According to L'Equipe, Zinedine Zidane will be officially appointed as the new head coach of the French national team within the next ten days, with the contract taking effect on September 1st. L'Equipe also reports that Zidane will be overhauling the coaching staff.
Zidane hopes to rely on a team that has been almost completely overhauled. Looking at the current team, even support roles (such as management and physiotherapists) are unlikely to be filled. The future of security officer Mohamed Sanhaj is one of the most pressing issues, although a bidding process to find his successor began several months ago.
As for the other positions, the coaching staff structure is basically finalized: David Bertoni will serve as the first assistant coach, Hamidou Msaidi as the second assistant coach, and Stéphane Planck as the analyst (mainly responsible for opponent analysis), which is essentially the same team he had when he coached Real Madrid. Regarding the medical team, Zidane will rely on an expert he worked with during his career (whose name has not yet been revealed). Former Real Madrid fitness coach Gregory Dupont may also join, though his specific role remains to be determined. Overall, the 1998 France Football Ballon d'Or winner is selecting personnel from his professional network. According to a previous report by L'Équipe, Zidane is considering inviting Fabian Barthez to serve as the goalkeeper coach, and this plan may materialize. Zidane (54 years old) understands the importance of understanding the reserve of young French players, and therefore will consult his close friend Bernard Diomede, who has been in charge of youth teams at all levels for over a decade.
The exact date of the official announcement has not yet been fully determined, but internally it is expected to be later next week or early the following week (Monday, July 27th). At that time, the new French national team coach will hold a press conference. In fact, the new team's contract will officially take effect on September 1st. After that, we will have to wait until the end of September to see Zidane's debut.
The new schedule is very tight. The French team will play four UEFA Nations League matches from the end of September to the beginning of October: away against Turkey on September 25, away against Belgium on September 28, home against Italy on October 2, and again at home against Belgium at the Stade de France on October 5.
