Zinedine Zidane will return to coaching. After the World Cup in Qatar he is to take over his native country

Zinedine Zidane has been out of work for over a year now, having resigned as Real Madrid coach after the 2020/21 season. Since then, he has been on the lookout for an opportunity, and according to journalist Sergio Valentin, that opportunity could be the head coaching position with the French national team, now led by Didier Deschamps, who is preparing for the World Cup in Qatar, which starts on 20 November.

Zidane doesn’t have a long career behind him, having only managed Real Madrid so far and for a full 263 games. What makes it all the more impressive is the fact that he can boast three Champions League titles in a row. Two La Liga titles and he was voted the best coach in the world for the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons.

That’s a truly impressive CV, which may now be expanded up another notch. In fact, journalist Sergio Valentin has sent out word that Zidane will become the new coach of France after the World Cup in Qatar, regardless of how Kylian Mbappé and co end up there.

The 54-year-old coach has a record of 84 wins, 26 draws and 22 losses in 132 games so far.

But the biggest loss was undoubtedly to Switzerland at the last Euro. France’s second biggest defeat under him dates back to 2014, when Deschamps and co. had to bow out to Germany in the World Cup quarter-finals.

On the other hand, his biggest success came in 2018, when France managed to beat Croatia in the World Cup final in Russia and lift the world’s most valuable football trophy above their heads for the first time since 1998.

It was Zidane who was there in 1998, with two goals in the final duel with Brazil at the Stade de France to ensure the trophy stayed in the host country.

So it should not be long before he gets the chance to lead France, who will be one of the favourites along with Brazil in Qatar, to the top again, with his first opportunity coming at the next Euros.

To do so, he will have a great generation at his disposal, led by Mbappé, who is still 23 years old, like the other young guns who are already starting in the starting line-ups of the best European big clubs at such a young age.

The future of the French is bright and Zidane is certainly the ideal candidate for the job, as he has confirmed with several successes in the Champions League. Players look up to him and even more so in his native France where he is considered a football god.

Source: Twitter, Sergio Valentin, Transfermarkt