Michel Hidalgo, (former France coach)after LesBleus lifted the Trophy in 1998: "This is Aime Jacquet's crowning moment, achieved against winds and tides. There are 60 million happy French people. What they did was just extraordinary.

He was my coach:
Didier Deschamps (captain of France's 1998 FIFA World Cup TM-winning team and current Juventus coach): "The two of us always had a special relationship, a kind of complicity. I learnt a lot from him. Before making an important decision, he liked to canvas the opinions of his senior squad members, and in general he was always ready to listen to his players. But, once he had made his decision, he always took responsibility for it. He was always very attached to the notion of solidarity. Even in the most difficult moments, when he was being attacked by the media, he never budged an inch, avoiding controversy in order to better protect his squad."

Bernard Lacombe (played with Aime Jacquet at Lyon, was coached by him at Bordeaux and is now special adviser to the Lyon President): "Even when he was a player, you felt he was born to be a coach. 'Meme' had a great passion for the game. He introduced us to the career of coach and made us fall in love with it. Very human as a man, he was also a great technical coach. He was the first in France to field two forwards down the middle. Naturally, he inspired respect both as a man and as a trainer."

Rene Girard (current France Under-21 coach, played under Aime Jacquet for six years at Bordeaux): "He loves the game in the same way he loves life. He always stayed faithful to the same principles: rigour, seriousness and respect. He's as demanding of himself as he is of others. For him, a coach is, above all, a researcher, and that's undoubtedly why his door was always open and why he was always prepared to listen. First and foremost, he is a very human individual in a difficult world."

Christophe Dugarry (striker and France's first goalscorer in 1998): "I have to render unto Caesar the things which are his. If I'm here today, it's thanks to him. If I scored the first goal, it's thanks to him. I owe everything to Aime Jacquet."