Full name||colspan="2"|Didier Deschamps
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|Date of birth||colspan="2"|October 15, 1968
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|Place of birth||colspan="2"|Bayonne, France
|-class="hiddenStructure"
|Date of death||colspan="2"|
|-class="hiddenStructure"
|Place of death||colspan="2"|,
|-class="hiddenStructure"
|Height||colspan="2"|
|-
|-class="hiddenStructure"
|style="padding-right:1em;"|Nickname||colspan="2"|
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! style="background: #b0c4de;" colspan="3" | Club information
|-class="hiddenStructure"
|Current club||colspan="2"|retired
|-class="hiddenStructure"
|Number||colspan="2"|
|-class="hiddenStructure"
|Position||colspan="2"|midfielder
|-class="hiddenStructure"
! style="background: #b0c4de;" colspan="3" | Youth clubs
|-class="hiddenStructure"
|||colspan="2"|
|-
! style="background: #b0c4de;" colspan="3" | Professional clubs*
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| Years || Club || Apps (goals)
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|1985-1989 1989-1990 1990-1991 1991-1994 1994-1999 1999-2000 2000-2001||Nantes Olympique Marseille Girondins Bordeaux Olympique Marseille Juventus Chelsea Valencia||111 (4) 17 (1) 29 (3) 106 (5) 124 (4) 27 (0) 8 (0)
|-class="hiddenStructure"
! style="background: #b0c4de;" colspan="3" | National team
|-class="hiddenStructure"
|1989-2000||France||103 (4)
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! style="background: #b0c4de;" colspan="3" | Teams managed
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|2001-2005 2006-present||colspan="2"|Monaco FC Juventus
|-
! style="font-size: 80%; font-weight: lighter;" colspan="3" |
* Professional club appearances and (goals) counted for the domestic league only.
|}
Didier Deschamps (born 15 October1968 in Bayonne) is a former Frenchfootball player who captained France to victories in the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000. More recently, he has been involved in football management. He was the head coach of AS Monaco in France's Ligue 1, leading Monaco to its first UEFA Champions League final in 2004, until his resignation on 19 September2005 after a poor start to the season. On July 102006, Deschamps was named head coach of Juventus.
Club career
Deschamps started his football career at an amateur club, Aviron Bayonnais whilst still at school. His potential was spotted by scouts from Nantes, for whom he signed in April 1983. Deschamps made his league debut on 27 September1985.
Transferred to Olympique Marseille in 1989, Deschamps spent a season with Bordeaux in 1990 before returning to Marseille. In this second spell with Marseille Deschamps gained his first honours. As well as winning two French league titles in 1991 and 1992, Deschamps was part of the Marseille team which became the first, (and so far only) French winners of the Champions League in 1993. He is the youngest captain to do so.
In 1994, Deschamps joined Italian giants Juventus, with whom he won three Italian titles, one Italian Cup, two Italian Supercups and his second Champions League title (in 1996).
After Juventus, Deschamps spent a season in England with Chelsea, winning the FA Cup. He finished his playing career in Spain, spending a season with Valencia before retiring in 2001.
International career
Receiving his first international call-up for Michel Platini in 1989 (against Yugoslavia), Deschamps started his international career in what was a dark time for the French team, failing to qualify for the World Cup in both 1990 and 1994. Deschamps first captained France in 1996 in a friendly match against Germany as a warmup for Euro 96.
In 1998, Deschamps captained France as they won 1998 FIFA World Cup, performing an integral role in the team. Propelled by the momentum of this triumph, Deschamps also captained France as they won Euro 2000. Following the tournament Deschamps announced his retirement from international football, making his final appearance in a ceremonial match against a FIFA XI in August 2002. 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. Deschamps was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.
Deschamps was once - derisively - described by Eric Cantona as "the water-carrier" by which Cantona meant that Deschamps only existed to pass the ball to more talented players. This description masked a very valuable player to a number of top teams.
