France and Italy have named their new head coaches to their men’s national soccer teams. In blockbuster announcements this week, France named former superstar Zinedine Zidane as their new bench boss on Tuesday, and Italy named Roberto Mancini as their new head coach on Wednesday.
Zidane is taking over from Didier Deschamps of Bayonne. You could make the argument that France had a bitterly disappointing World Cup result as they finished off the podium in fourth place. However, France’s devastating loss came to Spain by a score of 2-0 in the semifinals. Deschamps was trying to guide France to their third straight World Cup title. He was in charge when France won the 2018 FIFA World Cup and reached the 2022 World Cup final (before losing to Argentina). In 2026, France was the co-favourite and had the world’s best player in Mbappe, but could not get the job done when the games mattered most.
It should be noted that Deschamps was not fired as the head coach of the French national soccer team. He had made the decision to step down as head coach after the 2026 World Cup before the global tournament in North America even started. Deschamps’s replacement is a global soccer icon. Zidaine was arguably the best soccer player in the 1990s to 2000s era. As an elite attacking midfielder, Deschamps guided France to the 1998 FIFA World Cup title and had 95 goals in 506 appearances as he starred with the European teams of Cannes, Bordeaux, Juventus and Real Madrid.
Mancini, meanwhile, had some explaining to do. He actually apologized to Italian soccer fans for leaving the Italian National Team for a job in Saudi Arabia in 2023. Mancini could also have apologized for Italy missing the last three World Cups. There is no question that the Italian soccer program is in complete turmoil. They are bringing back a coach that won the 2021 Euro title but could not get Italy to the 2022 World Cup.
