Zidane Returns: France Welcomes a Legend Back to Coaching

The wait is almost over. The French Football Federation has circled a date on the calendar, and it carries the weight of an era change.

Next Tuesday, at the federation’s headquarters, president Philippe Diallo will step in front of the cameras at 11am to present the new head coach of Les Bleus. The official statement does not name him. The football world hardly needs it to.

All roads point to Zinedine Zidane.

Deschamps Era Ends, Spotlight Swings to Zidane

Didier Deschamps walks away after 14 years in charge, a spell that delivered a World Cup, a Nations League title and three major finals. Yet there will be no farewell ceremony, no orchestrated goodbye. The federation has chosen a clean break: one door quietly closes as another swings wide open.

That decision says plenty. France are not pausing to look back. They are accelerating into the Zidane years.

Local newspapers had already revealed Tuesday 28 July 2026 as the key date; the federation simply confirmed the script. An extraordinary meeting of the executive committee will precede the press conference, during which the new coach will be formally presented to the media.

By then, the real story will not be the name. It will be the expectations.

Zidane Returns After Five-Year Hiatus

Zidane has been out of coaching since leaving Real Madrid in June 2021. Five years on the sidelines for a man courted relentlessly. Club projects, national teams, big-money offers — he turned them all down. He waited.

He waited for this.

His ambition to lead France has been an open secret, his name tied to the post every time Deschamps came under scrutiny or a tournament cycle ended. Now, according to multiple reliable reports, the agreement with the federation is in place. Only the final touches to his backroom staff remain before he can officially take charge.

Even French politics has bent around his arrival. Recent reforms on salary caps will not apply to him; Zidane has secured a special exemption from the relevant authorities. When a country carves out exceptions, you understand the scale of the figure returning.

From 1998 Partners to Successive Bosses

There is a neat symmetry in the transition. Deschamps and Zidane once shared a midfield and a dream, lifting the World Cup together in 1998. Deschamps captained, Zidane illuminated. Now one hands over the most coveted job in French football to the other.

The emotional thread runs deeper still. Reports in Italy link Deschamps with the Azzurri job after his France exit. If that move materialises, Zidane’s first months in charge could unfold against the backdrop of his old captain taking over the country where Zidane became a global superstar with Juventus.

France versus Italy will no longer be just another Nations League fixture. It will be a reunion, a passing of torches across borders.

A Fiery Start for Zizou

There will be no gentle easing-in period. Zidane’s France will be thrown straight into high-level competition in the UEFA Nations League, and the schedule is unforgiving.

His tenure is set to begin on 25 September with an away trip to Turkey, a notoriously hostile environment for any visiting side. Three days later, on 28 September, France travel to Belgium, one of Europe’s most technically gifted teams and a familiar rival.

Then comes the night that will grip a nation. On 2 October, Zidane walks out at the Stade de France for his first home match as France coach, against Italy. The symbolism is impossible to ignore: five years as a player at Juventus, a potential Deschamps link to the Italian bench, and a stadium where Zidane’s name still echoes from his playing days.

Just as the dust settles, Belgium arrive in Paris on 5 October. Another high-stakes clash, another test of Zidane’s tactical imprint and authority in the dressing room.

The group stage closes with two November fixtures: Italy v France on 12 November, then France v Turkey on 15 November. By then, the contours of Zidane’s France will be clear. Not in theory, but in results.

The Road Ahead

Here is France’s Nations League schedule under Zidane:

Turkey v France, 25 September
Belgium v France, 28 September
France v Italy, 2 October
France v Belgium, 5 October
Italy v France, 12 November
France v Turkey, 15 November

No warm-up games. No time to experiment in the shadows. Zidane steps back into the arena with the lights at full glare, the stakes already high, the calendar packed with opponents who expect to win, not just compete.

He has waited five years for this chance. France has waited even longer to see its greatest modern icon on the national-team touchline.

Now the date is set. The question is no longer if Zidane will coach Les Bleus. It is how far he can take them.