Jean-Louis Gasset: French Football Mourns Coach’s Death

He is an emblematic figure of French football, inseparable from his essential cap, who is gone. Former coach and player Jean-Louis Gasset died on Friday December 26 at the age of 72, Montpellier Hérault SC announced early in the afternoon, whose colors he had worn before coaching the club. “The MHSC learned today with immense sadness of the disappearance of Jean-Louis Gasset, writes the Montpellier club in a press release. A child of the club, he left his mark on all those who met him with his professionalism, his kindness and his thirst for transmission. »

Before becoming this coach familiar with “lost causes” and clubs in distress, at the end of his career, Jean-Louis Gasset wore the blue and orange colors of Montpellier more than 260 times. The midfielder began his career at AS Béziers before moving to the Languedoc capital in 1975, where he hung up his boots ten years later. To quickly reconvert to the bench. First as an assistant, from 1985 in Montpellier, before being promoted to head coach of the Hérault club for one season in 1998.

After various stints that took him from the bench of SM Caen (2000-2001 season) to that of Espanyol Barcelona – as assistant to Luis Fernandez during the 2003-2004 season – Jean-Louis Gasset became inseparable from Laurent Blanc, whom he had worked with in Montpellier as a player. For almost ten years (2007 to 2016), the man with the cap became the shadow of the former defender of the Blues, world champions in 1998.

Shadow of Laurent Blanc for almost ten years

Started in Bordeaux, where the pair won a French championship title – as well as the League Cup and the Champions Trophy – in 2009, their collaboration led them to the bench of the French team then to PSG. In Paris, Jean-Louis Gasset greatly expanded his record, winning – as assistant – three championship titles, as many League Cups and Champions Trophies, and two French Cups.

“Such a beautiful journey spent together, ups and downs but only good memoriesLaurent Blanc was moved after the disappearance of his former deputy. Great lover and passionate about football, you left a beautiful imprint of you. People come and go, you’re going to leave us a big void. Have a good trip Jean-Louis. »

After the end of his duo with the “President”, Jean-Louis Gasset continued to scour France and its clubs, making it a specialty to arrive at the head of clubs in distress to try to breathe new life into them. First in Montpellier, in 2017, where arriving during the season, he managed to keep the Hérault team in the elite. Then on the benches of Saint-Etienne (2017-2019) then the Girondins de Bordeaux (2020-2021), before an improbable end to his career.

Appointed at the head of the Ivorian selection with the objective of winning the 2024 African Cup of Nations at home, he was sacked after a group phase marked by a qualification at the last minute but also a heavy defeat against Equatorial Guinea (4-0). It was therefore from his sofa that he witnessed the unexpected title of the Elephants, led by his ex-assistant Emerse Faé, who did not fail to pay tribute to him.

After having freelanced at Olympique de Marseille, to try to stabilize a club in crisis, it was finally in Montpellier that Jean-Louis Gasset, who had nevertheless announced the end of his career, made a final stint on the bench. To try, once again, to save the club he loves.