Didier Deschamps

Lore & Background

Deschamps was born in Bayonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in the French part of the Basque Country. After a short passage at rugby in the Biarritz Olympique club, Deschamps started his football career at an amateur club, Aviron Bayonnais while still at school. His potential was spotted by scouts from Nantes, for whom he signed in April 1983. Deschamps made his league debut on 27 September 1985.

He transferred to Marseille in 1989. Deschamps then spent a season on loan with Bordeaux in 1990, before returning to Marseille. In this second spell with Marseille, Deschamps gained his first honours as a professional player, winning two Division 1 titles in 1991 and 1992, and was a member of the first French side to win the Champions League in 1993, becoming the youngest captain ever to lift the trophy in the process. In 1994, Deschamps joined Italian club Juventus, with whom he won three Serie A titles, one Coppa Italia, two Supercoppa Italiana, as well as his second Champions League title, a UEFA Super Cup, and an Intercontinental Cup in 1996.

He also reached two more Champions League finals in his next two seasons, and a UEFA Cup final in 1995. After his spell with Juventus, Deschamps spent a season in England with Chelsea, winning the FA Cup, and scoring once against Hertha BSC in the Champions League. He finished his playing career in Spain, spending a season with Valencia, helping them to the 2001 UEFA Champions League final, but remained on the bench as they lost to Bayern Munich.

He then retired in the middle of 2001, at 32 years old. Receiving his first international call-up from Michel Platini on 29 April 1989 against Yugoslavia, Deschamps started his international career in what was a dark time for the France national team as they failed to qualify for the World Cup in both 1990 and 1994, also suffering a first-round elimination at UEFA Euro 1992. When new team coach Aimé Jacquet began to rebuild the team for Euro 96, he initially selected Manchester United star Eric 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, and David Ginola being dropped in favour of younger players such as Zinedine Zidane. Deschamps, as one of the few remaining veterans, was chosen to lead what would later be called the "Golden Generation".

Reader's Guide

As a manager, Deschamps began his career with Monaco, and helped the club to win the Coupe de la Ligue in 2003, and reached the 2004 UEFA Champions League final, being named Ligue 1 Manager of the Year in 2004. During the 2006–07 season, he helped his former club Juventus win the Serie B title and return to Serie A following their relegation due to their involvement in the Calciopoli scandal the previous season. He subsequently managed another one of his former clubs, Marseille, where he won the Ligue 1 title during the 2009–10 season, as well as three consecutive Coupe de la Ligue titles between 2010 and 2012, and consecutive Trophée des Champions titles in 2010 and 2011.

On 8 July 2012, Deschamps was named as the new manager of the France national team. He led the team to the quarter-finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the final of UEFA Euro 2016, victory in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, victory in the 2020-21 UEFA Nations League, a back-to-back final appearance in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and to the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2024, third place at the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League, and fourth place at the 2026 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, alongside Mário Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer—both of whom died in 2024, leaving Deschamps the only living man to have reached the milestone. Deschamps follows Beckenbauer as only the second to do so as captain.