Fabien Barthez Joins Zidane's France Coaching Staff
Fabien Barthez is back with France – and back alongside Zinedine Zidane.
The French Football Federation (FFF) confirmed on Thursday that the 1998 World Cup-winning goalkeeper will join Zidane’s new backroom staff with responsibility for the national team’s goalkeepers.
Barthez, now 55, shared the biggest night in French football history with Zidane when Les Bleus lifted the World Cup on home soil in 1998. Two decades and more have passed, but the partnership is being rebuilt at the very top of the French game.
A veteran of Toulouse, Monaco, Marseille and Manchester United, Barthez has already had brushes with the national setup. He previously worked as a consultant under Raymond Domenech and Laurent Blanc, offering his expertise around the squad. During Didier Deschamps’ 14-year reign, though, he had no official role and stayed on the outside looking in.
He did return to club coaching briefly with Toulouse between 2020 and 2021, but this marks his most prominent post since hanging up his gloves.
Zidane, appointed on July 28 to succeed his former teammate Deschamps after France’s World Cup semi-final exit, is clearly surrounding himself with familiar faces and trusted voices.
The FFF also confirmed a raft of other appointments. David Bettoni and Hamidou Msaidie come in as assistant coaches, both long-time lieutenants of Zidane during his two spells in charge of Real Madrid. They know his methods, his demands, and the intensity he expects around a dressing room.
Another key addition is Gregory Dupont, named “Strategy and Performance Advisor”. Dupont also worked with Zidane at Madrid and will be tasked with sharpening the physical and tactical edge of a squad expected to challenge for every trophy it enters.
The outline is clear: Zidane is building a staff built on loyalty, shared history and high performance – and Barthez is a central piece of that puzzle for the goalkeepers.
The new era will not take long to be tested. Zidane’s first France training camp is scheduled for September, when he will finally step onto the training pitch as national team head coach.
His debut in the dugout comes on September 25, away to Turkey in the Nations League. A new coach, a rebuilt staff, old champions reunited. The next chapter for Les Bleus starts there.
