Fabien Barthez Joins Zidane's Staff for France
Fabien Barthez is back with France – and this time, alongside Zinedine Zidane, he has a defined mission.
The French Football Federation (FFF) confirmed on Thursday that the 1998 World Cup-winning goalkeeper will join Zidane’s new staff as the man in charge of the national team’s goalkeepers. It reunites two of the most iconic figures from France’s first World Cup triumph, now tasked with shaping a new era rather than lifting trophies as players.
Barthez, 55, knows the landscape. He shared the pitch with Zidane when France won the World Cup on home soil in 1998 and the European Championship in 2000. His club career took him from Toulouse to Monaco, then to Marseille and Manchester United, where his eccentric style and sharp reflexes made him one of the most recognisable keepers in the game.
This is not his first stint around Les Bleus. Barthez previously worked as a consultant with the national team under Raymond Domenech and Laurent Blanc, offering his expertise without ever holding a full-time, front-line coaching role. That connection ended when Didier Deschamps took over. During Deschamps’ 14-year reign, Barthez had no official involvement.
He has kept a toe in coaching, though. Between 2020 and 2021, Barthez briefly joined the staff at Toulouse, gaining hands-on experience on the training ground that now feeds into his new responsibility: overseeing the France goalkeeping group at the highest level.
Zidane, appointed on July 28 to succeed his former teammate Deschamps after France’s World Cup semi-final exit, is surrounding himself with familiar faces and trusted lieutenants. The FFF announcement on Thursday read like a roll call of Zidane’s inner circle.
Assistant coaches David Bettoni and Hamidou Msaidie, both long-time associates, are coming with him. They worked alongside Zidane during his two spells in charge of Real Madrid, sharing in Champions League runs and managing dressing rooms packed with stars. Their arrival signals continuity in Zidane’s methods: a tight, loyal staff that already understands his demands.
Another key name is Gregory Dupont, appointed as “Strategy and Performance Advisor.” Dupont also crossed paths with Zidane at Real Madrid, where his work in physical preparation and performance management drew wide attention. Now he steps into a broader advisory role, tasked with fine-tuning the details around preparation, load management and long-term planning for the national team.
Piece by piece, Zidane’s France is taking shape.
The timeline is clear. The 54-year-old will lead his first France training camp in September, his first real chance to bring ideas from Madrid and his own playing career into a national-team setting. The players will arrive to find not just a new head coach, but an entire structure built around him: Zidane at the top, Barthez with the keepers, Bettoni and Msaidie on the training pitch, Dupont in the background shaping performance strategy.
And the first test comes quickly.
France’s opening match under Zidane will be a Nations League trip to Turkey on September 25. No warm-up friendly, no gentle introduction. A competitive away game, with a new staff on the bench and a squad under fresh orders.
Zidane and Barthez once stood together at the Stade de France with the world at their feet. Now they stand side by side again, this time on the touchline, charged with steering France into its next chapter.
