Didier Deschamps

Didier Claude Deschamps (born 15 October 1968) is a French professional football manager and former player who has been managing the France national team since 2012.

He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, England and Spain, namely Marseille, Juventus, Chelsea and Valencia, as well as Nantes and Bordeaux.

Nicknamed "the water-carrier" (le porteur d'eau) by former France teammate Eric Cantona, 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.

His potential was spotted by scouts from Nantes, for whom he signed in April 1983.

Deschamps made his league debut on 27 September 1985.

During that tournament, held in England, he led them all the way to the semi-finals, their best finish in an international tournament since the 1986 World Cup.

He transferred to Marseille in 1989.

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.

In addition to winning two Division 1 titles in 1990 and 1992, Deschamps was part of the Marseille squad that became the first, and so far only, French club to win the UEFA Champions League, a feat which the team achieved in 1993; with the Champions League victory, Deschamps became the youngest captain ever to lead his team to win the title.

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 and only 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.

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".

With Juventus he played three Champions League finals in a row between 1996 and 1998, winning the title in 1996.

With the Turin side, he also won the UEFA Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup, as well as three Serie A titles, among other trophies.

He first captained France in 1996 in a friendly match against Germany as a warmup for Euro 96.

As a French international, he was capped on 103 occasions and took part at three UEFA European Football Championships and one FIFA World Cup, captaining his nation to victories in the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000.

In 1998, Deschamps captained France as they won the 1998 World Cup on home soil in Paris, holding an integral role in the team.

With Chelsea, he won the 1999–2000 FA Cup, and also reached another Champions League final with Valencia in 2001, before retiring later that season.

After Franz Beckenbauer and followed by Iker 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.

Propelled by the momentum of this triumph, Deschamps also captained France as they won Euro 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 the Spain 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 a FIFA XI in August 2000, which resulted in 5–1 victory.

His final appearance was against England.

At the time of his retirement Deschamps held the record for the most appearances for France, though this has since been surpassed by Marcel Desailly, Zinedine Zidane and Lilian Thuram.

In total, Deschamps earned 103 caps and scored four goals.

He finished his playing career in Spain, spending a season with Valencia, helping them to the 2001 UEFA Champions League final, but he remained on the bench as they lost to Bayern Munich.

He then retired in the middle of 2001, only 32 years old.

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.

Deschamps was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 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 2006 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 French 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, and a back-to-back final appearance in the 2022 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 January 2024 two days apart, leaving Deschamps the only living man to have reached the milestone.

Deschamps follows Beckenbauer as only the second to do so as captain.

Deschamps was born in Bayonne in the French part of the Basque area.

After a short passage at rugby in the Biarritz Olympique club, Deschamps started his football career at an amateur club, Aviron Bayonnais whilst still at school.