HISTORY : IFFHS AWARDS - DIDIER DESCHAMPS (FRANCE) 2018
IFFHS AWARDS - THE WORLD’S BEST NATIONAL COACH 2018 : DIDIER DESCHAMPS (FRANCE)
PRESENTATION
Didier Deschamps, born 15 October 1968 in Bayonne, is currently the Manager of the France National Team. He is the only in the World ,with German Franz Beckenbauer and Brazilian Mario Zagalo ,to have win the FIFA World Cup as both a player and a manager, following Beckenbauer as only the second to do this as captain !
Deschamps made a great career first as Player. He began in Bayonne before going to the youth at Nantes. From 1985 to 1989, he played 111 matches (4 goals) with FC Nantes as an intelligent and hard-working defensive midfielder . He signed in 1989 with Olympique Marseille where he realized 4 top seasons, winning the Division 1 titles twice (1989/90, 1991/92) and particularly the UEFA Champions League 1992/93 against AC Milan ! In Marseille, Deschamps became the youngest captain ever to win the Champions League at 25 ! He played 123 matches (6 goals), and was loaned one year to Bordeaux in 1990.
In 1994, he joined Italy and Juventus, where he stayed 5 seasons (124 matches, 4 goals). He won 3 Serie A titles (1994/95, 1996/97, 1997/98) , one Coppa Italia (1994/95), 2 Supercoppa Italiana (1995,1997), one Intercontinental Cup (1996), one UEFA Super Cup (1996), one UEFA Intertoto Cup (1999) and another UEFA Champions League (1995/96), being also two times runner-up in 1996/97 and 1997/98 ! In 1999, he went to England and FC Chelsea for one season, winning the FA Cup 1999/2000. One year later, he took direction Spain to Valencia where he was runner-up in the UEFA Champions League 2000/01 !
After Franz Beckenbauer, he became the second captain in the History of Football to have lifted the UEFA Champions League Trophy, the UEFA European Championship Trophy and the FIFA World Cup Trophy (Iker Casillas became the third )! He won the two last competitions with the National Team of France, the UEFA Euro 2000 and the FIFA World Cup 1998 . He was capped 103 times with France between 1989 and 2000, being the captain of the World Champion Team 1998.
As a Manager, Deschamps began his career with AS Monaco from 2001 to 2005. He won the Ligue Cup 2002/03 and was runner-up in the UEFA Champions League 2003/04, ranked second this year at the IFFHS Award of The World’s Best Club Coach and crowned Manager of the Year in France ! During the season 2006/07, he took in charge Juventus (after the Calcio Scandal), winning the Serie B title and returning in the Serie A. He managed then Olympique de Marseille, one of his former clubs, and won there the Ligue 1 title (2009/10), 3 Ligue Cups (2009/10, 2010/11, 2011/12) and the Champions Trophy (2010, 2011) .
On July 2012, Deschamps was named as the new Manager of the French National Team. He led the team to the Quarter Final of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the final of the UEFA Euro 2016 (defeated by Portugal) and he won the final of the 2018 FIFA World Cup against Croatia. In 2018, he became so with a large advance THE WORLD’S BEST NATIONAL COACH by IFFHS and the Best FIFA Football Coach.