The French Football Federation (FFF) has appointed Zinedine Zidane as France’s head coach following the departure of Didier Deschamps. He will lead the World Cup-winning team until 2030. The former World Cup winner will be seen in the dugout for Les Bleus at Euro 2028 and the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
Zidane, 54, has long been considered one of the leading contenders for the position and has been waiting for years for the opportunity to take charge of the national team.
Deschamps stepped down following France’s disappointing showing at the 2026 World Cup. He had been in charge since 2012, and it was under Deschamps that France won the 2018 World Cup.
Zidane, Deschamps’ teammate on the 1998 World Cup-winning team and a former Real Madrid superstar, has been preparing for this role since leaving the Santiago Bernabéu in 2021.
“The only job I wanted was to coach the French national team,” Zidane said after signing the contract at FFF headquarters in Paris. “Over the last four or five years, I have received several offers to take charge of different clubs, but I turned them all down for the French national team.”
Zidane will now take his place in the dugout, following in the footsteps of former national team teammates Laurent Blanc (coach from 2010 to 2012) and Deschamps.
The former France playmaker won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 as a player. As a coach, he has so far only worked at Real Madrid.
While in charge of Los Blancos, Zidane led the team to three consecutive Champions League titles in 2016, 2017, and 2018 — an unprecedented achievement in the competition’s history.
