Known best for his work with Laurent Blanc
French football coach Jean-Louis Gasset died yesterday morning, Dec. 26th, at the age of 72; he would turn 73 in less than a week. This was confirmed by the Marseille press office, who reported that Gasset had just guided Marseille to their first ever Europa League semi-final appearance since 1992.
Gasset also coached at other clubs in France including Saint-Étienne, Bordeaux, Istres and Caen. In addition to those clubs, he served as assistant coach with both Paris Saint-Germain and Espanyol, as well as assisting former teammate Laurent Blanc as the France national team coach from 2010 through 2012.
Gasset’s career with Blanc and as a head coach
Jean-Louis Gasset is the son of Montpellier co-founder Bernard Gasset. Gasset played the majority of his professional career with Montpellier and symbolically concluded it with his final coaching position at Montpellier: in April 2025 Gasset and the club agreed to mutually part ways.
As the longtime partner of Laurent Blanc, Gasset’s most notable career chapter occurred when he and Blanc collaborated with each other at Espanyol, then Bordeaux (where they won the 2009 Ligue 1 title, the French League Cup, and the French Super Cup), then with the France national team (from 2010 through 2012) and finally with Paris Saint-Germain (from 2013 until 2016). During this time they accumulated three Ligue 1 titles, three League Cups, two French Cups, and three Super Cups.
After returning to Montpellier as head coach in 2017, Gasset successfully maintained the club in Ligue 1. The next season he coached at Saint-Étienne before returning to Bordeaux for another year. Following that, Gasset coached the Ivory Coast national team from 2022 to 2024. Gasset was fired after the Ivory Coast completed a disastrous group stage campaign at home in the African Cup of Nations. His replacement Emerse Faé went on to win the entire competition for the Ivory Coast.
Jean-Louis Gasset Lost a respected person – africatopsports.com
Lost a respected person
Following Ivory Coast, Gasset coached at Marseille from February to June 2024. Marseille did poorly finishing 8th in the league, but finished second in their Europa League group and advanced to the semi-final round of the competition against Italian side Atalanta. They were defeated by Atalanta (1-1 at home, 0-3 away in Bergamo).
Marseille released a formal statement about the passing of Gasset. “We have not simply lost a coach: we have lost a respected figure in the football community, a highly-experienced strategist and someone whose commitment to the values of sports will be deeply missed.”
Marseille stated that Gasset was an embodiment of what they believe in regarding football: discipline, humility, hard work and loyalty. “He lived these values throughout his time with us,” the statement read. Gasset left Marseille in July 2024 to return to Montpellier and attempt to help the team avoid relegation. Unfortunately, Gasset was unable to accomplish this goal.
