Pirès joins Zidane in France national team's technical staff

Former French international goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, who won the 1998 World Cup with his national team, will join the coaching staff of new manager and two-time World and European champion Zinedine Zidane, the French Football Federation announced on Thursday.

Barthez, 55, who was Zidane’s teammate when France won the 1998 World Cup on home soil, will take charge of training the national team’s goalkeepers.

Barthez, who played for Toulouse, Monaco, Marseille, and English club Manchester United, previously served as an advisor to the French national team under coaches Raymond Domenech and Laurent Blanc, but held no role during Didier Deschamps’ 14-year tenure.

He was also part of Toulouse’s coaching staff briefly between 2020 and 2021.

The French Football Federation also announced several other appointments to the national team’s coaching staff, including assistant coaches David Petioni and Hamid Sfaïhi, both close associates of Zidane who worked alongside him during his two spells as manager of Spanish club Real Madrid.

Gregory Dupont, appointed as “Strategy and Performance Advisor,” has also joined the coaching staff; he previously worked with Zidane at Real Madrid.

Zidane, 54, was appointed manager on July 28, succeeding his former teammate Deschamps, following France’s exit in the World Cup semi-finals. He will oversee his first training camp with the national team in September.