Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane was already a beloved figure at the club as a player, even as the Galacticos era practically built around him was a failure at the time. Because years later, his impact has led to multiple generations of Madridistas coming to the club and winning Champions League titles, from Cristiano Ronaldo to Jude Bellingham.
And after winning one Champions League title with the greatest goal in the history of the competiton vs. Bayer Leverkusen, Zidane won three in a row as manager. Now, in 2026, Zizou is back in coaching after five years away and in another dream job, the manager of the French national team.
Always tabbed to be the successor to Didier Deschamps, Zidane steps into the French role leading the greatest generation in the country's history and one of the strongest national team cycles any land has ever had. But Deschamps was only able to win one major tournament, the World Cup in 2018, and many feel as if he left a lot on the table, particularly the Real Madrid fans.
Zinedine Zidane is in a league of his own
To this day, though, there are many, many informed people, especially in the United States and United Kingdom, who think Zinedine Zidane was nothing more than a cheerleader. And they will see him as a figurehead like DIego Armando Maradona was for Argentina.
But he is not that. He is so much more and is a great coach, and the best man to bring home that point is his old manager for France, Raymond Domenech, with whom Zidane nearly won the 2006 World Cup.
Domenech said of Zidane in an interview with Ouest France, via Actu Foot, "When a former player becomes a coach, there is protection around the character, even more so for Zidane. In the category of top-level players, he is at the top of the hat. His aura was confirmed at Real Madrid, where he won the Champions League three years in a row. If he had never been a coach, there would have been some questioning. Not here. He created something, he managed to get messages across."
Real Madrid fans know how hard it is to win the Champions League, and ZIdane is the only coach who has done so three years in a row - not even anyone else at the White House has. So many flippantly ignore it, but actual coaches like Raymond Domenech do not take it for granted. Zizou is both a legendary coach and legendary figure for France, and what he has accomplished in both phases is more than Didier Deschamps: France are getting something Deschamps cannot touch.
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