Zinedine Zidane has barely slipped on the France tracksuit and he has already made two things crystal clear: Kylian Mbappe remains his captain, and no one – not even the biggest star in world football – is above the collective.
The new France boss named his first 23-man squad on Friday for the upcoming Nations League fixtures, ushering in a refreshed group that includes five uncapped players. It is the formal start of the Zidane era, and it came with an immediate vote of confidence for his No. 10.
Mbappe keeps the armband. His role, though, is about to be refined.
Mbappe’s position: Zidane’s left-sided vision
The debate around where to use Mbappe has followed every coach he has worked under. Centre-forward. Left wing. Free role. Zidane addressed it head-on.
“He is capable of playing in all three positions. He has said it himself,” Zidane told reporters, underlining the forward’s versatility across the frontline. Then came the key line, delivered with the calm certainty that has defined his coaching career: “Me, for example, I like him a lot on the left.”
That single sentence hints at a tactical blueprint. A captain starting from the left, cutting in, driving at defences, with the rest of the attack built around his movements rather than simply parking him between the centre-backs and hoping for the best.
With five newcomers in the squad, Zidane is clearly ready to reshape the team’s attacking patterns. Mbappe remains the reference point, but not the only one.
Defensive demands: no free passes for the captain
If Zidane’s positional preference for Mbappe was revealing, his response to questions about the forward’s defensive work said even more about the standards he intends to set.
In Spain, Real Madrid’s attackers have often been scrutinised for what they do – or don’t do – without the ball. That theme followed Mbappe into the France camp, with a journalist raising concerns about his defensive investment.
Zidane cut it off sharply.
“It is a false subject, a false debate, it will have to be managed like all the other players,” he replied. No drama. No special exemptions. Just a clear framework.
“When we do not have the ball, we will have to make an effort. It will not be a problem for Kylian.”
There it was: the new France laid out in a single principle. Everyone runs. Everyone works. The captain leads by example, not by privilege. Zidane’s France will not be built on passengers, however talented.
Steering clear of politics
The press conference did not stay strictly on football. It rarely does with Mbappe involved.
Questions surfaced about the 2027 French presidential elections and the recent controversy surrounding Mbappe’s refusal to wear, in full, a t-shirt supporting residents of Ceuta. The topic nudged Zidane toward a space he has long avoided: public political positioning.
He refused to step into that arena.
“I am going to dedicate myself to this task, manager of the France national team,” he said, drawing a firm line between his professional role and his private convictions. “However, I have convictions like everyone else, I am a citizen. As for sharing them... Everyone does as they want, but I am going to try to dedicate myself to this task.”
No slogans. No grandstanding. Zidane made it clear he will not let the national team become a platform for his personal beliefs. His priority is the pitch.
A new era begins on the road
The theory will be tested quickly.
France open the Zidane era on September 25 in Kocaeli, where they face Turkiye in League A of the Nations League. Three days later comes a trip to Brussels to meet Belgium – a double away assignment that offers no gentle introduction.
By then, the questions will move from the press room to the grass. Will Mbappe indeed start on the left? How quickly will the five uncapped players adapt to the demands of international football under a coach who has won everything at club level? And how visibly will those defensive expectations reshape the way France press and suffer without the ball?
The answers will not come from a slogan or a speech. They will come from whether the captain sprints back in the 90th minute in Kocaeli, and from how this new-look squad responds when Belgium turn up the heat in Brussels.
