The new France coach’s last game in charge of a team was in LALIGA EA SPORTS back in May of 2021.
A new era begins this international break for the French national team and for Zinedine Zidane. Following Didier Deschamps’ 14-year stint in charge of Les Bleus, his former teammate is now taking over, starting with France’s four Nations League games in September and October. Click this link https://a.meridianbet.ke/c/C7pYjz to start gaming and stand a chance of winning big with Meridianbet.
Zidane’s coaching career is unparalleled. He has already won more trophies than most managers will ever see in their lifetime and he has done it all at one club, his beloved Real Madrid. Across two separate stints – one from 2016 to 2018 and another from 2019 to 2021 – the Frenchman led Real Madrid to 11 total titles.
Most famously, he oversaw a historic threepeat in the UEFA Champions League in his first three seasons in charge, after taking over from Rafa Benítez midway through the 2015/16 campaign. Zidane had been coaching Castilla, Real Madrid’s B team, from 2014 onwards and was trusted by club president Florentino Pérez to assume the role of first-team coach. It was a perfect marriage, as the former Ballon d’Or winner was able to connect with the team of superstars, led by the front line of Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo, and inspire three European Cup triumphs in a row.
In the 2016/17 season, Los Blancos combined their Champions League victory with a LALIGA EA SPORTS title, an even rarer feat. It was the first time since 1957/58 that the Spanish club had paired their domestic title with the biggest prize on the continent, even though they’d lifted the European Cup eight times since. That Real Madrid season is still regarded as one of the most special in recent times, with Zidane embracing an ‘A team – B team’ approach, and rotating the squad to sometimes extreme levels while still achieving consistency in results.
After departing in 2018, stating that Real Madrid needed a change in the dugout, Zidane was called back in March of 2019. He led the team to another LALIGA EA SPORTS championship in the coronavirus-impacted 2019/20 season, with his team winning 10 matches in a row following the return to action behind closed doors. The way Los Blancos rolled off victory after victory at what was such an uncertain time for the whole world was testament to Zidane’s ability to manage the emotions of the group.
The 2020/21 season ended trophyless for Real Madrid, but they very nearly won another league title. It went down to the wire against city rivals Atlético de Madrid, when Los Rojiblancos prevailed on the final day to win that title by two points. Zidane departed again and hasn’t coached a match for a little over five years, not since the Matchday 38 clash against Villarreal CF of that 2020/21 season.
A new challenge begins with France
Coaching at the international level will be a new kind of test for Zidane, but there will also be some familiar elements. The way he managed Real Madrid during the coronavirus-affected period, when training and home matches took place at Valdebebas under strict health protocols, required him to keep a squad of stars focused through highly unusual circumstances. That may have some similarities to the challenge of keeping a group of stars motivated for several weeks during a big tournament.
As he explained during his time at Real Madrid: “When you’re working with talented and experienced players, the most important thing is to keep them calm. That’s what I needed when I was a player, so that’s the approach that I try to adopt.”
It worked at club level, as Zidane won the Champions League as a coach after also doing so as a player. Now, he’ll hope to lift a European Championship and a World Cup as France coach, to go with his triumphs as a player in 1998 and 2000.
