At Clairefontaine, around 70 kilometres south-west of Paris, Zinedine Zidane has taken his first steps as France coach, leading an opening training session ahead of a demanding four-match start to the Nations League.
Only 12 players were involved on the pitch on Monday as the squad began to gather for the international window. Ousmane Dembélé and Kylian Mbappé, among the leading attacking names selected, did not join the main group after playing club fixtures on Sunday.
Dembélé had featured for Paris Saint-Germain against Olympique de Marseille in France, while Mbappé played in Real Madrid’s defeat to Atlético Madrid in Spain. Their absence left Zidane with a reduced group for his first field session in charge of the national side.
The new coach spent several periods of the workout speaking closely with Bayern Munich forward Michael Olise, one of the players present at the training centre. It was an early indication of Zidane’s hands-on approach as France prepare for a compact sequence of fixtures across Turkey, Belgium and home soil.
A four-game Nations League opening
France begin away to Turkey on Friday before travelling to Brussels to meet Belgium on 28 September. The group will then return to the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, where Italy visit on 2 October and Belgium arrive again three days later.
The schedule gives Zidane little time to settle into the role. From his first session at Clairefontaine, France are already moving towards a Nations League run that will take them from Istanbul to Brussels before two nights in Saint-Denis.
