France will enter a new international chapter on Friday when Zinédine Zidane names his first squad as head coach, a moment that has often told the first story of a new era. Every new manager has arrived with a different burden: the need to clear away the past, protect an established core or find fresh blood in the margins. Zidane is expected to spring a few surprises, and history suggests that first list will be examined as closely as the matches that follow.
Didier Deschamps inherited a side in transition after Euro 2012, with circumstances narrowing his options from the outset. Samir Nasri and Jérémy Ménez were suspended by the French federation following their conduct during the tournament, while Hatem Ben Arfa and Yann M’Vila were omitted despite receiving only warnings. Ben Arfa would return for two France matches in 2015; M’Vila never did.
Deschamps also moved on without Alou Diarra, Florent Malouda and Philippe Mexès, all regular names in previous camps who would not play for France again. Yet his first selection contained important openings. Rio Mavuba came back after five years away, while Christophe Jallet, Mapou Yanga Mbiwa, Etienne Capoue and Raphaël Varane received maiden call-ups. Varane would go on to become one of the defining figures of the Deschamps period and a World Cup winner in 2018.
When France chose to start again
The most dramatic reset came under Laurent Blanc in 2010, in the aftermath of the Knysna crisis at the World Cup in South Africa. Blanc selected none of the 23 players who had travelled to that tournament. Instead, he restored Karim Benzema, Ben Arfa and Nasri, each returning after absences of ten months, 18 months and two-and-a-half years respectively.
Mexès was another recall, handed the captaincy against Norway after a year outside the squad. Blanc’s group also featured 13 players still waiting for their first France appearance: Rod Fanni, Mamadou Sakho, Aly Cissokho, Benoît Trémoulinas, Mathieu Debuchy, M’Vila, Charles N’Zogbia, Yohan Cabaye, Blaise Matuidi, Moussa Sissoko, Ménez, Jimmy Briand and Guillaume Hoarau.
Raymond Domenech had faced a different kind of rupture six years earlier. After Euro 2004, Zidane, Lilian Thuram, Claude Makélélé, Bixente Lizarazu and Marcel Desailly had all retired. Only nine members of France’s Euro squad made his first selection. Domenech later admitted he was having to “scrape the bottom of the drawer” as he searched for options.
Anthony Réveillère, Péguy Luyindula, Bernard Mendy and Djibril Cissé returned under Domenech, while Rio Mavuba, Eric Abidal, Alou Diarra and Pierre-Alain Frau were among seven newcomers. Monaco’s recent run to the Champions League final was rewarded with the inclusion of Patrice Evra, Sébastien Squillaci and Gaël Givet. The three quickly became starters, although none had the same place by the 2006 World Cup: Evra and Squillaci were not selected, and Givet did not play a minute.
Continuity, then renewal
Jacques Santini took over after another World Cup disappointment, in 2002, but the proximity of the 1998 triumph made a complete overhaul unthinkable. He described his group as containing “the core from the World Cup, those who could have been there, and new forces” before his first game against Tunisia.
Philippe Mexès, Réveillère, Bruno Cheyrou and Sydney Govou were called up for the first time. Govou would make 49 appearances for France, although none of the four became a central long-term figure. Steve Marlet, Eric Carrière and Jérémie Bréchet returned after missing the World Cup, while Johan Micoud and Alain Boghossian were left out. Micoud would receive only one further call-up, in March 2004, and Boghossian would never return.
Roger Lemerre, succeeding Aimé Jacquet after the 1998 World Cup victory, had little reason to alter the landscape. His first squad, for a friendly against Austria in August, was deliberately limited to 18 players, including 12 world champions. With some players still available to their clubs and others suspended, Alain Goma, Florian Maurice, Lilian Laslandes and Lionel Letizi returned from the fringes.
Frédéric Déhu and Tony Vairelles, newly crowned French champions with Lens, were Lemerre’s only genuine new additions. Zidane’s own first decision now arrives with the same symbolic weight: a list can be a signal of continuity, a warning to established names, or the first open door for a generation waiting in the French game.
