Thierry Henry's Future After Coaching France
Thierry Henry has already had a taste of the big chair with France. He felt the weight of a nation at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, guiding the hosts all the way to a final against Spain. It ended in extra-time heartbreak, silver medals instead of gold, Michael Olise and company watching the Spanish celebrate on French soil. But the impression Henry left on the touchline lingered.
Since hanging up his boots, Henry’s coaching journey has zigzagged across continents and roles. A brief, testing spell in charge of Monaco. A return to MLS with Montreal Impact. A stint alongside Roberto Martinez in the Belgium national team set-up, working in the background of a so-called golden generation. Now, at 48, he has stepped back from the technical area and into the studio, back in punditry, watching, analysing, waiting.
He is not rushing into his next move. He has made that clear. Yet certain jobs will always make him stop and listen. France is one of them.
Didier Deschamps is walking away after 14 years in charge, a reign that delivered the 2018 World Cup and the UEFA Nations League, and kept Les Bleus almost permanently at the sharp end of major tournaments. Into that space steps Zinedine Zidane, Ballon d’Or winner, Real Madrid legend, and now, for the first time, a head coach outside the Bernabeu.
It is a seismic appointment. A national icon taking over a star-studded squad fronted by Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele, with more talent streaming in behind them. The expectation is simple and brutal: win.
And lurking just beyond Zidane’s looming era is the question that will not go away. Could Henry be next?
Jeremie Aliadiere, part of Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ and a former France international, knows Henry as well as most. Speaking to GOAL in association with ToonieBet, he did not hesitate when the idea of Henry one day succeeding Zidane was put to him.
“Why not? I'm sure Thierry will be delighted to get the job,” he said. For Aliadiere, Henry’s Olympic campaign was a window into his mindset. “We've seen how patriotic he is and how much he loves France. We saw him during the Olympic Games in 2024 as well. He's had a great tournament there. I'm sure that'll be in the back of his mind and he will love to get the opportunity at some point.”
The problem, as Aliadiere sees it, is that Zidane is no ordinary obstacle. He is football royalty.
“But I think Zidane in France is something different and now we've touched the gods. Zidane will always be Zidane. So I wish and I really hope that he succeeds and everything goes well.”
The bar set by Deschamps is high, even if his final World Cup ended without a trophy. Semi-finals. Finals. Champions in 2018. That is the standard Zidane inherits, and Aliadiere knows it leaves no room for gentle transition.
“Because as much as Deschamps didn't win this World Cup, he's still all the time going to semis, to finals, won in 2018. So you just think it's still going to be a challenge for Zidane to get over the line.
“Because the next step now really for Zidane, he has to win something. He can't just come and then do a semi-final or a quarter-finals. And we know how hard it is to win it. Only one team can. And we know with England as well. They've been in tournaments lately where they are so close but not quite there. So you just start losing patience. Hopefully Zidane can do it.”
This is the reality Zidane walks into: a team that expects trophies, not progress. A fanbase conditioned to see anything short of a final as failure. A dressing room stacked with players in their prime and others still climbing towards it.
Aliadiere is convinced the core of this France side will keep them in the conversation for years.
“Yeah, 100%. I think so,” he said when asked if Les Bleus will remain contenders for European Championship and World Cup glory. The criticism that Deschamps “only” won one World Cup does not wash with him.
“I think as much as people might say that Didier Deschamps has only one World Cup, that is obviously more than a lot of anyone else. But you just think what he's done in terms of leading the team with such a great squad and great talent.”
Zidane, he believes, steps into a structure that is already built for success.
“Zidane's going to come in and he hasn't got a lot to do really. Everything's already set for him to succeed. So yeah, I think you're right. I think the force, the age, the players that we're missing as well that will be back in the team.
“You think a player like [Rayan] Cherki who couldn't get much minutes in there, he'll be in for two years, four years. You think about [Hugo] Ekitike who was injured before it. It's like the names that you've got and the talent you've got, I think Zidane now has just got to put his little magic on it and then make it work.”
That is the task: add “a little magic” to a machine already humming.
If Zidane does that, if he turns this era into his own, the question of succession will only grow louder. And when the day finally comes for him to bow out, France may once again look to 1998 for its next leader – and to Thierry Henry, waiting for the right call.
