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Planet Football

·28 July 2026

Planet Football

·28 July 2026

Zinedine Zidane is back in the game after being officially unveiled as the new France manager. At last.

For years, it has seemed as though the France job might be Zidane’s only route back into management after his earlier spells with Real Madrid. Now, five years after leaving Madrid, he has got the role.

Taking over from Didier Deschamps, Zidane has signed a contract to lead his country until 2030, when France will be hoping to perform better at the World Cup than they did this year.

France were outplayed in the semi-finals by eventual champions Spain, before losing a wild ‘bronze final’ (third-place play-off to you and me) against England.

Now, Zidane has been given the reins for France’s new chapter. But what will they look like under his direction?

From his time in charge of Madrid, Zidane showed that he prefers a 4-3-3 formation. If that remains the same, here is how we think France could line up under their new boss.

At 31, Maignan may only have one more tournament cycle left with France, but he is still their best option in goal.

Zidane would be wise to keep a close watch on Robin Risser, whom Deschamps took to the World Cup as one of Maignan’s back-ups, but for now sticking with the AC Milan man as first choice is the sensible call.

Maignan is one of the best goalkeepers in Europe on his day.

Jules Kounde and Malo Gusto were the two right-backs France took to the World Cup, and at 27 and 23 respectively, they are likely to stay the main contenders for some time.

Barcelona defender Kounde has the upper hand, with more than 50 caps now to his name.

Interestingly, Zidane was said to have been interested in signing Kounde for Real Madrid several years ago, before he eventually ended up with their rivals instead.

We cannot imagine Zidane allowing that to stand in the way of using Kounde, although it remains to be seen what he makes of him as a right-back, where he has established himself in recent years, rather than as a centre-back, which was the role he would have wanted him to play at Madrid.

Saliba could miss out on Zidane’s first France squad in September while he recovers from a back injury, but over the long term he will be a major part of Zidane’s plans.

One of the best defenders in the Premier League, Saliba was actually linked with Zidane’s Madrid before he made his breakthrough at Arsenal, although we are not sure there was ever too much in it.

Still, Saliba is a difficult player for any coach to overlook because of the qualities he offers in defence. He has been crucial for Arsenal and is now a Premier League champion.

Talking of Premier League centre-backs, Zidane has also long admired Leny Yoro, but he will need to develop at Manchester United to force his way into the senior France side.

There was even more talk about Zidane wanting to sign Upamecano for Madrid back in 2020.

The plan was for Upamecano, then at RB Leipzig, to become a long-term successor to Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos. But he stayed one more year with Leipzig before moving to Bayern Munich.

Now in his prime at 27, Upamecano is someone around whom France will be built.

It is time for some fresh blood at left-back for France. Their World Cup options there were Lucas Digne, now 33, and Theo Hernandez, whom Zidane never saw at his best at Real Madrid and who now plays in Saudi Arabia.

One of the most promising French full-backs coming through is Truffert, who had a steady debut season in the Premier League with Bournemouth.

Now 24, he is no longer eligible for the under-21 team, for which he earned 15 caps. He made his senior France debut in a Nations League match four years ago, but has not added to that one cap since.

With luck, that should change soon. Keep an eye on Toulouse’s Dayann Methalie or Rennes’ Quentin Merlin too, but Truffert looks best placed to succeed Digne and Hernandez.

While Zidane and Tchouameni both share Real Madrid as a former club, they were not there at the same time.

Even so, the new France boss should hold Tchouameni in high regard. If he goes with a 4-3-3 system, Tchouameni would be the clear favourite for the holding midfield role.

Still only 26 and now with four years at Madrid behind him, Tchouameni has the big-match presence Zidane will be looking for.

After lighting up the France midfield himself for many years, Zidane will no doubt have lofty expectations of those following in his footsteps. No pressure, lads.

To be fair, that was already true to some extent under Deschamps, and he brought through several talented midfielders during his time.

One player France can look to for the future is PSG’s Zaire-Emery, who was the youngest player in their World Cup squad at 20.

But he already has more than 100 Ligue 1 appearances for PSG to his name and stands out for his passing and ability to resist pressure.

There is plenty to admire in Zaire-Emery’s game and working with Zidane during international windows should only help him develop further.

For the third and final midfield spot, Zidane could either choose a number 10 such as Rayan Cherki, or load the centre of the pitch with someone like Camavinga.

Like Tchouameni, he has followed in Zidane’s footsteps by playing for Madrid, though this will be their first chance to work together.

Camavinga was left out of the 2026 World Cup squad, which opened the door for players like Manu Kone to make an impression in his place.

But we can see Zidane bringing Camavinga back into the squad, while still leaving room for the likes of Kone to rotate in.

From the World Cup squad, the likes of N’Golo Kante and Adrien Rabiot – both now in their thirties – may be the ones to move aside.

There are not many players in world football who could match Olise for form over the past year – and linking up with Zidane could be ideal for him.

Olise likes to operate as a number 10, the same area Zidane used to dominate. However, the key difference is that Olise is often used on the wing.

Given the amount of talent France have, Olise could fill a hybrid role as a mix between a right winger and a number 10 in Zidane’s setup.

Whichever role he takes, Olise has certainly been forcing his way into the starting XI, at the expense of other wingers such as Bradley Barcola and Desire Doue.

That attack almost picks itself, does it not?

Whatever happened with Deschamps’ replacement, Dembele would have been the obvious man to shine alongside Mbappe and Olise.

Winner of the Ballon d’Or in 2025, Dembele is one of the most dangerous forwards in Ligue 1 when in top form.

At 29, he is at the peak of his powers – and he has only positive things to say about Zidane.

“I faced him when he was coaching Real Madrid and I was at Barcelona,” Dembele told Marca last month. “He is the greatest, a true icon of French football. He is an exceptional coach who won three consecutive Champions Leagues with Madrid.

“We hope to be able to welcome him one day to the bench of the French national team. I am convinced that he would do a formidable job, because he is a born winner.”

It is now up to Dembele and the others to help him.

“When you are a manager and there is a player like him, of course, you would want to manage him,” Zidane said of Mbappe in 2023. “Lots of things can happen. It could happen one day. He is a player who wears the France shirt well. In any case, I admire what he does. It is beautiful, it is strong.”

Zizou, your wish is our command.

The third and final Real Madrid player in this XI, Mbappe is France’s record scorer. At 27, there are many more goals still to come from him.