Zinédine Zidane leads his first match as France manager on Friday, away to Vincenzo Montella’s Turkey, in the opening round of the Nations League.
He has named four captains by seniority: Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, Adrien Rabiot and Jules Koundé. Fabien Barthez, for his part, joins the expanded coaching staff.
Four captains. In 1980, we had one. He wore the armband, handed it back at the final whistle, and nobody wondered who’d wear it the following Tuesday. I’m not criticising. I’m comparing.
Zidane hasn’t done things by half for this first gathering. On Monday at Clairefontaine he ran his first training session, with Fabien Barthez brought into the expanded staff. On Tuesday he had his players work in a 4-3-3, breaking with the 4-2-3-1 Didier Deschamps had used since March 2025.
A new system, a new armband split four ways. We used to call that a revolution. Now we call it a Tuesday at Clairefontaine. Well. It’s the times.
Zidane has also called up five players with no France caps: Lucas Da Cunha, Andy Diouf, Esteban Lepaul, Jean Butez and Guillaume Restes, in a squad of 23. Ibrahima Konaté, injured in the knee, is unavailable; he has been replaced by Lenny Yoro, called up for his first senior cap.
Dayot Upamecano said of Barthez, on France 2: “We were all fans of his when we were kids, Barthez too. So it’s nice to learn from him now.”
Four captains, a new system, five debutants and a legendary goalkeeper on the staff. Marcel, for his part, needs nothing more than one armband and a Sunday at three o’clock. Well. It’s the times.
It’s true, we checked: RMC Sport.
