A meeting nobody was supposed to know about
February 2025. Didier Deschamps had just confirmed he would step down at the end of his contract, and while he was still very much the France manager, the federation president was already sitting across a table from his successor in a private room in Paris.
Philippe Diallo laid out the story to RMC. “It was a fairly secret meeting. I did not want to disrupt the team already in place. We met privately in Paris,” the French Football Federation president said.
The discretion was deliberate. Deschamps was meant to see the job through to the end of his deal, and a public approach at that point would have destabilised the staff mid-cycle.
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“President, I know how to win”
Diallo says his first priority was testing the appetite. “I first wanted to confirm his huge desire to take charge of the France team. He is a man who has had eye-watering offers and turned them all down for France.”
Then came the line Diallo says Zidane gave him: “President, I know how to win.” The FFF chief finishes on pride, at having helped one of the biggest names in French football add another chapter with the national team.
Fourteen years, one voice
Deschamps ran France for 14 years, longer than anyone before him. A federation does not prepare easily for a handover on that scale.
Zidane has been circling this job for years, since his time at Real Madrid ended. He and Deschamps belong to the same generation, the 1998 World Cup winners.
His first official squad is due on September 18. The talking ends there.
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