After an amazing playing career for Les Bleus, Zinedine Zidane thinks it is “natural” for him to consider managing France in the future.
- Zidane opened up about his future
- Believes he will take charge of France
- Reflected on his time in Madrid
WHAT HAPPENED? The most likely contender to succeed current France national team manager Didier Deschamps has frequently been identified as the 1998 World Cup champion. Zidane was rumoured to be brought in after Les Bleus’ 2022 World Cup final loss to Argentina, but those rumours were quickly put to rest when Deschamps’ contract was extended until June 2026. Although the 50-year-old manager says “now is not the moment” for him to take over, he has not ruled out the prospect of managing Les Bleus in the future.
WHAT THEY SAID: Speaking to GQ magazine, Zidane said: “I’ve often said that when you know the France team as a player and you become a coach, it’s just logical to think about it. But now is not the time. When I was in Cannes, I wanted to go to Bordeaux. Then I wanted to play at Juve and then Madrid because it was a different and stronger experience each time. We just call it ambition. I have always been ambitious and I have always believed in myself. I rush.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: After an extremely successful first stint with Real Madrid, where he won the Champions League on three successive occasions, Zidane returned to the Santiago Bernabeu dugout when Los Blancos were in turmoil in 2019. He says that he picks his assignments on instinct rather than the risk factor involved in the job.
“I don’t prepare things in general, I do what I feel,” he added. “As for my first stop in Madrid. I had done two and a half years ‘a tope’ (thoroughly) as we say in Spanish. We had won a lot of things and I really needed to breathe. And then eight months later, after an interval that had been beneficial to me on a personal level, the president called me and I plunged back in immediately. I could have said to myself: ‘I did what I did. Why put me back in there? Why take this risk of doing less well?’ But I don’t calculate all that, I do it instinctively.”
IN TWO PHOTOS:
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WHAT NEXT? Zidane was once again reportedly approached by Paris Saint-Germain to replace Christophe Galtier, but the French legend turned down their offer.
