Former Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has been confirmed as the head coach of the France national team. Didier Deschamps, France’s longest-serving manager, ended his 14-year stint in charge after the nation’s semi-final exit to Spain at the 2026 World Cup. Zidane, a World Cup winner with France in 1998, has been out of management since leaving Real Madrid for a second time as head coach in 2021.
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The match nobody wanted to play in became the match nobody wanted to end. England’s ‘bronze final’ – formerly known as the third-place play-off – against France descended into chaos with 10 goals, six of them for the Three Lions. And there could easily have been more. And it means England achieved their highest men’s World Cup finish since winning the tournament in 1966 – and their best-ever result on foreign soil.
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Spain are through to the World Cup final after surprising favourites France with a convincing semi-final victory at Dallas Stadium. Luis de la Fuente’s side blunted a France team brimming with attacking talent, controlled a game of few chances and will deservedly take their place in Sunday’s showpiece thanks to goals in either half from Mikel Oyarzabal and Pedro Porro. They will tackle either England or Argentina in their quest to clinch a second world title.
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Kylian Mbappe scored his eighth goal of this World Cup to make up for an earlier missed penalty as France proved too good for Morocco and moved into the semi-finals. Mbappe won the first-half penalty when he was fouled by Manchester United defender Noussair Mazraoui, but his poorly hit spot-kick was comfortably saved by Yassine Bounou. The Real Madrid striker made amends in the 60th minute with a superb curling effort from just inside the penalty area to give France a deserved lead. Ballon d’Or holder Ousmane Dembele doubled France’s advantage six minutes later
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World Cup favourites France were made to sweat to book their quarter-final place but Kylian Mbappe’s second-half penalty proved enough to help them past a resolute Paraguay in Philadelphia. Paraguay limited the two-time winners to very few chances until substitute Desire Doue was fouled inside the box by Brighton’s Diego Gomez and referee Ilgiz Tantashev pointed to the spot after a video assistant referee (VAR) intervention.
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