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DESCHAMPS TO QUIT AFTER CUP
The Straits Times
|January 09, 2025
Coach wants to leave France at 'highest level' in 2026; Zidane favourite to take over
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Didier Deschamps, France's longest-serving national team coach, will not seek to renew his contract which expires in 2026, the French football federation (FFF) confirmed on Jan 7.
His deal runs until after the next World Cup, for which qualifying starts in March.
Deschamps took over from fellow 1998 World Cup winner Laurent Blanc in 2012 and led France to the World Cup title in 2018, two years after reaching the European Championship final on home soil.
The former France captain - only the third man after Brazil's Mario Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer of Germany to win football's most prestigious prize as a player and a coach - guided the national team to the World Cup final again in 2022, losing to Lionel Messi's Argentina on penalties after one of the best matches in the tournament's history.
FFF president Philippe Diallo told Reuters that the 56-year-old would not look to extend his stay after the 2026 World Cup in North America, adding: "He will go until the end of his contract, which means 2026."
Following that announcement, Deschamps himself confirmed the news on Jan 8.
This story is from the January 09, 2025 edition of The Straits Times.
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