‘He’s not afraid of failure’ – former teammate of Zinédine Zidane says he still dreams of managing France | OneFootball

Following in the footsteps of one of the most successful French managers of all time will not discourage Zinédine Zidane from potentially filling those big shoes.

One of Zizou’s closest friends and former teammates believes the former three-time UEFA Champions League winning coach will relish the opportunity to take over from Didier Deschamps.

Christophe Dugarry played with Zidane for Girondins de Bordeaux and France, winning the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 crown alongside him. On the RMC Sport programme, Rothen s’enflamme, the former French striker, said that Zidane coming in to coach Les Bleus after the 2026 FIFA World Cup “makes a lot of sense.” The man born Lormont, who is still close to Zidane, adds that he still has the same desire to coach the national team and that “He’s not afraid of failure.”

The man who grew up in La Castellane has repeatedly stated that coaching the French men’s team would be his dream job.

He won’t get that opportunity until Deschamps officially steps away at the end of the next World Cup. The former Ballon d’Or winner, who scored in two different World Cup final matches, hasn’t coached since leaving Real Madrid in May 2021.

Zidane would have some big shoes to fill if he succeeds Deschamps, who’s guided France to consecutive World Cup final appearances, winning it in 2018 and the UEFA Nations League in 2020-21. In addition to that, he guided Les Bleus to a silver medal in Euro 2016 and a semi-final appearance at that tournament last summer.

Since stepping away from Los Blancos, Zidane’s been reportedly approached by numerous big clubs to coach, including Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, plus the United States national team with Zizou declining each time.

Former French Football Federation (FFF) president Noël Le Graët said earlier this week that he wasn’t sure Zidane was interested in becoming French manager.

During his time as Real Madrid boss, Zidane became the only manager in club history to win four trophies in a season and he is the only coach ever to win three consecutive UEFA Champions League titles. In 2015-16, he became the first fully French-born manager to win that competition.

GFFN | Joël Lefevre