Didier Claude Deschamps (French:[didjekloddeʃɑ̃];[4] born 15 October 1968), popularly known asDédé ([dede]),[5] is a French professionalfootball manager and former player who has been managing theFrance national team since 2012. He played as adefensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, England and Spain, namelyMarseille,Juventus,Chelsea andValencia, as well asNantes andBordeaux. Nicknamed "the water-carrier" (French:le porteur d'eau), Deschamps was an intelligent and hard-working defensive midfielder who excelled at winning back possession and subsequently starting attacking plays, and also stood out for his leadership throughout his career. As a French international, he was capped on 103 occasions and took part at threeUEFA European Championships and oneFIFA World Cup, captaining his nation to victories in the1998 World Cup andEuro 2000.
In addition to winning twoDivision 1 titles in 1990 and 1992, Deschamps was part of theMarseille squad that became the firstFrench club to win theUEFA Champions League, a feat which the team achieved in1993; with theChampions League victory, Deschamps became the youngestcaptain ever to lead his team to win the title. WithJuventus he played three Champions League finals in a row from 1996 to 1998, winning the title in1996. With the Turin side, he also won theUEFA Super Cup and theIntercontinental Cup, as well as threeSerie A titles, among other trophies. With Chelsea, he won the1999–2000 FA Cup, and also reached another Champions League final with Valencia in2001, before retiring later that season. AfterFranz Beckenbauer and followed byIker Casillas, he was only the second captain in the history of football to have lifted the Champions League trophy, the World Cup trophy, and the European Championship trophy.[6]
As a manager, Deschamps began his career withMonaco, and helped the club to win theCoupe de la Ligue in 2003, and reached the2004 UEFA Champions League final, being namedLigue 1 Manager of the Year in 2004. During the2006–07 season, he helped his former club Juventus win theSerie B title and return to Serie A following their relegation due to their involvement in theCalciopoli scandal the previous season. He subsequently managed another one of his former clubs, Marseille, where he won the Ligue 1 title during the2009–10 season, as well as three consecutive Coupe de la Ligue titles between 2010 and 2012, and consecutiveTrophée des Champions titles in2010 and2011.
On 8 July 2012, Deschamps was named as the new manager of theFrance national team. He led the team to the quarter-finals of the2014 FIFA World Cup, the final ofUEFA Euro 2016, victory in the2018 FIFA World Cup, and a back-to-back final appearance in the2022 FIFA World Cup. Upon winning the World Cup in 2018, Deschamps became the third man to win the World Cup as both a player and a manager, alongsideMário Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer—both of whom died two days apart in January 2024, leaving Deschamps the only living man to have reached the milestone. Deschamps follows Beckenbauer as only the second to do so as captain.[7]
Deschamps was born inBayonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in the French part of theBasque Country.[8] After a short passage at rugby in theBiarritz Olympique club, Deschamps started his football career at an amateur club,Aviron Bayonnais whilst still at school. His potential was spotted by scouts fromNantes, for whom he signed in April 1983. Deschamps made his league debut on 27 September 1985. He transferred toMarseille in 1989. Deschamps then spent a season on loan withBordeaux in 1990, before returning to Marseille. In this second spell with Marseille, Deschamps gained his first honours as a professional player, winning twoDivision 1 titles in 1991 and 1992, and was a member of the first French side to win theChampions League in1993, becoming the youngest captain ever to lift the trophy in the process.[9]
Receiving his first international call-up fromMichel Platini on 29 April 1989 againstYugoslavia, Deschamps started his international career in what was a dark time for theFrance national team as they failed to qualify for theWorld Cup in both 1990 and 1994, also suffering a first-round elimination atUEFA Euro 1992.
When new team coachAimé Jacquet began to rebuild the team forEuro 96, he initially selectedManchester United starEric Cantona as captain. After Cantona earned a year-long suspension in January 1995, the make-up of the team changed dramatically, with veterans Cantona,Jean-Pierre Papin, andDavid Ginola being dropped in favour of younger players such asZinedine Zidane. Deschamps, as one of the few remaining veterans, was chosen to lead what would later be called the "Golden Generation". He first captained France in 1996 in a friendly match againstGermany as a warmup for Euro 96. During that tournament, held in England, he led them all the way to the semi-finals, their best finish in an international tournament since the1986 World Cup.
In 1998, Deschamps captained France as they won the1998 World Cup on home soil in Paris, holding an integral role in the team. Propelled by the momentum of this triumph, Deschamps also captained France as they wonEuro 2000, giving them the distinction of being the first national team to hold both the World Cup and Euro titles since West Germany did so in 1974, a feat emulated and surpassed by theSpain national team between 2008 and 2012. Following the tournament, Deschamps announced his retirement from international football, making his second last appearance in a ceremonial match against aFIFA XI in August 2000, which resulted in 5–1 victory. His final appearance was againstEngland. At the time of his retirement Deschamps held the record for the most appearances for France, though this has since been surpassed byHugo Lloris,Zinedine Zidane,Lilian Thuram,Marcel Desailly,Olivier Giroud,Antoine Griezmann,Patrick Viera andThierry Henry. In total, Deschamps earned 103 caps and scored four goals.
In his position, Deschamps primarily excelled at impeding the opposition's attacking movements as a defensive midfielder, and so was capable of starting up attacking plays and distributing the ball to teammates once he won back possession, leading to him being derisively nicknamed "the water-carrier" by former France teammate Eric Cantona, who implied that Deschamps's primary contribution to the national team was to retrieve the ball and pass it forward to "more talented" players.[12][13][14] Deschamps's ability to perform this role was made possible due to his high work-rate, tenacity, stamina, vision, reliable distribution and technique, and his efficacy at pressing and tackling opponents. He also had an excellent positional and organisational sense, and was known for his tactical intelligence, versatility, and his leadership as a footballer.[14][15][16]
After retiring as a player, he went into football management. He was appointed head coach ofMonaco in France'sLigue 1, leading the club to theCoupe de la Ligue titlein 2003 and to its firstUEFA Champions Leaguefinal in 2004. He resigned on 19 September 2005 after a poor start to the season, and disagreement with the club's president.[17]
On 10 July 2006, Deschamps was named head coach ofJuventus, afterFabio Capello resigned in the wake of theCalciopoli scandal. Deschamps' first game in charge of Juventus was highly successful since Juventus beatAlessandria 8–0 in a friendly, but poor results followed as Juventus were knocked out in thethird round of the Coppa Italia and then drew 1–1 againstRimini on the first day of the league season. In the following three matches, Juventus beatVicenza 2–1,Crotone 3–0 andModena 4–0. Deschamps also helped Juventus to win their first competition since being relegated, which was theBirra Moretti Cup in which Juventus beatInternazionale 1–0 andNapoli in apenalty shoot-out. He led Juventus to its return toSerie A, which was confirmed on 19 May 2007 with a 5–1 away win atArezzo. On 26 May, several media announced Deschamps had resigned as Juventus manager, following several clashes with the club management.[18] However, this was denied by the club itself a few hours later.[19] Later that evening, after the game againstMantova, which confirmed Juve asSerie B champions, Deschamps confirmed to the media that he had indeed resigned and the news was then made official by Juventus a few hours later.[20]
On 5 May 2009, it was announced that Deschamps would be named manager ofMarseille to the upcoming season which began on 1 July 2009.[21] In hisfirst season, he managed them to their firstLigue 1 title in 18 years.[22] His success had seen the Marseille manager linked to a return to Juventus, whose former presidentGiovanni Cobolli Gigli urged the club to bring back Deschamps to replaceCiro Ferrara. Ferrara was eventually replaced byAlberto Zaccheroni. On 29 June 2010, Deschamps signed a contract extension that would keep him at Marseille until June 2012.[23] On 6 June 2011, he extended his contract again, this time until June 2014. On 13 March 2012, his Marseille side progressed to theChampions League quarter-finals for the first time since 1993 by beatingInter Milan.[24][25][26][27] On 14 April 2012, Marseille won theCoupe de la Ligue for third time in a row after they beatLyon 1–0 withBrandão scoring inextra-time. The victory also ended a winless run of 12 matches in all competitions.[28][29][30] Deschamps was delighted with Marseille'sCoupe de la Ligue triumph and added: "All title wins are beautiful, as they are difficult to achieve. This is the sixth in three years. For a club that had not won anything for 17 years, it is something to be proud of. The credit goes mostly to the players, but I also want to associate my staff with the victory. This is a great source of pride for me, even if it does not change the fact it has been a difficult season inLigue 1."[31][32][33] On 2 July 2012, Deschamps left the club by mutual agreement, citing their poor finish of tenth place in2011–12.[34][35][36][37]
France was placed inUEFA Group I for thequalification phase of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. UEFA Group I contained the defending world champions Spain, plusBelarus,Finland andGeorgia. In that group, France earned a 1–1 draw away in the first match against Spain but lost 1–0 at home against the same opponents in the second match. After the 1–0 defeat by Spain, France failed to score a single goal in its next four matches – against Uruguay (friendly, 1–0),Brazil (friendly, 3–0),Belgium (friendly, 0–0) and Georgia (Group I qualifying match, 0–0).[42] France finished second in the group, three points behind Spain, and thus had to win thetwo-legged play-off tie against Ukraine to advance to the final phase of the tournament. In the first leg held inKyiv, France was beaten 2–0 byUkraine. Coming into the second leg, Ukraine had kept eight consecutive clean sheets and had not lost their last 12 matches.[43][44] In the second leg held at theStade de France, France beat Ukraine 3–0 to win the tie 3–2 on aggregate. France thus qualified for the final phase of theFIFA World Cup for the fifth consecutive time. At the2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, Deschamps's team advanced to the quarter-finals where they lost 1–0 to eventual champions Germany,[45] andPaul Pogba was named Best Young Player of the tournament.[46]
On 20 November 2013, Deschamps extended his contract to coach the France national team until theUEFA Euro 2016. The extension was triggered under the terms of an agreement reached with the French Football Federation (FFF) when Deschamps replacedLaurent Blanc after theUEFA Euro 2012, whereby qualification for the2014 FIFA World Cup would earn Deschamps the right to lead France until the Euro 2016 to be held in France.[47]
At Euro 2016, Deschamps led France to the final on 7 July after a brace fromAntoine Griezmann helped defeat Germany 2–0.[48][49] Inthe final, France were defeated 1–0 after extra time byPortugal.[50] On 31 October 2017, Deschamps signed a new contract until 2020.[51]
For the2018 FIFA World Cup, Deschamps "was careful in selecting his 23-man roster for Russia, selecting only players who he felt could gel as a cohesive unit", resulting in the omission ofReal Madrid'sKarim Benzema.[52][53] Although initially criticized for conservative tactics as the national team had indifferent showings to advance from the group stage with narrow wins overAustralia andPeru and a draw againstDenmark,[54] they put in dominant performances during the knockout rounds, defeatingArgentina 4–3 in the round of 16,[55] andUruguay 2–0 in the quarter-finals to reach the semi-finals.[56] Following these matches, France became World Cup winners after beating Belgium 1–0 in the semi-final[57] and Croatia 4–2 in thefinal.[58] As such, Deschamps became only the third man after Mário Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer to win the World Cup as both a player and a manager, and only the second captain after Beckenbauer to do so.[7] In December 2019, Deschamps signed a new contract with France, keeping him with the national team untilWorld Cup 2022.[59] At theEuro 2020, France were knocked out on penalties bySwitzerland in the round of 16, following a 3–3 draw.[60] Deschamps was criticized for getting his team selections and tactics wrong.[61] In the 2022 World Cup, he led France to reach their secondfinal in a row, which they lost 4–2 on penalties to Argentina after a 3–3 draw.[62] In January 2023, he extended his contract with France until June 2026.[63] France secured their place inUEFA Euro 2024 by finishing at the top of theirqualifying group, achieving seven wins and one draw.[64] In one of the matches, France beatGibraltar14–0, marking the largest victory in their history.[65] France began the competition well with a 1–0 win overAustria. However, their captainKylian Mbappé sustained a broken nose during the match.[66] They made it to the semi-finals before losing to eventual championsSpain. In January 2025, Deschamps announced that he would not extend his contract when it expires after the2026 FIFA World Cup.[67]
Deschamps first made a name for himself with Monaco as one of the best tacticians in Europe during the team's 2003–04 Champions League run, with his counter-attacking style.[68]
Due to his successes with the France national team, Deschamps is known for being an astute tournament manager and setting teams up with a solid foundation and work ethic. GoalkeeperHugo Lloris describes him as being "calm and collected" which transmits to the players. He also brings understanding and pragmatism, common sense and adaptability; the same qualities that served him so well as a player in midfields with more glamorous talents.[69]
During the 2018 World Cup, Deschamps used holding midfielderBlaise Matuidi in a new role, playing him out wide, rather than in the centre, as a left-sided defensivewinger orattacking midfielder in a fluid4–2–3–1 formation. In this system, helped provide balance to the team by covering the left flank defensively, thus limiting the attacking threat of the opposing full-backs. This in turn gaveKylian Mbappé the licence to attack and run at defences from theright wing. Moreover, Matuidi often tucked into the centre of the pitch, in order to provide defensive support to playmakerPaul Pogba in midfield, along withN'Golo Kanté, and help reduce spaces in their opponents' midfield.[70][71][72] Deschamps also used centre-forwardOlivier Giroud as a false-9 who used his physicality to create space and chances for forwardsAntoine Griezmann and Mbappé, giving them the freedom to generate opportunities and score, in a similar manner toStéphane Guivarc'h, who was Deschamps's teammate in the victorious French 1998 World Cup side.[73][74][75][76] However, his pragmatic and defensive style drew criticism from several Belgian players following France's semi-final victory in the tournament.[77]
During the 2022 World Cup, due to injuries to several of the French team's key midfielders, Deschamps used Griezmann in a deeper role, as acentral midfielder, in which he excelled, due to his vision, work-rate, and ability to link the defence and the attack.[78]
Deschamps places significant importance on creating a cohesive team environment by developing positive relationships with his players; he also believes in the importance of his players' personalities, and how they gel with one another. He also likes to lead by example in his professional relationships with his staff and players. While he believes in controlling possession, he stresses the importance of transitions during matches in particular. Tactically, Deschamps likes to let matches unfold without giving instructions to his players from the bench, and does not believe in being overly controlling with his players. He likes to observe the match and discuss any possible changes with his staff.[79]
Deschamps married Claude Antoinette in 1989. Together they have a son, Dylan, who was born in 1996.[80] He was raised aCatholic. Deschamps' brother Philippe died ina plane crash when Deschamps was 19 years old which he said has "marked [his] life".[81][82]
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