Zinedine Zidane has finally landed the job he has wanted for years. The French Football Federation confirmed on Tuesday that Zidane, the World Cup-winning midfielder turned decorated club manager, will take charge of the French national team, succeeding Didier Deschamps on a four-year deal.
The announcement ends months of speculation about who would lead Les Bleus into the next cycle of international football. Zidane, 54, was unveiled at the federation’s Paris headquarters, where he did not hide how long he had waited for this moment. He told reporters that coaching France was the only job he ever truly wanted, and that he had turned down other opportunities specifically to keep himself available for it.
Zidane’s path to the France job has been unusually patient for a manager of his stature. After winning three consecutive Champions League titles with Real Madrid and later returning for a second spell in charge of the club, he stepped away from club football rather than take on another project. According to Zidane, the decision to wait dated back to January 2025, when Deschamps signalled his own eventual departure. From that point, Zidane said, he knew exactly which job he wanted next, and the federation’s leadership were kept informed of his intentions.
The timing of the appointment follows a painful few weeks for French football. Deschamps left his post after France suffered a fourth-place finish at the World Cup, their run ending in a chaotic 6-4 defeat to England. It was a disappointing conclusion to a tenure that otherwise ranks among the most successful in the country’s history. Over 14 years, Deschamps managed 185 matches, won 120 of them, and delivered the 2018 World Cup title, a Nations League trophy, and appearances in two other major finals.
For Zidane, replacing Deschamps carries a personal resonance that goes beyond the trophies. The two men were teammates on the France side that won the 1998 World Cup on home soil, a tournament in which Zidane was the standout performer. He scored twice in the final, was capped 108 times over his playing career, and collected the Ballon d’Or that same year in recognition of his role in that triumph. Handing the reins from one 1998 champion to another gives the transition a sense of continuity that the federation has been keen to emphasize.
Zidane’s coaching record makes him one of the most credentialed managers to ever take charge of a national team. Since retiring as a player, he built a reputation for man-management and tactical flexibility, qualities that fans and pundits alike believe will translate well to international football, where preparation time is limited and squad cohesion matters more than daily training-ground work. His experience of pressure — as a player, as a Real Madrid manager, and now as France head coach — is expected to be one of his biggest assets in the role.
The new manager will not have long to settle in. Zidane is set to take his first game in charge away to Turkiye in the UEFA Nations League, before a high-profile home fixture against Italy at the Stade de France on October 2. Both matches will offer an early indication of how Zidane intends to shape a squad that is transitioning away from several long-serving veterans of the Deschamps era.
Reaction to Zidane’s appointment has been broadly positive across French football, with many viewing it as a natural and overdue step for a figure who has long been treated as a future France coach in waiting. Whether Zidane can replicate his club success on the international stage remains to be seen, but for now, the appointment closes one of the most anticipated managerial searches in French football in recent memory, and opens a new chapter defined by the name Zidane has carried through nearly three decades in the sport.
