Raymond Domenech

Raymond Domenech is a retired French footballer, the former manager of the France National Football Team. For some time he held the record for the number of matches played by the French national team under his leadership - 79 matches, until he was surpassed by Didier Deschamps.

He began his career at Olympique Lyonnais, where he played under the leadership of Aimé Jacquet. In 1977, he moved to the RC Strasbourg club, and in 1979 Domenech won the French championship with the team. In 1981 he moved to Paris Saint-Germain, then played for FC Girondins de Bordeaux, which was coached by Aimé Jacquet, and then for Mulhouse, where he served as a player-coach.

In 1988, he began coaching Olympique Lyonnais, which was in the second division, but Domenech in his first season took first place in the second league and led the club to the first league. And in 1991, the club took 5th place in the championship and was again able to take part in UEFA Cup matches.

His first major tournament was the 1994 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which France hosted. France had qualified after topping their group in qualification, nine points above second-placed Sweden. At the tournament, France defeated Russia in the quarterfinals but lost to Italy in a penalty shootout at the semifinal stage. With the team, he participates in the European Championships 6 times, but his highest achievement is reaching the Youth Euro finals in 2002 and the quarterfinals of the Atlanta 1996: Games of the XXVI Olympiad (1996).

With the France National Football Team Raymond Domenech reached the final of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany (2006) as head coach.