Reports from Spain and France say Zinedine Zidane has finally chosen his next job. According to Diario AS and follow-up coverage, the French Football Federation has an agreement in place for him to take over the national team after the 2026 World Cup. Didier Deschamps steps down, Zidane steps in. It’s not official yet, but the direction of travel is clear.
Deschamps already confirmed his current contract runs through 2026 and that’s it. He’s been on the touchline since 2012—won the 2018 World Cup, lifted the Nations League in 2021, reached two more major finals. The federation backed him through it all, but everyone knew the clock was ticking.
Zidane has been the obvious heir for nearly a decade. The 53-year-old hasn’t worked since leaving Real Madrid in 2021. He’s turned down everything, including a one-year, €120 million offer from Al Hilal—roughly $130 million—because it didn’t match his long-term plan. That number tells you how wanted he is. It also tells you how patient he’s been about waiting for France.
The attraction makes sense. As a player, Zidane is stitched into France’s football identity—the ’98 World Cup final brace, the chipped penalty in Berlin, the red card that ended it all. As a coach, he built something different at Real Madrid: three straight Champions League titles and a dressing room full of Ballon d’Or contenders that never imploded.
For the FFF, that track record offers something Deschamps couldn’t deliver even with comparable silverware: a stylistic reset backed by a manager whose aura matches the talent at his disposal. France has Kylian Mbappé and an emerging generation behind him. They can be more than efficient. They can be expressive again. Zidane represents that as much as anyone.
A handover everyone saw coming
This succession hasn’t been subtle. For years, pundits and former teammates have spoken as if Zidane’s appointment was an open secret. In 2025, Thierry Henry summed it up: “We all know who the next coach will be. You know it, I know it. All I can do is wish him the best.”
The reporting now goes further. Outlets say Zidane and the FFF have a framework agreement. The formal announcement is delayed out of respect for Deschamps and to avoid turning the 2026 cycle into a lame-duck farewell tour. Fans have split predictably. Some see it as France pressing the final-boss cheat code. Others wonder why you’d change anything when the current coach still has the team among the favorites for 2026.
Zidane would inherit a squad loaded but in transition. Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann will be gone or reduced to bit parts. Mbappé, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Eduardo Camavinga, William Saliba—they’ll be at or near their peak. The job isn’t about rescuing a fallen giant. It’s about keeping a superpower sharp without the urgency of a club calendar and with far fewer training sessions to impose detail.
His Real Madrid sides were pragmatic rather than revolutionary. Tactically, they shifted between 4-3-3 and 4-4-2—balance, control in big moments, trust the stars to decide games. That template fits international tournaments, where managers have limited time and knockout margins are razor-thin. It also offers a different tone from Deschamps, whose France has been accused of playing within itself even while winning.
Then there’s the symbolic layer. Zidane stepping into the dugout at Stade de France as head coach closes a loop that runs through every major moment in modern French football. He’s all over France’s all-time greatest XI and the most-capped players list. His presence bridges generations of supporters.
The risk is there’s no way to match the mythology. If Deschamps leaves having added another deep run or even a second World Cup, Zidane walks into an impossible comparison. If France stumbles in 2026, he inherits a team with scars that aren’t his but expectations that are. Either way, the room for patience is thin.
There’s another wrinkle. Until a contract is signed and announced, Zidane’s name will surface whenever Real Madrid or another super club gets nervous about its manager. Recent reports have already suggested he could be a contingency if Xabi Alonso’s first full season in Madrid goes sideways. The clearer the France plan becomes, the less noise Zidane has to manage. But it hasn’t gone away yet.
For now, this is intent, not ink on paper. Deschamps will lead France to one more World Cup. His players will rightly insist nothing beyond that matters. Zidane appears closer than ever to the job he’s waited for, with a generation of French fans already imagining his first squad list. Until the FFF speaks, everything lives in the realm of “reportedly.” The difference now is that “reportedly” feels a lot more like “inevitably.”
