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 playoff 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 despite the heroics of Kylian Mbappe, whose two goals against England took him to the top of the all-time goalscorers list.

"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.

Source: AFP