Former France team-mate Eric Cantona nicknamed Deschamps "The Water Carrier" because as a defensive midfielder, his contribution to the team centred heavily around winning the ball from opponents and passing it on to his team-mates.
As a coach, Deschamps managed to lead France out of a slump, sidelining some big-name players for what he believed to be the good of the team.
His strategy worked and he guided his team to the World Cup in 2018 and was runner-up at 2022 tournament in Qatar.
Didier Deschamps received his first call-up for the France national team on 29 April 1989 from Michel Platini for a fixture against Yugoslavia. This was a dark period for Les Bleus, as they are affectionately known, and they failed to qualify for the 1990 or 1994 FIFA World Cup tournaments. France were also eliminated at the first round of Euro 1992.
Two years later, the French Golden Generation came of age, with Deschamps captaining them to the 1998 FIFA World Cup title on home soil. They beat defending champions Brazil 3-0 in the final, with Zinedine Zidane and Emmanuel Petit performing superbly throughout the course of the tournament.
Deschamps then led France to the Euro 2000 title with a golden goal from David Trezeguet seeing Les Bleus through to a 2-1 extra time win over Italy in the final at De Kuip.
The snubbing of Nasri was criticised by Patrick Vieira, who said at ITV's World Cup launch via The Guardian: "We never heard nothing about him [Nasri] at City. I think in France sometimes they are not strong enough to deal with personalities. It's quite surprising because Deschamps has personality and experience.
France made the quarter-finals of the 2014 World Cup, but were beaten 1-0 by Germany, who went on to win the tournament.
France went all the way to the final of the tournament, but they were shocked 1-0 by Portugal in the final.
At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Deschamps led France one step further, with a team inspired by the youth of Kylian Mbappe mixed with the pedigree of Paul Pogba, N'Golo Kante and Antoine Griezmann winning the tournament. France beat Croatia 4-2 in the final and Deschamps became the second person to win the World Cup as captain and coach, as well as the third to win it as a player and coach.
In 2022, Deschamps led France to the final of the World Cup as they bid to become just the third team in history to win back-to-back world crowns.
Juventus signed Deschamps from Marseille in 1994 and he won three Serie A titles in a five-year spell with the Old Lady.
In 1995/96, Deschamps was part of the side which won the UEFA Champions League. He started against Ajax and the Bianconeri won on penalties after a 1-1 draw, to win his second Champions League title as a player. Juve followed up that success shortly afterwards by beating Paris Saint-Germain to the 1996 UEFA Super Cup then bringing the Intercontinental Cup back to Turin in the same season.
Juve finished as runners-up in the Champions League with Deschamps on board in 1996/97 and 1997/98, losing to Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid respectively in the finals. In 1999, Deschamps left for Chelsea.
Deschamps was part of the iconic Marseille side which won the UEFA Champions League in 1992/93, stunning the heavily fancied AC Milan in the final. Deschamps was also a French champion with Marseille as a player in 1989/90 and 1991/92.
He later went on to enjoy a successful stint as manager of Marseille, having previously been in charge of rivals Monaco and led them to the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League final, where they lost to Jose Mourinho's FC Porto.
Didier Deschamps reportedly earns a salary of £3.5m as the manager of the France national team.
France boss Didier Deschamps has become one of the main contenders to replace Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham, after announcing he would be leaving his national coach role in the near future.
France boss Didier Deschamps is not bothered by criticism of his side as having been "boring" to watch at Euro 2024 so far.
World Cup runners-up France will meet Portugal in the quarter-finals of Euro 2024 on Friday night (2000 BST) and we’re predicting a win for Les Bleus.
France and Belgium haven’t lived up to expectations at Euro 2024 but we’re expecting Les Bleus to progress from their Round of 16 fixture in Dusseldorf on Monday (1700 BST).
France continue their European Championship bid this Tuesday when they take on Poland in Dortmund in their final group game (1700 BST).
Football tipster Sergiu Baltuta is expecting Germany to kick-start their Euro 2024 preparations with a positive result as they travel to France on Saturday night (2000 GMT).
Having already bagged qualification for Euro 2024, both France and Scotland will be looking to cap off the international break on a positive note when they meet in Lille.
