Born in Ivory Coast, he was naturalized by Mauritania and participated with the Mauritanian national team in the World Cup qualifiers for Germany 2006.

He was named as the new national team coach and technical director of the Central African Republic, shortly after.

In January 2017, Descombes was named as the Director of Football with FC Mulhouse in France, overseeing the club's entire sport side, from the youth academy to the first team.

In July 2018 he was named as the club's new manager.In his first season at the helm, he won the league championship and promotion to the next division, and a coach of the year accolade.

Eric Descombes was appointed in May 2023 by SC Bastia of France's Ligue 2 as the new technical/academy director in charge of revamping the youth academy and restructuring its organization.