Zinédine Zidane started with two wins in two games: 1-0 in Turkey on Friday, then 1-0 in Belgium on Monday. On Tuesday, RMC Sport set out what he earns. The fixed salary is 300,000 euros a month, according to L’Equipe, the same as Didier Deschamps. RMC Sport had already given that figure at the end of July.
The difference is elsewhere. Didier Deschamps also received an image-rights bonus for every France match, tied to commercial operations with the team’s sponsors. About 22,000 euros per player per match, double for the coach, so around 44,000 euros. Zinédine Zidane has given it up. That leaves him with no obligations to the France sponsors, whose kit supplier is Nike. He is linked to plenty of brands himself, Adidas among them.
In exchange, the coach and the French federation agreed bigger bonuses for the Euros and the World Cups. Philippe Diallo, the federation’s president, described their meeting: “I met Zidane in February 2025. We didn’t talk about money. We talked about desire, about a federation that wants France to win, and about a player who dreams in blue. And we didn’t talk about money”.
Twice in the same breath. On Tuesday evening, a coach in the third provincial division (Belgium’s Sunday amateur leagues), in Hainaut, found it a model negotiation.
Tactically… sorry, contractually, that’s my system. No fixed wage, no image rights, everything on the result. My bonus is a cone of chips if we take a point away from home. I gave up my image rights in 2011, the day the club delegate put the team photo in his folder without me. And the chairman and I have never talked about money either. Twice, even. A budget away, mind you.
France host Italy on Friday at 8.45pm, then Belgium on Monday at 8.45pm, both times at the Stade de France, in the Nations League.
It’s true, we checked: RMC Sport.
