Real Madrid’s management is considering turning to the French school of coaching after the success of Zinedine Zidane’s spell, as he was the last Frenchman to take charge of the Spanish club’s technical duties.
Since becoming a coach, Zizou has led only one team—Real Madrid—across two stints, achieving major success each time. It is enough to point to winning three consecutive UEFA Champions League titles in 2016, 2017, and 2018.
French outlet RMC Sport revealed today, Friday, that Didier Deschamps, head coach of the French national team, has entered Real Madrid’s calculations. The club is looking for a new coach for next season, to succeed Spaniard Álvaro Arbeloa, who has been delivering inconsistent results.
Deschamps had previously announced that he will leave the France job after the World Cup, scheduled for next summer, following a 14-year tenure—while all expectations indicate that Zidane will be his successor.
Since announcing his departure from his post in January 2025, Deschamps, a two-time world champion (1998 as a player and 2018 as a coach), has confirmed that he will continue working on the coaching benches.
The French coach said: “I’m ending a long and wonderful period, but I’m certainly not on the road to retirement. Some say I’ll retire—no, I’m just ending a phase, and after that there will be a different and beautiful phase.”
He was clear about his next destination, revealing that he leans toward coaching clubs rather than national teams, saying: “I shouldn’t say never, but I don’t see myself as coach of another national team. What the France national team represents for me, and the national anthem—I can’t imagine myself on a bench listening to a different anthem.”