Zinedine Zidane Takes Charge of France Football Team

Zinedine Zidane is back where many in France always believed he would end up: in charge of Les Bleus.

The French Football Federation confirmed on Tuesday, via a post on X, that the former midfield maestro and Real Madrid coach will take over as national team head coach. The announcement ends years of speculation and delivers a seismic change just two weeks after Didier Deschamps’ long reign came to a close.

Deschamps departs after 14 years, 185 matches and 120 victories. His tenure reshaped modern French football: World Cup champions in 2018, Nations League winners in 2020-21, and finalists at Euro 2016 and the 2022 World Cup. Few international managers leave behind such a loaded résumé.

His final act, though, was brutal. A chaotic 6-4 defeat to England in the third-place playoff at the World Cup marked the end of an era and opened the door for the one name that has hovered over the job for a decade.

Now it is Zidane’s turn.

At 54, he steps into the role with a weighty history behind him and a demanding future ahead. He is expected to begin his reign with an away UEFA Nations League fixture against Turkiye, before France welcome Italy to the Stade de France on October 2. Two games, two emotionally charged occasions, and an immediate test of his authority on the touchline.

This is not just a change of coach; it is a handover between two men whose stories have been intertwined for more than a quarter of a century. Deschamps and Zidane shared the pitch in France’s most iconic summer, the 1998 World Cup on home soil. Deschamps, the captain and midfield anchor. Zidane, the visionary playmaker whose two headed goals in the final against Brazil lit up the Stade de France and carried him to the Ballon d’Or that same year.

They built France’s first world title together. Now one passes the baton to the other.

Zidane arrives with the aura of a serial winner. As a player, he defined an era for club and country. As a coach at Real Madrid, he collected Champions League trophies with a calm, almost icy presence on the sideline, turning star-studded squads into ruthless, functional machines.

International football is a different beast. Less time on the training ground, more scrutiny, and a nation that has grown used to competing in finals. Yet the fit feels almost inevitable. A French icon leading a generation that grew up watching his highlights on repeat.

The expectations will be immediate and unforgiving. Nations League nights in Turkiye, a glamour clash with Italy in Saint-Denis, and beyond that, another cycle of major tournaments where France will again be measured not by participation, but by trophies.

Deschamps leaves a winning culture. Zidane brings a new voice and a familiar face, one that once lifted a country from the centre circle of the same stadium where he will soon stand in the technical area.

The question now is not whether he belongs there. It is what kind of legacy he will carve of his own.