Didier Deschamps ended his reign as the coach of France (men) after the team lost the FIFA World Cup 2026 semifinal to Spain in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday.
The 57-year-old, who had won the World Cup title as a player in 1998, guided Les Bleus to consecutive World Cup finals in 2018 and 2022, winning the former.
Zidane, who last managed Real Madrid in 2021, won the 1998 World Cup with France as a player, and finished as runner-up in the 2006 edition of the quadrennial tournament, where he was infamously sent off in the final.
He had previously also expressed interest in coaching the French side.
“I’m sure I’ll get back into coaching,” Zidane had said at an event last year, adding, “I’m not saying it’s going to happen now, but what I want one day is to coach the national team.”
Zidane, having retired as a footballer in 2006, returned to the game in a coaching role four years later, becoming advisor to the then Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho.
Six years later, he replaced Rafael Benitez as first-team manager.
He had two spells as Real Madrid manager between 2016 to 2018 and 2019 to 2021. In his first stint Los Blancos won five European trophies in three years, including a hat-trick of UEFA Champions League titles.
Madrid remains the only senior team he managed, with which he won 11 major trophies across stints before leaving the club on May 27, 2021. Though he was approached by the United States of America to become head coach for the FIFA World Cup, he turned down the offer.
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Published on Jul 15, 2026