blues to the final, where they dominated Croatia (4-2). Didier Deschamps then qualifies the Blues for Euro 2021, where they are among the big favorites in the competition. But France was finally beaten by Switzerland on penalties in the round of 16. In 2022, he manages, for the second time in a row, to lead the French team to the World Cup final in Qatar, but the Blues are defeated by Leo Messi’s Argentina, again on penalties.
According to figures published by the Dutch media Zoomin TV in 2018, Didier Deschamps would receive a salary of 3.4 million euros (excluding bonuses) from the French Football Federation. A few months later, during an interview with Parisian, the coach of the Blues had however refused to confirm these figures. “I won’t tell you, because it’s indecent, he explained. It’s impossible to talk about that. I’ve been aware for many years that I’m a privileged person. I’m not ashamed, Quite the contrary. I could argue, but Mr. and Mrs. Everybody can’t hear that, because they’re in trouble.”
As a player, Didier Deschamps was part of the team that missed qualification for the 1994 World Cup, following the cruel defeat against Bulgaria at the Parc des Princes in November 1993. Then appointed captain by the new coach Aimé Jacquet, the midfielder led the Blues to the first victory in the World Cup, at home, in 1998. After starting his career as a club coach, Didier Deschamps took the reins of the France team after Euro 2012. He brought order to the national team and, after difficult qualifications and a snatched place in the play-offs against Ukraine, managed to hoist the Blues into the quarter-finals at the World Cup in Brazil in 2014. In 2018, the coach patiently built his team, depriving himself of Karim Benzema but relying on the young Kylian Mbappé. Result: a second title of world champion, this time on the bench, after a big victory in the final against Croatia (4-2). If he then succeeds in leading the France team, once again, to the final of the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, he cannot repeat the feat since the Blues lose to Argentina. in shots on goal.
After his training in Nantes, Didier Deschamps joined Olympique de Marseille at the age of 21. After a complicated season, he was then loaned to Bordeaux. The midfielder stands up to Bernard Tapie, who wants to sell him to PSG. Deschamps persists and wins the right to start the season with OM. Two seasons later, the young player became the first captain of a French team to lift the Champions League trophy on May 26, 1993. He left the club a year later to join Juventus Turin. In 2009, Didier Deschamps returned to OM as first team coach. In his first year, the technician achieved a League Cup – Championship double, and thus ended a 17-year drought without a trophy for OM. Didier Deschamps will leave Marseille in 2012, with 2 more League Cups on the clock, but undermined by internal tensions.
Very discreet about his private life, Didier Deschamps has been married to Claude for over thirty years. After meeting in Nantes during their studies, the couple have a child, Dylan, born in 1996. Despite a common passion between father and son, Dylan studies in the financial sector, and launched his start-up called App4Media.