Sports
Didier Deschamps to resign as France Manager after 2026 World Cup
Didier Deschamps announces today that he will leave the France manager’s job after the 2026 World Cup, closing a great era in the nation’s football history.
Deschamps took on the role in 2012 after Laurent Blanc resigned and led them to victory at the 2018 World Cup, also reaching the final in 2022 and at the 2016 Euros.
The 56-year-old will leave ahead of the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada, and Mexico if they fail to qualify, and after it if they do make it.
‘I’m not here to make an announcement but it will be 2026. I’ve been here since 2012, I’m scheduled until 2026, the next World Cup. It will stop there because it has to stop there at some point. In my head, it’s very clear,’ he says in a snippet of an interview with TF1 and LCI, which will be released in full on Wednesday afternoon.
‘I did my time with the same desire, the same passion to keep the French team at the highest level.
‘We never want it to end when it’s a beautiful thing. Afterwards, we have to know how to say stop. There is life after. I don’t know what it will be but it will be very good too. It’s going to be 14 years, that’s a long time too.
He led France to the 2018 World Cup trophy and has also reached two other major finals
Despite his success, he has not always been universally loved by fans who believe he could have made more of France’s attacking talents
Despite his success, he has not always been universally loved by fans who believe he could have made more of France’s attacking talents
‘I’m not here for the records, especially for the demands. The most important thing is that the French team remains at the top where it has been for many years.’
Zinedine Zidane is the heavy favourite to replace him, according to ESPN. He was Deschamps’ team-mates in their 1998 World Cup triumph and led Real Madrid to three consecutive Champions League titles as a manager between 2016 and 2018. Zidane has been out of work since his second Madrid dugout stint ended in 2021.
Despite being arguably their most successful manager ever, Deschamps has not been universally loved by Les Bleus fans due to his conservative style of play.
Nevertheless, his tournament success and 64.2 per cent win rate place him in the pantheon of great international managers.
They have reached the semi-finals of four of the six major tournaments that he has overseen and might have won the 2022 World Cup were it not for the brilliance of Lionel Messi.
He is only the third man to win the World Cup as a player and a manager after Mario Zagallo, Pele’s old team-mate and manager for Brazil, and Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer.
L’Equipe reports that Deschamps made up his mind several months ago, with his contract expiring in 2026.
For a man of such a gilded trophy cabinet, Deschamps cuts a relatively understated figure and is seldom talked about in the same breath as other top coaches.
Zinedine Zidane has been named as the ‘heavy favourite’ to replace the 56-year-old boss
He will leave after the 2026 World Cup, or before if France fail to qualify for the tournament
Hugo Lloris, who captained France under him, described him as an ‘inspiration to the players’
Hugo Lloris, who captained France under him, described him as an ‘inspiration to the players’
He managed Monaco, Juventus, and Marseille before taking up the France post and had success with all three.
One of his greatest achievements was leading Monaco to the 2003-04 Champions League final with a counter-attacking style, helping players such as Patrice Evra and Emmanuel Adebayor to make their names.
In 2006 he took charge of former side Juventus, who had been relegated to Serie B after the Calciopoli scandal, and led them back to the top flight in his only season in charge.
He then took up the reins at Marseille, another of his former clubs where he had won the Champions League as a player, and delivered them the Ligue 1 championship in 2009-10, the only time they have won it since 1995.
France have occasionally been associated with high-profile tournament self-combustion, crashing out of the group stages in the 2002 and 2010 World Cups, but he has at least made the knockout stages in every competition.
Hugo Lloris served as captain of the France national team under Deschamps and said of his boss: ‘He has of course tremendous experience as a player and a coach at the international level.
‘He is calm and collected and transmits that to the players.
‘He is an inspiration to the players. We have a great relationship between players and coach and it is not a coincidence he has been a coach for such a long time.’
The curtains would be drawn on the Ghana Premier League tomorrow, with four teams locked in a fierce battle to avoid relegation.
Nations FC, Young Apostles, Swedru All Blacks, and Basake Holy Stars would hope to avoid joining Eleven Wonders and Hohoe United, who have already been relegated.
Nations FC must be at their absolute best to secure all three points against Karela United at the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium, while hoping results elsewhere go in their favour.
After suffering a blow last week with a home loss to Vision FC, Coach Stephen Frimpong Manso, who won the league last season with Bibiani Gold Stars, will be desperate to guide Nations to safety.
However, the task is daunting given Karela’s home form; they have lost only one game at the venue this season.
Another battlefield will be the Baba Yara Stadium, where Swedru All Blacks, would need to beat Asante Kotoko to survive.
For Kotoko’s interim coach, Hamza Obeng, signing off a troubled season with a win would offer some comfort to the ‘Porcupine faithful,’ who have been calling for a new direction for the club.
At the Wenchi Sports Stadium, it is a day of destiny for Young Apostles, who need nothing short of a win against Samartex FC to survive.
Meanwhile, Basake Holy Stars must secure all three points against Dreams FC at the Ampain AAK II Sports Arena to avoid any head-to-head complications that may arise later.
Elsewhere, defending champions Bibiani Gold Stars remain at home at Dun’s Park to welcome already relegated Eleven Wonders.
In other fixtures, Vision FC welcomes Aduana FC to the Nii Adjei Kraku II Sports Complex in Tema, and Berekum Chelsea faces Bechem United FC at Golden City Park. Finally, the Accra Sports Stadium will host newly crowned champions Medeama SC as they visit Accra Hearts of Oak.
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY
Across the sports world, hosting a tournament or championship has become inseparable from the expectation of absolute victory.
Breaking this down, hosting a major sports tournament comes with a very clear mandate: that is to ‘host and win.’
To ‘host and win’ means a country must successfully organise the championship and climax it by emerging winners.
The concept carries specific cultural weight and comes with different interpretation depending on the context.
In major continental or global events, it refers to the phenomenon where the host nation uses home-ground advantage, local fan support, and familiarity with the climate and facilities to lift the trophy.
A few countries have been able to achieve this in the past but generally, winning a major championship just because one is a home country is incredibly difficult.
This is the reason why Ghana’s failure to win the 24th Africa Seniors Athletics Championship staged in Accra would be pardoned.
It will be preposterous, in fact laughable, for any athletics follower to have such expectation for Team Ghana considering the quality of opposition at the championship.
But one aspect of the ‘host and win’ concept Ghana Athletics and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the championship did not impress was organization at a certain point.
Coming few days after the World Relays championship in Botswana which was excellently staged, expectation was high about Ghana’s ability to also showcase a world class show.
That expectation was also fuelled by the fact that infrastructure was not a problem as Ghana hosted a successful athletics event just about three years ago- the Accra 2023 Africa Games at the same venue.
But it started on a negative note, with complains over food, equipment and other issues flying all over with bloggers making huge capital out of it.
Gladly, Ghana’s Minister for Sports and Recreation, Mr Kofi Adams shed some light on the organization of the event which he said had received wide commendation from many of the participating countries.
According to him, the feedback from some of the countries that have attended previous events suggests that the Accra edition was the best.
The minister explained that Ghana met all organizational protocols since beating Botswana to the bid two years ago and also went on to clarify that some of the reported challenges occurred because only 11 of the 49 participating countries completed the accreditation processes within the spelt out timeline.
Personally, I agree with the sports minister to a large extent. Events of this magnitude often comes with challenges but a country/LOC’s ability to address them go a long way to show a certain level of commitment to stage a great show.
Maybe, what event or sports organisers must take cognizance of at such events is the growing trend of the lack of proper arrangement for the media to carry out their duties.
It was heartbreaking to see journalists, expected to cover the opening of the event, hover around the peripherals just because their space was occupied by the fans.
This is a growing phenomenon across events of late. This is another major concern officialdom must give attention to but for Ghana Athletics, it was a great opportunity to learn to avoid repeats in future.
By Andrew Nortey
