Zinedine Zidane is officially France's new head coach, five years after he first said the job was his only real ambition

[JustMartin]

Zinedine Zidane has been appointed head coach of the France national team, signing a four-year contract through the 2030 World Cup and replacing Didier Deschamps, whose 14-year reign ended after France's fourth-place finish at the 2026 World Cup, a run that closed with a 6-4 defeat to England in the third-place match following a semi-final exit to eventual champions Spain. French Football Federation president Philippe Diallo confirmed the appointment at FFF headquarters in Paris, calling it an exceptional moment, exceptional because of the person sat next to me

Zidane, 54, has been out of coaching since leaving Real Madrid for a second time in 2021, and revealed he turned down multiple lucrative club offers over the past four to five years specifically because leading France was the only job he actually wanted. I've waited five years for this chance, so that's why I'm a bit emotional, he said, visibly moved at the press conference. I've always looked at this team through the eyes of a future manager. I didn't take a club job for that reason. The only thing I wanted to do after Madrid was manage the French national team. Diallo said the two first held talks back in February 2025, well before Deschamps' actual departure

As a player, Zidane won the 1998 World Cup with France, scoring twice in the final against Brazil, and later captained the side to the Euro 2000 title, though his international career ended painfully with a red card for headbutting Italy's Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final. As a manager, he won three consecutive Champions League titles with Real Madrid between 2016 and 2018. He and Deschamps were teammates in that 1998 winning squad, different types of midfielders forever linked by that shared glory, and Zidane was careful to credit his predecessor's legacy while signaling a different style ahead, saying what motivates me is the game, I was a No.10, I like goals, adding he wants France to play differently than it did under Deschamps. His first match in charge comes away to Turkiye in the Nations League on September 25, with a home debut against Italy at the Stade de France on October 2, twenty years to the year after his infamous sending off in Berlin

Zinedine Zidane: Former Real Madrid manager appointed as France head coachwww.bbc.co.uk

[DeanAmbrose11]

Turning down every club offer for five years specifically to wait for this exact job is a remarkable show of patience and conviction, most managers take whatever prestigious role comes calling rather than waiting years for one specific dream job

[TomTiz]

The home debut against Italy on October 2 being twenty years almost to the date after the Materazzi headbutt is such a poetic bit of scheduling, either coincidence or someone in the FFF has a real sense of drama

[AlexandrZakharyan]

Genuinely curious what a different style actually means in practice, Deschamps built his whole reign around pragmatic, results-first football, and Zidane hinting at wanting more attacking football is a real philosophical shift to watch for

[Eastern Aaron]

Fourth place at a World Cup you were favored to win is exactly the kind of disappointing finish that makes a federation reach for its biggest possible name to reset expectations and re-energize the fanbase

[Fox50]

Genuinely emotional press conference from someone usually so measured and controlled publicly, that visible vulnerability says a lot about how much this specific job actually means to him personally

[Lion]

This is one of those appointments that just makes total footballing sense on every level, legendary player, proven elite manager, genuine emotional connection to the role, hard to imagine a more fitting successor to Deschamps

[Binary Anchor]

Three Champions League titles in a row at Real Madrid is an extraordinary managerial achievement, but international management is a completely different beast, no daily training ground access, no transfer market, just squad selection and tactics across a handful of matches a year