Didier Deschamps ended his reign as coach of France men’s national team with a fourth-place finish in the FIFA World Cup 2026, following a 4-6 loss to England in Miami on Saturday.
France, which came into the tournament as one of the title favourites, lost the semifinal to Spain and was looked second-best by some distance in the bronze medal match, trailing 0-4 in the first half.
However, the team made four changes after the break, and scoring four goals after the restart, ending the match as the losing side.
“It’s a loss. We were down 0-4; we played a catastrophic first half. We did show some fight, though, and there were things we did well. We had two chances to tie it up at 4-4, and after that, we pushed forward a little more,” Deschamps said after the match.
“We did what we know how to do. It’s my fault; I must not have done what was needed in the first half… At least it looked like something, even if the loss hurts. Obviously, it would have been better to finish third.”
The former French captain, who had led Les Bleus to the FIFA World Cup title in 1998 and European Championship two years later as a player, took over as coach in 2012, winning the 2018 World Cup title.
“We came here (2026 World Cup) with a lot of ambition. We managed to do quite a few positive things. We fell short in our match against Spain. It’s not all a total loss. We have a quality squad, young players who will continue to move up the ranks. We had the talent to keep achieving very good results. On a personal level, it’s been a truly wonderful journey with them,” the coach said.
“We spent eight weeks together since the start of our preparations. It was wonderful. The disappointment lies in the sporting aspect, but we had the opportunity to stir up emotions, and millions of French people were able to experience those emotions. It’s the World Cup—there’s nothing more beautiful than that.”
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Published on Jul 19, 2026