Ruffier accuses Deschamps of dishonesty and reveals why he disappeared from the French team

Stéphane Ruffier was no longer called up to the French national team after March 2015. Ten years later, the former Saint-Étienne goalkeeper explains why in the podcast La Voix des Gardiens: he told Didier Deschamps what he thought of him, and the manager did not take it well.

It all started at the 2014 World Cup. Ruffier was not on the initial list, but Steve Mandanda’s injury propelled him at the last minute to the rank of number two. A promotion that intrigued him as much as it satisfied him. “I’m number four in the manager’s mind, there’s an injury, I become number two. Already, that’s strange. It means that potentially he finds me better than the third,” he recounts.

The contradiction intensified upon return from the World Cup. Deschamps had long justified the presence of Mickaël Landreau as third goalkeeper by his qualities as a group player, not by his level on the pitch. With Landreau retired, the manager brought Ruffier into his squad, this time citing a purely sporting criterion. “When he puts me at number three, I ask him the question and he tells me he’s forced to take the three best. But before, on the other hand, he took the best number three in a group’s life, not on the pitch.” The message was clear: the rules changed depending on circumstances.

After his third and final selection, a friendly match against Denmark at Geoffroy-Guichard, Ruffier chose candor over diplomacy. Contrary to rumors that circulated, he never refused to be third goalkeeper. He simply told Deschamps what he thought: “Your discourse, it’s not honest. You change your discourse, your version, whenever you want.” This direct challenge ended his story with the Bleus.

Ruffier, who hung up his gloves after his contract with Saint-Étienne was terminated in January 2021, played three matches in the French shirt between 2010 and 2015, despite a decade among Ligue 1’s most regular goalkeepers. Didier Deschamps, for his part, left his position as manager in 2024 after fourteen years and a World Cup title in 2018.