The final whistle on Saturday evening at Hard Rock Stadium will mark more than the conclusion of the World Cup third-place play-off. It will draw a line under the longest and most decorated coaching tenure in French football history, as Didier Deschamps steps away after 14 years at the helm. France face England in Miami, a fixture neither side wanted, after both fell in the semi-finals — Les Bleus undone 2-0 by Spain in Arlington, Texas, and England beaten by defending champions Argentina. Deschamps, speaking on the eve of the match, acknowledged the anticlimax but insisted the occasion still demanded a performance. “The English team doesn’t want to play, and neither do we, but there is an objective, there is a game to play,” he said.

The 57-year-old’s departure had been confirmed before the tournament, with Zinedine Zidane — his former teammate from the 1998 World Cup-winning side — widely expected to succeed him. Deschamps leaves having transformed the national team’s fortunes. When he took over in 2012, France were still healing from the 2010 squad mutiny under Raymond Domenech and a quarter-final exit at Euro 2012. Under his stewardship, they became a model of consistency: a World Cup title in 2018, a runners-up finish in 2022, a Nations League trophy in 2021, and semi-final appearances at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024. In the United States, France entered as favourites and played with attacking verve, only to be halted by a Spain side that controlled the semi-final.

Deschamps’ personal numbers underscore the scale of his imprint. The England match will be his 27th World Cup fixture as a coach, an all-time record, and he already holds the mark for most victories at the tournament, with 20 wins across four consecutive editions. His reign was not without setbacks — the Euro 2016 final defeat on home soil, the penalty shootout loss to Argentina in Qatar, and the recent semi-final exit — but he departs having reached at least the last four in five of the seven major tournaments he contested. The campaign was also marked by private grief: he missed a group-stage match against Norway to attend his mother’s funeral in France.

Viewed from Paris, the succession is an open secret. Zidane, 54, has been out of management since leaving Real Madrid in 2021 and has described coaching France as a “dream”. French Football Federation president Philippe Diallo told Le Figaro earlier this year that the next coach must be “someone who ticks every box and who everyone in France can get behind.” Zidane’s aura as a player and his three Champions League titles with Real Madrid make him the overwhelming favourite, though he inherits a squad that, for all its talent, will need to absorb the departure of a figure who, as Deschamps put it, “took up 25 years of my life and left a lasting mark.”

For one last evening, the focus remains on the pitch. Deschamps has urged his players to honour the shirt and the supporters, framing the bronze medal as a duty rather than a consolation. “I had the privilege of experiencing moments that were magical, and others that were difficult,” he said. “But life goes on. I’m a positive person, and I know things will be good, too.” After the final whistle, the curtain falls on an era that began with a World Cup won as captain in 1998 and ends with a record-breaking coaching career. The next chapter, under Zidane, will begin when France reconvene for the Nations League later this year.