Thierry Henry and the Future of French Football
Thierry Henry has already felt the weight of a nation on his shoulders from the touchline. He did it in Paris in 2024, steering France’s Olympic side all the way to a final with Spain. The dream ended in extra-time, silver instead of gold for Michael Olise and his teammates, but the impression Henry left was unmistakable: he can marshal a team on a big stage.
Since hanging up his boots, Henry’s coaching path has been anything but linear. A brief, bruising spell in the dugout at Monaco. A return to MLS with Montreal Impact. A role in the Belgium national team set-up alongside Roberto Martinez, working with one of the most talented generations in that country’s history.
Now, at 48, he has stepped back from the daily grind of management and into the TV studio, keeping his options open and his phone on. He is in no rush to jump at the next offer. The right one, though, will always make him listen.
And there is one job that will always command his attention.
Zidane steps in, Deschamps steps aside
France are entering a new era. Didier Deschamps is walking away after 14 years in charge, a reign that delivered the 2018 World Cup and the UEFA Nations League, along with a conveyor belt of deep runs at major tournaments. His record has not silenced every critic, but it has set a brutal standard.
Into that space steps Zinedine Zidane. A Ballon d’Or winner. A World Cup winner. A Champions League serial champion with Real Madrid. This will be his first role outside the Bernabeu, and he inherits a squad stacked with talent: Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, and a supporting cast that most national coaches can only dream of.
For Jeremie Aliadiere, another member of that storied 1998 generation and part of Arsenal’s “Invincibles”, Zidane’s appointment feels almost mythical. Speaking to GOAL in association with ToonieBet, he said: “Zidane in France is something different and now we've touched the gods. Zidane will always be Zidane. So I wish and I really hope that he succeeds and everything goes well.”
The bar, though, has been set high. Deschamps has normalised semi-finals and finals. That is the environment Zidane walks into.
“The next step now really for Zidane, he has to win something,” Aliadiere said. “He can't just come and then do a semi-final or a quarter-finals. And we know how hard it is to win it. Only one team can.”
He pointed to England as a cautionary tale: close in recent tournaments, but still empty-handed. At some point, patience thins.
Henry waiting in the wings?
That is where the conversation inevitably drifts towards Henry. If Zidane is the present, could Henry be the future? Could the class of ’98 keep passing the baton among themselves?
Whenever Zidane’s time ends, that question will sharpen. Aliadiere has no doubt about Henry’s desire.
“Why not? I'm sure Thierry will be delighted to get the job,” he said. “We've seen how patriotic he is and how much he loves France. We saw him during the Olympic Games in 2024 as well. He's had a great tournament there. I'm sure that'll be in the back of his mind and he will love to get the opportunity at some point.”
For now, though, the stage belongs to Zidane. Henry watches from a distance, his Olympic work a reminder that he knows how to build a team identity, how to carry the expectations of French football. The succession line is there, even if nobody at the federation will say it out loud.
A golden era still gathering pace
The bigger question for France is not whether they will compete. It is how long they can stay at the summit.
On that, Aliadiere is emphatic. “Yeah, 100%. I think so,” he said when asked if France will remain contenders for European Championship and World Cup titles with this current crop.
He pushed back at any attempt to play down Deschamps’ legacy. “As much as people might say that Didier Deschamps has only one World Cup, that is obviously more than a lot of anyone else. But you just think what he's done in terms of leading the team with such a great squad and great talent.”
Zidane, he believes, walks into a near-perfect situation. “Zidane's going to come in and he hasn't got a lot to do really. Everything's already set for him to succeed.”
The depth is frightening. Established stars at their peak. Emerging names waiting for their chance. Aliadiere highlighted the players who barely featured or missed out entirely but could shape the next cycle.
That is the task: not to rebuild, but to refine. To take a machine that already reaches semi-finals and finals and push it over the line again.
If Zidane does that, he writes a new chapter in his own legend and extends the dominance of this French generation. If he does not, the pressure will swell, the debate will flare, and eyes will turn towards the next man in line.
Henry, Olympic silver around his neck, waiting for the call that might never come – or might define the next decade of French football.
