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Zinedine Zidane has been appointed head coach of the France national football team, the French Football Federation announced Tuesday.
The 54-year-old has signed a four-year contract, the federation said. He succeeds Didier Deschamps, who coached France to the 2018 World Cup title and had led the team since 2012.
Zidane won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 as a player with France before retiring after the 2006 World Cup final.
As a coach, he took charge of Real Madrid across two spells, winning three consecutive UEFA Champions League titles between 2016 and 2018 and adding a further Champions League title in 2020, along with two La Liga titles, two UEFA Super Cups, two FIFA Club World Cups and two Spanish Super Cups.
He is the only coach to have won three consecutive Champions League titles in the competition's modern era.
Zidane's first official match in charge of France will come in the UEFA Nations League A, when the team faces Türkiye on Friday, Sept 25 at Kocaeli Stadium, a venue in the northwestern Turkish province of Kocaeli.
Speaking after the signing ceremony, Zidane said there was nothing bigger than the France national team, calling the role a source of happiness, pride and responsibility.
Zidane previously managed Real Madrid's first team from January 2016, after working within the club in coaching and advisory roles.
He left the position in 2018 following the third consecutive Champions League win, returned for a second spell in 2019, and departed again in 2021 after winning a further La Liga title.
He inherits a France squad that has reached multiple major tournament finals since 2016, with players drawn from some of Europe's leading clubs.
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