Deschamps to leave France after 2026 World Cup, Zidane favourite to become new manager
Didier Deschamps will step down as coach of the French national team after the 2026 World Cup, the French Football Federation (FFF) announced on January 7.
The 56-year-old French legend took over from former teammate Laurent Blanc in 2012 and led the team to great success, winning the 2018 World Cup and reaching the final of Euro 2016 on home soil, winning the 2021 UEFA Nations League and most recently finishing as runners-up at the 2022 World Cup, narrowly losing to Argentina in the final.
Deschamps is the longest-serving coach in French history and one of only three people to have won the World Cup as both a player and a coach.
French Football Federation president Philippe Diallo says Deschamps will not extend his contract after the World Cup, and will remain in charge until the end of his contract in 2026.
While Deschamps himself revealed to the French media that he will retire from the national team in 2026, he has been working in this job since 2012 and plans to stay until the next World Cup in 2026 and will retire there because in the end, the time will come to stop one day, which he himself has already thought about. Throughout the past, he has still managed the team with the same feeling, with the same determination and with the hope of leading the French national team to maintain the highest standards of play, but he thinks that 2026 is the right time.
As for the new coach of the French national team after Deschamps steps down, although there is no clear confirmation yet, many media outlets have reported that Zinedine Zidane, another legendary French footballer and former Real Madrid coach, is the favorite to take on the สมัครสมาชิก UFABET วันนี้ รับเครดิตฟรีทุกวัน job.