MIAMI, United States (AFP) — France Coach Didier Deschamps said he had experienced a “truly wonderful adventure” with his players as he bid farewell to the job on Saturday after 14 highly successful years in charge.

Deschamps guided France to World Cup glory in Moscow in 2018, becoming one of only three men to have won it as both coach and player.

He led Les Bleus back to the final in Doha in 2022, where they lost to Argentina in a penalty shoot-out.

Despite starting the 2026 tournament in North America impressively, France suffered a bitter 2-0 defeat by Spain in the semi-finals.

After a chaotic third-place play-off loss to England on Saturday, during which they were 4-0 down at half-time, but brought the score back to 6-4 at the end, Deschamps reflected that he had had a “beautiful” tournament with his players and staff.

“On a human level, it was a truly wonderful adventure with them,” he said.

“The eight weeks we’ve spent together since the start of the preparations were beautiful.”

On a sporting level, he acknowledged the “disappointment” for a squad that “set out with a great deal of ambition” but came up short.

“We managed to do quite a lot of positive things. We failed in our match against Spain, and they were able to perform at a very high level against us,” he said.

As the 57-year-old prepares to hand over the reins — almost certainly to French legend Zinedine Zidane — Deschamps said he was certain the future was bright.

“There are quite a few young players who will continue to develop, and there’s the talent to keep achieving very good results,” he said.