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Tomorrow morning, within the hours earlier than France’s European Championship assembly with Belgium, Didier Deschamps will go into Man Stephan’s bed room, choose up an electrical razor and shave his assistant’s head with gentle, mild strokes.
No person else can be current however the ritual is a vital a part of a matchday routine that dates again to 2014. There are different superstitions: at each meal — breakfast, lunch and dinner — Stephan sits to Deschamps’ left. On each bus experience and airplane flight, he sits to his proper.
“It’s all about steadiness, there’s nothing political about it!” Stephan laughs.
The proud Breton has been Deschamps’ quantity two for the final 15 years: the primary three at Marseille and the final 12 with France. They endured powerful occasions collectively at Marseille, a “volcanic” membership, in Stephan’s phrases. However their relationship goes again even additional than that, to 2000, when Deschamps, then the French captain, and Stephan, assistant to then-manager Roger Lemerre, gained the European Championship.
It has been a phenomenally profitable alliance, yielding 5 league titles at Marseille and three finals within the final 4 main tournaments with France, together with successful the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Setbacks, comparable to a shock last-16 defeat to Switzerland at Euro 2020, have been uncommon.
Didier Deschamps and Man Stephan have a good time successful the World Cup in 2018 (Catherine Ivill/Getty Photographs)
“It hasn’t all the time been linear,” Stephan tells The Athletic. “However regardless of these few defeats, we’ve managed to carry on.”
The bond between Stephan and Deschamps — who not too long ago signed new contracts till 2026 — is now so robust that they typically don’t even require phrases to speak — a mere look will suffice. And, whereas Deschamps is the figurehead for France and their supremely gifted squad, Stephan’s presence is invaluable. “If it’s going to final, it’s as a result of we complement one another,” the 67-year-old says.
Stephan didn’t tread the standard route into football administration. His father, a mechanic, thought being a footballer was not a occupation and, whereas Stephan’s secondary faculty PE trainer, Claude Perrard, was an encouraging presence, he enrolled in a trainer coaching course on the behest of his mother and father.
He doesn’t remorse it. “My profession path would in all probability have been completely different, not higher or worse, had I turned skilled earlier than learning,” he says. Stephan was, in his personal phrases, “ player, not an excellent participant” however he nonetheless represented France’s youth staff.
Between the ages of 19 and 23, Stephan spent his weekdays coaching to be a trainer in Dinard, Brittany, after which on Saturdays driving 90 minutes to play for second division facet Guingamp. He had an in depth relationship with the membership president, Noel Le Graet, who went onto develop into FFF president for 12 years, from 2011 to 2023.
Stephan certified as a sports trainer however didn’t return to the classroom. As a substitute, in 1980, aged 23, he turned an expert footballer, becoming a member of Rennes — his eldest son Julien, who was born there, is their present supervisor. It was the beginning of an expert enjoying profession that additionally took in spells at Le Havre, Orleans and Caen.
Then, on July 24, 1986, every part modified. Stephan was travelling house after coaching at Caen when he was concerned in a critical automobile accident. He fractured his jaw, leg and elbow and sustained such a critical head harm that he was put right into a coma.
“I learnt you must stand up once more,” he says. “It’s clearly tough on the time, for you and much more tough for these round you. You inform your self that you just’ll get again up once more.”
After a number of months of rehabilitation and physiotherapy, Stephan returned to coaching however quickly realised “it wouldn’t be like earlier than”. He struggled to return to the identical stage and, on the age of 29, determined to retire.
However Stephan’s soccer story was not over. His calling was all the time to show in some kind — his data in psychology, physiology and pedagogy acquired from his trainer coaching helped him achieve his teaching {qualifications} — and so he turned Caen’s first-team assistant alongside Pierre Mankowski.
The teaching occupation has developed through the years. When Stephan began out within the Nineteen Eighties, coaches tended to be, in his phrases, “authoritarian” and “dominated with an iron fist”. However occasions have modified and coaches have needed to adapt too.
Deschamps has confronted criticism for being too useful however Stephan disagrees he’s “old-fashioned”. Regardless of successful the World Cup and Euros, plus three champions league titles, Deschamps hardly harks again to his enjoying days and as a substitute stays reactive to the current second.
Deschamps just isn’t an ‘old-fashioned’ supervisor, in response to Stephan (Paul Ellis/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
“He’s received one thing further,” Stephan says. “The principle factor is to all the time pay attention to what’s happening on the market. You’ve received all of the generations, you must discuss lots with the players. It’s vital for them to specific themselves.
“In that respect, Didier may be very, very robust. He’s excellent at speaking one-on-one with a participant — he spends a whole lot of time and power on that. As we speak’s teaching job is all about human relationships and getting the perfect out of the participant. He has developed. He’s nearer to the gamers than he was once.”
But when Deschamps is near the gamers, he’s even nearer to Stephan.
“We spend far more time collectively than we do with our wives once we’re in camp,” Stephan laughs. “We take into consideration soccer in the identical method, even when there are some variations. My job is to inform him what I really feel, even when it doesn’t correspond to what he normally does. As soon as he’s made the choice, I don’t convey up something I might need stated earlier than. I’d change his thoughts. However he makes the choice and no one is aware of concerning the earlier dialogue. Within the gamers’ eyes, there can’t be a single millimetre between me and Didier. That’s important in a gaggle.
“We mustn’t go away room for the slightest leak. Generally they trigger issues and battle in a gaggle. We have now to attempt to resolve it as rapidly as doable. However there are all the time some. The media, you’re too robust,” he chuckles.
Stephan attributes the power of their relationship to Deschamps being listener.
“I’m not saying he retains every part I say, however he listens and exchanges,” says Stephan. “I put completely different arguments to him. He’s the one who makes the choice. If an assistant is there to simply lay out the cones on the pitch, that’s no good. They must be involved about choices and the graceful working of the staff.”
The gamers are only one staff however there’s a entire backroom workers to align as nicely. When Stephan began out teaching, he, like many in that period, did virtually every part, together with coaching the goalkeepers and making ready gamers bodily. Now, he’s liable for devising the every day coaching programme and writing it on the flipchart, however a military of round 20 different workers members even have an enter, from the staff chef to information and efficiency analysts.
France have a military of coaches to handle their squad (Franck Fife/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
Deschamps and Stephan’s job is to unite the 2 teams in the direction of the identical purpose. France midfielder Antoine Griezmann has singled out this high quality as to why his supervisor has been profitable.
Even so, Deschamps has a decent inside circle of technical coaches — Stephan, goalkeeping coach Franck Raviot and bodily coach Cyril Moine — which is way smaller in comparison with different nationwide groups. He can depend on them to be, in Deschamps’ phrases, “gas to his considering”. His fashion is high quality over amount, with loyal, competent workers overlaying each base from medical to media.
One of many difficulties managers face is holding gamers who don’t function in matches on board. That has develop into even trickier with the rise in squad sizes from 23 to 26, a rule initially launched at Euro 2020 due to the worldwide pandemic. Deschamps opted to take solely 25 gamers to Germany however the problem stays.
“The extra gamers there are, the extra who aren’t enjoying usually,” says Stephan. “It’s extraordinarily tough, those that aren’t enjoying are rather less glad. We have now to attempt to contain them as a lot as doable.”
Past coaching and match preparation, Stephan’s position is to “oil the cogs”, as he places it, together with from a psychological side.
“I do know the supervisor’s plans for the subsequent match. I can anticipate. Who’s going to be affected? Once I’m strolling down a hall or going for lunch and cross paths with a participant, I ask how he’s, how his household are. I attempt to discover a matter of dialog that can result in an alternate.
“I can see whether or not that participant appears down or not, whether or not he’s smiling. I don’t must report all the data as a result of there’s a sure belief with the participant which can be crucial. Then, in coaching periods, I can interact him as a lot as doable.”
Stephan and Deschamps with the French League Cup they gained with Marseille in 2010 (Liewig Christian/Corbis by way of Getty Photographs)
In flip, that creates a extra sustainable atmosphere all through the match, which is required if a staff is to go far.
Ask Stephan what makes a World Cup-winning supervisor, and he couldn’t be clearer. “You might want to detect everybody’s qualities, convey folks collectively, be psychologist, strategist and somebody who clearly takes duty for outcomes, whether or not good or unhealthy,” he says.
What strikes him, nonetheless, is Deschamps’ calm persona in large strain moments, a high quality Griezmann says he has felt within the dressing room. The supervisor not too long ago stated in a press convention he by no means worries about something, though Stephan mentions he has lowered his ordinary 60-minute plank, a core train, due to a minor again drawback.
“He transmits that serenity to the group,” says Stephan. “He’s centered however he’s not uptight in his language. Matches are sometimes gained within the second half and substitutions. We discuss lots throughout and after games. Generally there are questions on the bench. He asks my opinion and there’s a sure strain to get outcomes. That’s true for everybody. However he’s not a harassed particular person. That’s one of many causes for his success, too.”
France have underwhelmed thus far this match with a 1-0 win over Austria and two attracts towards the Netherlands and Poland. They’ve solely scored one purpose, a Kylian Mbappe penalty of their final group recreation. The narrative goes that they flip the screw within the knockouts which Deschamps perceives as a brand new competitors, however the strain is on.
“If you wish to final, you must win matches,” says Stephan. “I’ve watched Didier develop during the last 15 years. I’m older than him (by 12 years) so he owes me respect, I say that with a smile. He was already excellent and I’ve seen him get higher.
“If we’re holding up as we speak, it’s as a result of we’re successful video games. That’s a coach’s profession. It could actually’t final with defeats — it’s inconceivable.”
Regardless of the consequence on Monday, Deschamps is aware of that Stephan can be by his facet — loyal to the final.
(High picture: Jean Catuffe/Getty Photographs)
