London, September 25: Didier Deschamps has won the FIFA Best Men's Coach award after leading France to World Cup glory.
Deschamps was included on a three-man shortlist and saw off competition from former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane and the coach of beaten World Cup finalists Croatia, Zlatko Dalic.
Deschamps was criticised in the build-up to Russia 2018 for his perceived negative tactics, but after a sluggish group stage he guided his team to victories over Argentina, Uruguay and Belgium in the knockout stages before beating Croatia 4-2 in a dramatic final.
When Didier Deschamps was awarded #TheBest FIFA Men's Coach 2018 🙌 #FIFAFootballAwards pic.twitter.com/wSnFNgsLYW
— #TheBest (@FIFAcom) September 24, 2018
He inherits the award from 2017 winner Zidane, who left Madrid after guiding them to a third consecutive Champions League in May. Zidane had finished second the prior year, as Claudio Ranieri won the award for Leicester City's shocking Premier League title run.
Dalic, meanwhile, was included on the shortlist after leading Croatia past Denmark and Russia on penalties and England in regular time before falling to Deschamps' France in the final.
The honor is Deschamps' second ever individual coaching award as the Frenchman was previously recognised as Ligue 1 Coach of the Year in 2004 whilst in charge of Monaco.