Read 3 minutesUpdated: 18 July 2026 11:59 PM IST
France captain Kylian Mbappe posted a farewell note Outgoing national team coach Didier Deschamps ahead of the third place play-off against England on Saturday. Deschamps had already announced that he would step down as France coach after the World Cup and be succeeded by Zinedine Zidane.
“Today is your last dance. You who gave us so much. We should have offered you a good ending, but we failed. It is very difficult to put into words what you brought in 14 years, so you were a major actor in the revival of this team. People don’t always know how to appreciate your greatness, but time and history will take care of that,” Mbappe posted on X.
“Thank you for giving me the chance and opportunity to represent my country on the biggest stage for so many years. I am honored to stand alongside one of our country’s greatest legends and I have only great memories of all that we have lived and done together.
I wish you all the best in your new adventure and thank you again for everything you bring to this jersey, which means so much to us,” he added.
Aujourd’hui est ta dernière danse.
Toi qui nous as tant donné.
Nous aurions dû t’offrir une meilleure fin, mais nous avons échoué.
Mettre des mots sur ce que tu as approit pendant 14 ans est très difficile, tant tu as été un acteur majeur du renouveau de cette équipe. Les Janes… pic.twitter.com/uGQIWqodgv— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) 18 July 2026
Deschamps’ 14-year tenure as national team boss will come to an end with a team hoping to send him off with a bronze medal after missing out on their third consecutive World Cup final after a semi-final defeat against England.
Deschamps is one of only three men to win the FIFA World Cup as a player and coach. He won the prestigious trophy as a player in France in 1998, where he also captained the team, and later in 2018 as head coach in Russia.
Zidane has had two stints as manager of Real Madrid: 2016–18 and 2019–21). Zidane’s stature in French football is unmatched. As a player, the midfielder won the 1998 Ballon d’Or in addition to being the FIFA World Player of the Year three times (1998, 2000 and 2003). He inspired the French football team to the 1998 Football World Cup title. He was also part of the team that lost the FIFA World Cup final in 2006 (where he was infamously sent off for headbutting Italy’s Marco Materazzi in the chest).