Zidane: Mbappé Remains Captain, I Won't Get Caught Up in Ballon d'Or Considerations

France national team head coach Zidane held a press conference to announce his first squad list since taking the position and answered media questions on site. This article is the second part of the press conference.

Hello, Zinedine, will Kylian Mbappé be your captain? Also, there has been a lot of recent talk and news about the new Ballon d'Or. As head coach of the national team, do you feel it's necessary to take a stance on this? Will this lead to communication and exchanges between you and the attacking players competing for this award?

In any case, there will always be discussion. There will always be all kinds of talk, but I won't get involved in that level of discussion. Yes, Kylian is now a new player under me, and he will be my captain—that's very clear and doesn't need to be questioned further, that's all. As for the rest, you know, I won't get caught up in the current Ballon d'Or considerations, and I won't participate in the ongoing topics being discussed right now.

Hello, Zinedine, sorry, but I must insist on asking about the Ballon d'Or, because it has indeed filled media space over the past few days. You yourself have won the Ballon d'Or, and you have worked with many Ballon d'Or winners in the dressing room during your playing career, and you have also coached Ballon d'Or winners since becoming a coach. Therefore, you are in a very special position with a strong voice. You know that when such an extraordinary personal honor overshadows the team's collective interests, it can sometimes cause problems at the collective level. Based on this, do you think you should blow the whistle for "halftime to end," or will you choose to let the players coordinate and handle this themselves?

No, exactly, I won't blow the whistle for "halftime to end," because in reality, this freedom of expression will exist every day—discussion and debate—and everyone has the right to say what they want. As you said, I know what it means to win the Ballon d'Or, and in a sense, every player does have ambitions to win the Ballon d'Or someday, and we must respect that.

Besides, there will indeed be some minor discussion from time to time, but honestly, when we all come together, there won't be any controversy or special discussion at all, and we won't constantly talk about it. I think this is mainly external attention and hype, but that's normal and should be accepted. Within the team, I don't think there will be any problems. We will have one clear objective at that point: the matches we will play—the four matches we'll play—and everyone will be completely focused on that task, especially the away match against Turkey (laughs).

Hello Zidane, you have four matches to play in two weeks. Does this leave enough time for tactical setup and training? Or for this first training camp, where do you think the main focus should be?

Well, tactical training certainly needs to happen. It's true we won't have a lot of training time, given we're essentially playing every three days and also traveling frequently for away matches. But at the same time, that's also very good, because we have four matches and can spend 15 days together, which is very beneficial for everyone to get to know each other—especially for our coaching staff and players to know one another. Then, as you said, playing four matches in 15 days means recovery time is very limited. Therefore, everyone needs to be ready to play, which is why the squad list itself is also based on this consideration.

Hello, Zinedine, you once said—or at least the president stated publicly when holding your inauguration ceremony—he said, "When I met Zinedine, Zinedine told me, 'I know how to win.'" So I want to ask you, since you ended your last coaching role in 2021, have you always been watching and following the French national team's matches with a critical eye as a future national team head coach? Especially during the Paris 2024 Olympics, when you also personally attended those matches, and many young players you have now called up to the squad participated in the Olympics, such as Adrien Truffert, Guillaume Restes, Michael Olise, and Rayan Cherki, among others. Did watching these Olympic matches and seeing these young players perform have a profound impact or inspiration on your subsequent squad selection decisions?

I have always followed the French national team. For a long time, I was a player on this team, and I won with this team. What more can I say to you? I mean, I have very deep feelings for this team. And now, becoming head coach of the French national team, I truly feel the great responsibility of this role and clearly understand what has been entrusted to me.

But at the same time, I'm here to coach this team and try to maintain continuity, because continuity is the heart of the matter. Everyone was just talking about a "break," but there is no break at all. I mean, this is the continuity I want to maintain, while bringing in some of my own new ideas and conveying them to my players. In short, it's about trying to show everything I master and understand as a coach and bringing it to this team.

There are several players from Serie A in this squad list, including some new faces or almost entirely new call-ups, such as Da Cunha. I want to know why you chose to call him and Kalulu. I'm very curious about your specific reasons for selecting and calling them. Also, does the upcoming match against Italy still hold a very special meaning for you personally?

No, I selected both of these players purely because they deserve to be on our team—it's that simple. They are players I want to evaluate personally. Speaking about Luca Kamenovic, he's a very distinctive player who has shown strong quality, and I very much want to see how he performs with our team. Like many other great players, he qualifies for the national team, and today he's with us.

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