Zinedine Zidane 'a very good candidate' for France job, says Deschamps

France coach Didier Deschamps believes that his former teammate Zinedine Zidane would be “a very good candidate” to succeed him when he leaves the French national team after the 2026 World Cup, as he has already announced he will do.

In an interview with the newspapers 'L'Equipe', 'Le Figaro' and 'Le Parisien' published on Friday, Deschamps specifies that his departure from the national team does not mean that he will retire, and that he will decide his future depending on what is “proposed” because he considers that “there are a lot of possibilities”.

On Zidane, with whom he last met in the summer of 2023 and with whom he intends to meet again this summer, he explains that there is “a lot of respect” between the two. “Zidane is a very good candidate, natural and I would add that expected. After that, I don't know if he will be eager.”

When asked if he has the right profile to succeed him, he repeats the same idea with the addendum that it will be “his decision and that of the president” of the French Football Federation (FFF), Philippe Diallo.

Diallo - recalls the current coach - has specified that he will decide who will be the next after the 2026 World Cup. As for his future, Deschamps (who is 56 years old) insists that the end of his contract with the FFF does not mean that he then considers himself retired: “I'm not retiring, I'm leaving something that has been wonderful for many years, but no, I'm not going to retire”.

He assures that he has not received any proposals and that in any case he is not available because he still has a contract with the FFF: “it is not the time”. As for his decision to leave the French national team, he repeats that he was clear that the 2026 World Cup was the limit he had set.

“All things have an end. The French national team is a very good thing, because it represents 25 years of my professional life. When I accumulate my two lives, it's a lot of years.”