Didier Deschamps is a retired French footballer and current football manager. Born on October 15, 1968, in Bayonne, France, Deschamps played as a defensive midfielder during his playing career. He began his professional career with Nantes before moving on to Marseille, where he achieved considerable success, winning the French league title and the UEFA Champions League.

Deschamps also had successful spells at clubs such as Juventus and Chelsea, winning league titles and domestic cups in both Italy and England. As a player, he was known for his leadership qualities, tactical intelligence, and ability to shield the defense.

On the international stage, Deschamps was a key figure for the French national team, earning over 100 caps and captaining the team to victory in the 1998 FIFA World Cup on home soil. He also led France to victory in the UEFA European Championship in 2000.

After retiring from playing, Deschamps transitioned into coaching, managing clubs such as Monaco, Juventus, and Marseille before being appointed as the head coach of the French national team in 2012. Under his guidance, France won the 2018 FIFA World Cup, becoming only the second team in history to win the tournament twice while Deschamps became one of only three individuals to win the World Cup as both a player and a manager. Deschamps is highly regarded for his tactical astuteness, man-management skills, and ability to cultivate a winning mentality within his teams.

Didier Deschamps Quotes

01. “In tough times, that’s when you see true colours and personality.”
— Didier Deschamps

02. “The key thing is knowing how to adapt. Adapting to the group that you have at your disposal; adapting to the place where you’re working; adapting to the local environment. This is crucial: adaptability.”
— Didier Deschamps

03. “We want to be the best we can.”
— Didier Deschamps

04. “We do not do everything perfectly, but the intentions are there.”
— Didier Deschamps

05. “We arrived at the 2002 World Cup with two titles, very calm, well organised, maybe missing a bit of concentration. But the only truth is on the pitch. The dangers are there.”
— Didier Deschamps

06. “There are a lot of Kylians, but only one Kylian Mbappe.”
— Didier Deschamps

07. “What’s important is you mustn’t focus too early and try to play the game before it actually begins.”
— Didier Deschamps

08. “For a player or coach, there is nothing better than the World Cup.”
— Didier Deschamps

09. “Sometimes it doesn’t take much to slip back into bad habits.”
— Didier Deschamps

10. “I wish Kylian to have the same career as Thierry Henry.”
— Didier Deschamps

11. When things are tough, French athletes tend to pull out great performances.”
— Didier Deschamps

12. “Benzema is a team player, he is very important for us. He always wants to score with us, but scoring is not everything to him.”
— Didier Deschamps

13. “Managing players is harder these days because of the arrival of new technology. They are all using it in their spare time so they become more isolated and selfish. They share less, they talk less. They have apps, their phones and the Internet but they are less used to talking to people.”
— Didier Deschamps

14. “For Euro 2016, we must remain humble, but we have the ambition to go as far as possible.”
— Didier Deschamps

15. “To build experience, you have to play.”
— Didier Deschamps

16. “We must not dive into tackles but force the opponent to run so that maybe they will crack late in the game.”
— Didier Deschamps

17. “We must condition the players. They need to get into the right frame of mind in the hours leading up the game.”
— Didier Deschamps

18. “Brazil remains a reference to the sport.”
— Didier Deschamps

19. “When you’re a coach there’s no age limit. It’s the results that make you last.”
— Didier Deschamps

20. “Paul Pogba can do everything but he cannot do everything all alone.”
— Didier Deschamps

21. “Having fresh players is important.”
— Didier Deschamps

22. “Messi plays in Spain, we know he makes a difference, but if you’ve played against him then maybe you’re aware of situations that can repeat on the pitch. But Messi is Messi, with his talent, he may send a spark with very little and make the difference. He is unpredictable.”
— Didier Deschamps

23. “A 3-0 win in the World Cup, it’s never easy.”
— Didier Deschamps

24. “History is in the past and tomorrow we will try and write a new page.”
— Didier Deschamps

25. “Scoring eight goals is never easy.”
— Didier Deschamps

26. “I always make decisions for the good of the team of France.”
— Didier Deschamps

27. “For me, I always considered that a group is above everything else.”
— Didier Deschamps

28. “An invitation to the national team is not a declaration of love.”
— Didier Deschamps

29. “Nobody knows what will happen in the future.”
— Didier Deschamps

30. “You need to have discussions and make sure you guide players towards the collective spirit. It can’t be done overnight.”
— Didier Deschamps

31. “Open all the debates that you want, but I think that the players that I select, and in whom I have total confidence, deserve a minimum amount of respect.”
— Didier Deschamps

32. “It is always good to be careful or vigilant.
— Didier Deschamps

33. “It is always good to be careful or vigilant.”
— Didier Deschamps

34. “Nothing is impossible. Lassana Diarra did not play for France for five years and then returned.”
— Didier Deschamps

35. “It’s not just about the words you use, but the way you use them, and the message that puts over. Also your face too and the way you project your message. If you’re telling the group to stay calm, be good, and you have beads of sweat dripping down your forehead, you’re in trouble.”
— Didier Deschamps

36. “My departure from Juve remains a regret, a mistake that taught me one thing – never make an immediate decision, at the end of the season, when everyone is ‘boiling.’ I have paid for such an experience.”
— Didier Deschamps

37. “It happens to attackers that they have a longer or shorter period where they are not always efficient.”
— Didier Deschamps

38. “Kylian is able to do extraordinary things. Look at his stats. He is efficient.”
— Didier Deschamps

39. “Playing an ultra-defensive side is very difficult.”
— Didier Deschamps

40. “You always learn, especially in failure.”
— Didier Deschamps

41. “Quality has no age.”
— Didier Deschamps

42. “Even when things are going well, there are always aspects that can be improved.”
— Didier Deschamps

43. “We can always improve everything.”
— Didier Deschamps

44. “We can’t hide from the truth.”
— Didier Deschamps

45. “Nowadays you never see players playing cards. We used to sit around playing cards together all the time. But I can’t fight that, I have to adapt and change.”
— Didier Deschamps

46. “With the support of all our fans, we have to be stronger than our opponents.”
— Didier Deschamps

47. “We often compare footballers with players of the past.”
— Didier Deschamps

48. “Brazil is the land of football. They have a lot of passion.”
— Didier Deschamps

49. “Being prudent does not mean being fearful.”
— Didier Deschamps

50. “It’s quite easy in football when you can bang it into the top corner.”
— Didier Deschamps

51. “Competition is for everyone.”
— Didier Deschamps

52. “There are always crucial, decisive players in every side who make the difference and do not necessarily depend on others.”
— Didier Deschamps

53. “When you play Argentina and Messi, there are several ways to limit his impact, at least.”
— Didier Deschamps

54. “Goal-line technology is a good thing. The ref gets the signal and can decide based on that.”
— Didier Deschamps

55. “All the great teams need a real top striker in order to win in Europe.”
— Didier Deschamps

56. “To be in the France team means they have a number of duties and responsibilities.”
— Didier Deschamps

57. “I’m not immune to disciplinary problems and it’s up to me to make strong choices. It’s my responsibility.”
— Didier Deschamps

58. “Sometimes you need to encourage them sometimes even to comfort them, let them know I trust them. Sometimes you need to tell the truth, being more aggressive. That’s management. I need to put the players in the best possible conditions.”
— Didier Deschamps

59. “I always ask myself if a decision is in the team’s best interest.”
— Didier Deschamps

60. “One of the main tasks of a manager is psychology.”
— Didier Deschamps

61. “Either a player accepts competition or they say they absolutely need to play. For a player to have an open door, I have to have, at the same position, an element that is just as good or even better.”
— Didier Deschamps

62. “Creativity is making a good pass at the right time… but it can also come from deeper, there should always be a balance.”
— Didier Deschamps

63. “To score three goals and not concede any is always interesting for a coach.”
— Didier Deschamps

64. “There is no better lawyer than Cristiano Ronaldo.”
— Didier Deschamps

65. “When you make your final list for the World Cup or European Championship you don’t take the 23 best players, that is for sure.”
— Didier Deschamps

66. “People always want the same thing: to carry on winning.”
— Didier Deschamps

67. “When you go to a club abroad and play against one from your own country, you are part of the enemy.”
— Didier Deschamps

68. “I’ve always hated to lose and I continue to hate it. But I’ve been obliged to accept it because I also have had some crushing defeats.”
— Didier Deschamps

69. “Look, I was a water carrier, I don’t reject my image. I didn’t have the pretension to think that I could change a match by myself.”
— Didier Deschamps

70. “When there are hard times, the trend is to question yourself and to dig deep but when things go well you shouldn’t relax and think things come easy or you need to put in less effort.”
— Didier Deschamps

71. “You can’t win anything more special than a World Cup.”
— Didier Deschamps

72. “There are a lot of things you can practise to unsettle teams that defend deep.”
— Didier Deschamps

73. “All are welcome in sport.”
— Didier Deschamps

74. ‘You can always criticise people, the players are aware we can improve in a number of areas.”
— Didier Deschamps

75. “Those friendly games are not pointless. They enable us to go forward.”
— Didier Deschamps

76. “Each member of the team must feel important – everyone must make my life and choices difficult.”
— Didier Deschamps

77. “Continuity is very important for national teams.”
— Didier Deschamps

78. “Sport is a way of uniting people.”
— Didier Deschamps

79. “He might not be very tall, but he’s very useful. Kante wins balls, has great transition play, can be found everywhere, and always has solutions.”
— Didier Deschamps

80. “We can’t really look back and see what is in the rear-view mirror. This is not how you are going to move forward.”
— Didier Deschamps

81. “At the highest level, if you don’t have a solid defensive base, you can’t get by. In one match, yes. But over a whole competition? No.”
— Didier Deschamps

82. “What interests me principally are points.”
— Didier Deschamps

83. “There is no worse situation to enter competition than losing the home opener.”
— Didier Deschamps

84. “The biggest victories can lead to the greatest foolishness.”
— Didier Deschamps

85. “I don’t think you just become a leader.”
— Didier Deschamps

86. “You can’t wake up one morning and say, ‘Right, now I’m going to be a leader.’ I think it is something that’s in you, that you’re born with, and which develops. Some people have that character, that personality and it comes naturally. You can’t force it. It has to be authentic and natural. Innate.”
— Didier Deschamps

87. “My players need to have the feeling that they’ve pushed themselves to their limits.”
— Didier Deschamps

88. “Players like me, we did something of a thankless job. You don’t show a hard tackle or stripping someone of possession in slow motion on the big screen. But if you add it all up, I was always the one that the coaches wrote down automatically on the lineup card.”
— Didier Deschamps

89. “Football is my passion.”
— Didier Deschamps

90. “My past as a player is strongly linked to the red, white and blue France shirt.”
— Didier Deschamps

91. “I am not a very good dancer.”
— Didier Deschamps

92. “We can always play better.”
— Didier Deschamps

93. “You have to live in your times.”
— Didier Deschamps

94. “That’s what international football is all about – be able to bounce after a bad performance.”
— Didier Deschamps

95. “While there is life, there is hope.”
— Didier Deschamps

96. “It is up to the players and their advisers to see what is best for the player.”
— Didier Deschamps

97. “Sport represents a union of diversity.”
— Didier Deschamps

98. “What I can say is that I feel very good as the national team coach. I really enjoy it.”
— Didier Deschamps

99. “In football, you don’t hold on to the ball just to hold on to the ball. When you have it you need to be dangerous, create opportunities and score goals. And when you don’t, you make sure the opposition doesn’t.”
— Didier Deschamps

100. “It’s hard to evolve when you only have fifteen days or three weeks to practice and correct and change tactics.”
— Didier Deschamps

101. “For me, the goal is to make the most of each player, play them in the position they feel best in. And then repeat, repeat, repeat.”
— Didier Deschamps