Zinedine Zidane Takes Charge of France Football Team
Zinedine Zidane steps back into the spotlight. France is about to feel very different.
The French Football Federation confirmed on Thursday that it will unveil the new head coach of Les Bleus at a press conference on Tuesday 28 July 2026, at 11:00am, at its headquarters in Paris. President Philippe Diallo will chair the event, which follows an extraordinary meeting of the executive committee earlier that day.
Didier Deschamps is out after 14 years in charge. No farewell match. No testimonial. No staged goodbye. Just a clean break and the sense of an era abruptly closing as another, even more glamorous one, waits in the wings.
All roads point to Zidane.
The federation’s statement did not name the new coach, but multiple well-sourced reports in France have already installed the 1998 World Cup winner as Deschamps’ successor. The date of the announcement lines up exactly with what local newspapers revealed on Wednesday evening, only adding to the inevitability of the outcome.
For Zidane, this is the job he has been waiting for.
He has not coached since leaving Real Madrid in June 2021, walking away after a second spell that cemented his status as one of the elite managers of his generation. Offers arrived from across Europe and beyond; he turned them down. The France job hovered in the background, a long-term ambition, and he chose patience over compromise.
Now the door has opened.
Zidane, a former teammate of Deschamps in that iconic 1998 side, has already reached an agreement with the federation. Only final touches to his backroom staff remain before he officially takes charge. Even French politics has bent around his arrival: recent parliamentary reforms on salary caps will not apply to him, with the relevant authorities granting a special exemption.
It is a reminder of his weight in French football. Zidane does not just coach teams. He shifts landscapes.
No soft landing for Zizou
If this is a dream appointment, the schedule is a brutal wake-up call.
Zidane’s reign will begin with a demanding run of fixtures in the UEFA Nations League, a sequence that leaves no room for gentle experimentation. His first international break, stretching from late September into October, reads like a series of knockout ties rather than early bedding-in games.
France open away to Turkey on 25 September, a trip that can quickly turn hostile for visiting sides. Three days later, on 28 September, they head to Belgium, one of Europe’s most technically gifted teams and a familiar rival in recent years.
Then comes the night everyone in France will circle.
On 2 October, Zidane walks out at the Stade de France for his first home match in charge, against Italy. The fixture carries a particular charge. Zidane spent five years at Juventus as a player, a period that shaped him and forged his legend in Serie A. Facing the Azzurri in Paris, this time as France head coach, adds a rich layer of symbolism.
That storyline could twist even further. Deschamps, who captained France to the World Cup in 1998 and then led them to another as coach in 2018, has been strongly linked with taking over the Italian national team following his departure. If those reports materialise, future France–Italy clashes will pit two World Cup-winning captains and coaches from the same golden generation against each other, now in opposing dugouts.
For now, the Nations League offers more immediate tests.
After Italy at home, France host Belgium at the Stade de France on 5 October, a rapid-fire rematch that will quickly reveal how Zidane’s ideas are landing with his players. Then comes a trip to Italy on 12 November, before the group stage closes in Paris against Turkey on 15 November.
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 easing into the role. Zidane steps into the job he has long coveted with a demanding calendar, a reshaped staff, and the weight of a football nation on his shoulders.
Deschamps leaves behind trophies, stability, and a clear identity. Zidane arrives with aura, expectation, and a different kind of promise.
France has chosen change. Now it waits to see what Zizou makes of it.
