Zidane turns to his old friend: World Cup winner closes in
Zidane puts the finishing touches to the technical and administrative structure of the French national team
Zinedine Zidane is putting the finishing touches to his backroom staff before he gets to work with Les Bleus, after the French Football Federation revealed the bulk of his team last week.
French journalist Xavier Giraudon is set to take up the post of media officer, succeeding Raphaël Raymond, who has handled relations between the national team and the press since 2018.
Giraudon works for Canal+ and InfoSport+, and he will start soon as part of the final adjustments Zidane is making to his technical and administrative staff. That is according to Le Parisien and confirmed by Radio Monte Carlo.
A long-standing relationship with Zidane
The two men go back a long way. Giraudon followed Bordeaux's matches during the period the former French star played for the club in the 1990s.
He was among the reporters who tracked Zidane's career in its early days, before the playmaker became one of world football's most prominent stars with Juventus and then Real Madrid, and led his country to the 1998 World Cup crown.
That history between the pair should ease Giraudon into his new role, particularly as Zidane chose to bring him in as part of the restructuring at the national team's training centre in Caen.
Another 1998 World Cup champion on the way?
Zidane will present his full technical and administrative staff at a press conference scheduled for next month, with the remaining names still to be confirmed.
Around 25 people are expected to make up the group, among them former goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, tasked with coaching the goalkeepers.
Barthez may not be the only 1998 world champion to join, though. The name of Bernard Diomède has been circulating strongly in recent weeks.
Diomède currently coaches France's under-20 national team, and he could be among the options to join Zidane's technical staff. Such a move would reunite several champions of French football's golden generation.
A difficult start for Zidane
Once his staff is complete, Zidane officially begins his adventure at the helm of Les Bleus with an away fixture against Turkey on 25 September in the UEFA Nations League.
Three days later, France travel to Belgium, before Zidane takes charge of his first match on home soil against Italy on 2 October at the Stade de France.
For now, the French coach is finalising every detail of his staff before entering a new phase. The French public expects a great deal, especially with one of the game's most prominent icons returning to lead the national team after years of waiting.
