PARIS (AP) — France’s new manager will be announced next Tuesday, with Zinedine Zidane widely expected to replace Didier Deschamps.
The French Football Federation announced in a statement on Thursday that president Philippe Diallo would appoint the coach at a press conference at its headquarters in Paris.
Zidane, 54, has not coached since leaving Real Madrid in 2021. The midfielder led Madrid to three consecutive Champions League titles between 2016 and 2018.
deschamps He coached the French national team for 14 years, but resigned after the World Cup and joined Les Bleus. lost in the semifinals To Spain.
France won the World Cup under Deschamps. in 2018 And we lost on penalties in the final. in 2022. Les Bleus also lost on home soil in the European Championship final in 2016.
Zidane was France’s playmaker when they won the 1998 World Cup, scoring twice in the final in a 3-0 victory over Brazil, and was also the star when France won the European Championship two years later. He won the men’s Ballon d’Or in 1998.
Zidane played 108 games for France and scored 31 goals. That included a clever Panenka-style penalty in the 2006 World Cup final, which cost Les Bleus a defeat in extra time when he was sent off for headbutting Italian defender Marco Materazzi in the chest.
France’s next game will be away to Türkiye in the Nations League on September 25, followed by a game in Belgium three days later. France will play Italy on October 2nd at the Stade de France.
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