Four games, three wins, one draw and first place in their Nations League group. On paper, Zinedine Zidane could hardly have asked for a better beginning to the job he had waited years to get.
France beat Turkey and Belgium away, drew with Italy and then finished Zidane's first international window with a remarkable 4-1 comeback against Belgium at the Stade de France. He has also become the first France men's coach since Aimé Jacquet in 1994 to win his opening match and the first since Raymond Domenech in 2004 to remain unbeaten through his first four games.
The more interesting question, however, is not whether Zidane has won football matches. France were already one of the strongest international teams in the world when he inherited them from Didier Deschamps. After 15 days together, what has he actually changed?
Zidane has made France feel like a squad again
Perhaps the clearest difference has been Zidane's willingness to use almost everybody available to him. He changed his starting XI repeatedly across the four matches, including nine changes between the opening victory in Turkey and the first meeting with Belgium, and six players received their first senior France caps during the window.
Some of that was necessity. Four internationals in 11 days at the beginning of the club season made heavy rotation almost unavoidable, and Zidane openly said before the second game that recovery had sometimes taken priority over actual training. But there was also a deliberate message behind it: places were available, reputations would not automatically determine the team and Zidane wanted to see what his squad could offer before settling on a hierarchy.
That gave opportunities to players such as Jérémy Jacquet and Lucas Da Cunha, while Guillaume Restes was handed his debut in goal against Belgium. Zidane did not spend his first camp trying to establish an untouchable XI; he spent it testing how much depth France really have.
The answer appears to be: a lot.
Michael Olise has become the biggest winner
If there is one player who has immediately flourished under Zidane, it is Michael Olise. The Bayern Munich attacker finished the four-match run with four goals and two assists, including a decisive late intervention in Belgium and a spectacular contribution to the 4-1 comeback in Paris.
Against Belgium at the Stade de France, Olise did not even start. He entered from the bench alongside Rayan Cherki before Désiré Doué followed them onto the pitch, and those changes completely transformed a match France were losing 1-0.
Doué equalised in the 77th minute, Cherki scored four minutes later from an Olise cross, and Olise then scored twice himself. Zidane called his performances during the camp “exceptional”, but perhaps more significant was how many different attacking options France suddenly had on the field together.
That is becoming an early feature of Zidane's France. The starting XI has mattered less than the number of ways he can alter a match from the bench, and the second Belgium game was the clearest demonstration yet.
France have more control — but Zidane has already identified the problem
The results should not disguise the fact that France remain a work in progress. Across Zidane's first four matches, they averaged around 62% possession but repeatedly struggled to turn control into clear chances.
The numbers tell part of the story. France have now gone eight consecutive matches without scoring in the first half, a run that extends beyond Zidane's appointment. Against Belgium in Paris, they dominated possession but spent much of the opening hour struggling to break down a compact defensive block before the substitutions changed the game.
Zidane himself has been unusually specific about what needs fixing. He wants more verticality, greater speed in the final 20 or 30 metres and, crucially, more players occupying the penalty area when France reach crossing or cut-back positions. He said after the Belgium victory that this had been a recurring weakness across almost all four matches. lequipe.fr
That distinction matters because Zidane has not simply arrived and immediately turned France into the flowing attacking team some supporters might have imagined. They are controlling matches, but possession without penetration remains a problem. His first camp has identified the weakness rather than solved it.
Mbappé's injury accidentally revealed France's depth
Zidane also had to deal with losing Kylian Mbappé almost immediately. The captain scored the winner in the opening 1-0 victory over Turkey but was injured during the match and missed the remaining three fixtures.
For any international coach, losing Mbappé would normally dominate the entire window. Instead, France won both matches against Belgium and drew with Italy without him, while Olise, Doué and Cherki increasingly assumed responsibility in attack.
It would be absurd to suggest France are better without their captain, and Zidane will obviously build around Mbappé once he returns. What the last three games have shown is something more useful: France do not necessarily have to become dependent on him.
That could become one of the most important differences between Zidane's team and previous versions of Les Bleus. The challenge will be integrating Mbappé into the attacking structure without reducing the freedom that has allowed players such as Olise to flourish.
So what has Zidane actually changed?
There has been no tactical revolution yet, and four matches are nowhere near enough to declare that Zidane has transformed France. Ousmane Dembélé struggled to influence games whether used centrally or from the right, the team still lack penetration against deep defences and the failure to score before half-time remains an obvious concern.
What has changed is the sense of possibility around the squad. Zidane has used his depth aggressively, given newcomers meaningful opportunities and shown that his substitutions can alter matches rather than simply protect them. Three wins and a draw have given him the luxury of experimenting without sacrificing results.
The next window should tell us considerably more. France travel to Italy on November 12 before hosting Turkey three days later, with qualification for the Nations League quarter-finals at stake. They currently lead Group A1 with 10 points, three ahead of Italy and four ahead of Belgium.
Zidane therefore leaves his first camp with almost everything a new national-team coach could want: results, competition for places and several players whose importance has increased dramatically in two weeks. What he does not have yet is a finished team — and judging by the amount of experimentation in his first four matches, he does not seem to want one this early.
Published by Patrick Jane
06.10.2026