Zinédine Zidane is the overwhelming fans’ choice to become the next France coach | OneFootball

The people have spoken, and unsurprisingly, most want Zinédine Zidane to be France’s next manager.

L’Équipe conducted an internet poll on who should succeed Didier Deschamps as coach of Les Bleus. The man who captained France to the World Cup in 1998 and coached them to the title in 2018 announced on Tuesday that he’d be leaving his post as manager when the 2026 World Cup concludes.

Over 23,000 votes were cast online, with Zizou the overwhelming winner at 72.35%. Lille OSC manager Bruno Génésio finished second in voting with 9.98%, while Zidane’s ex-teammate, Thierry Henry, who coached France to a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, was third with 6.85%.

Rounding out the results, 5.77% of voters favoured a surprise coach, 2.72% wanted a foreign coach hired, and OGC Nice boss Franck Haise had 2.34% of the votes.

Zidane, who netted a brace for Les Bleus in their 3-0 World Cup final victory over Brazil in 1998, has been out of coaching since leaving Real Madrid in 2021.

The former two-time France Foot Player of the Year won three UEFA Champions League titles, plus a pair of Super Cups and two Club World Cups as manager of Los Blancos.

He also guided them to two La Liga crowns while in charge and a couple of Supercopa de España championships.

The United States men’s national team offered Zidane the head coaching job after the 2022 World Cup, but Zizou declined.

GFFN | Joel Lefevre