2 min readMar 24, 2026 11:54 AM IST
French football legend Zinedine Zidane is expected to succeed Didier Deschamps as the head coach of the France national team in the summer once the FIFA World Cup ends.
According to a report on ESPN, a verbal agreement has already been reached between Zidane and the Fédération Française de Football (FFF).
According to reports in French media, Didier Deschamps, who is currently at the helm in France, will end his 14-year stint as the national team’s boss after the FIFA World Cup.
The head of the French football federation, Philippe Diallo, told French newspaper Le Figaro on Sunday that they knew who Deschamp’s successor was going to be. While speaking about the new boss of France after the Football World Cup in USA, Mexico and Canada, Diallo ominously said: “I know who it is.” However, he stopped short of revealing the name of the man who will be French national coach.
Zidane has had two stints as the manager of Real Madrid: in 2016-18 and 2019-21). Zidane’s stature in French football remains unmatched. As a player, the midfielder won the 1998 Ballon d’Or besides being the FIFA World Player of the Year thrice (1998, 2000 and 2003). He inspired the French football team to the Football World Cup title in 1998. He was also part of the team that lost the final of the FIFA World Cup in 2006 (where he was infamously sent off for head-butting Italy’s Marco Materazzi in the chest).
At the upcoming World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by the USA, Mexico and Canada, France will be hoping to send off their long-time manager Deschamps with the title. The team came close last time around, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar before being overwhelmed by the Argentine football team in the final. That final had seen a hat-trick from Kylian Mbappe go in vain with Lionel Messi (who scored a brace in regulation time) inspiring the team to a victory via a wild penalty shootout.
