Zinedine Zidane has heart set on France national team job

Former Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has been tipped to wait for the France national team job to become available instead of diving back into club coaching any time soon.

Zidane stepped down as Real coach for the second time at the end of the 2020/21 season and has already been replaced at the Bernabeu by Carlo Ancelotti, himself starting a second spell in charge.

Zidane has only ever coached at Real during his managerial career to date, having led the club’s Castilla squad prior to being handed control of the first-team in January 2016.

But rather than consider moving to another club side – none of the other top jobs in Europe are currently available – Libertad Digital writes that Zidane has already made his mind up about which role he wants next and that is to take charge of his country.

What’s more, the 48-year-old is thought to be prepared to take time off from management next season in order to wait for the job to become available.

Current incumbent Didier Deschamps has a contract that runs until the end of 2022 and covers the first ever winter World Cup in Qatar. It is plausible that he could step down sooner than that if this summer’s Euro 2020 doesn’t go to plan for Les Bleus, but could also mean that Zidane has to wait until January 2023, 18 months from now, to land what appears to be his dream job.

That might not be an issue, however, as Libertad Digital adds that Zidane is ‘in no rush’ and fully appreciates that he might have to wait for Deschamps’ contract to expire.

Zidane would be looking to follow in Deschamps’ footsteps as a member of France golden generation that won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 to then go on and enjoy similar success as manager. Deschamps took France to the final of Euro 2016 on home soil and then in 2018 joined an exclusive list of individuals to have won the World Cup as both a player and manager.

Were Zidane to take over at the start of 2023, his first tournament cycle would be the 2024 European Championship in Germany, potentially followed by the 2026 World Cup jointly held by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

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