Zidane reveals Jacquet's benevolent surprise at his appointment as France manager

Twenty-eight years after the 1998 World Cup triumph, Aimé Jacquet and Zinédine Zidane reunited during the first gathering of the new France manager this summer. On October 5, following France’s 4-1 victory over Belgium at Stade de France, the former manager came down to the pitch to greet his former number 10.

Questioned about this relationship on Sunday in the Téléfoot programme, Zidane did not hide his emotion. “With Mémé, it’s a special relationship. We won the World Cup in France with him, under his orders. He led us to victory. So seeing him again is always touching.”

The manager also shared a revealing confidence about the view Jacquet held on his future in football. “If we reverse the path a little, he could have thought that Dédé [Didier Deschamps] could be a manager, that Laurent Blanc could be a manager, but that ZZ could not be a manager. That was the surprise.” Zidane thus acknowledges, with a smile, that his former manager would not necessarily have bet on this scenario.

But Jacquet proved true to his reputation for benevolence. “He is always benevolent and kind. He told me: ‘Enjoy yourself’,” Zidane concluded. Simple advice from the man who had led him to the top of the world, and which the new France boss appears to have taken to heart.