Zidane set to succeed Deschamps as transition begins in French football

The winds of change have begun to blow through French football following the team's World Cup 2026 semi-final exit to Spain on Tuesday, 14 July. Zinedine Zidane, who inspired France to its maiden World Cup title in 1998 under captain Didier Deschamps, is now set to succeed the latter as national team coach for the four-year cycle once the ongoing tournament ends.

A report in L'Équipe said Zidane has verbally agreed to the role. He is believed to be an admirer of the way France is playing under the current system and has long envisioned building a team around a traditional No. 10 — a role in which Kylian Mbappe has flourished over three World Cups. The pressure on 'Zizou', however, will be immense. He will not only be expected to live up to his legendary status as one of football's greatest players but also fill the shoes of Deschamps, France's most successful coach.

Deschamps had announced earlier that he would step down after this World Cup, but the farewell has not unfolded as the French faithful had hoped. His remarkable 14-year reign has included 184 matches, three major tournament finals — a World Cup triumph, a runners-up finish and a European Championship final — as well as victory in the UEFA Nations League.

Saturday's third-place play-off against either Argentina or England will mark the final time the former midfield general leads Les Bleus from the dugout.

Speaking after the defeat, Deschamps stopped short of directly blaming the referee for France's exit but made it clear he was unhappy with the performance of Salvadoran official Iván Arcides Barton Cisneros. It was not just the first-half penalty awarded to Spain that frustrated him, he suggested, but the overall standard of officiating throughout the match.

"If I say anything, I'll look like a sore loser because we lost," Deschamps told reporters. "But I ask you: is the referee up to the task of officiating a semi-final? There's the penalty, but that's not all; it adds to everything else. I have nothing against the referee tonight, but ask yourselves the question."

Despite his frustration with the officiating, Deschamps admitted France simply was not good enough on the night as it suffered a third successive defeat to Spain, following losses at Euro 2024 and the 2025 UEFA Nations League.

"To have any hope, we needed to be at our best," he said. "Unfortunately, we weren't."

Zidane will take over without any prior experience of managing a national team. Three UEFA Champions League titles and two La Liga crowns with Real Madrid make for an outstanding managerial résumé, but he has not taken up a coaching role in the past five years, and his last major trophy came in 2020.