Thierry Henry: The Next France Coach After Zidane?

Thierry Henry has already felt the weight of a nation on his shoulders from the dugout. He did it in Paris at the 2024 Olympic Games, steering France all the way to a final against Spain. Extra-time broke French hearts that night, silver medals replacing the gold that seemed within reach, but it also reminded everyone that Henry is far more than a TV presence with a glittering playing career behind him. Michael Olise and his team-mates walked away with second place; Henry walked away with his coaching reputation significantly enhanced.

His path since retirement has been restless and varied. A short, testing stint in charge of Monaco. A move to MLS with Montreal Impact. A role alongside Roberto Martinez in the Belgium national team set-up, working with another generation of elite talent. Now, at 48, he has stepped back towards the studio, keeping his options open and his diary flexible. He is not chasing the next job, but the right one will always make him listen.

One role, though, will always sit at the top of that imaginary list: France. Two of his fellow 1998 World Cup winners have already taken that route. Didier Deschamps is finally stepping away after 14 years in charge, a tenure that brought the 2018 World Cup and a UEFA Nations League title, along with an almost relentless stream of semi-finals and finals. Into that space walks a giant.

Zinedine Zidane is next. A Ballon d’Or winner, a Champions League specialist with Real Madrid, and now, for the first time, a head coach outside the Bernabeu bubble. He inherits a France squad loaded with stardust – Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and a supporting cast most nations can only dream about. The expectation is simple and brutal: keep France at the top of the sport, and win.

So what happens when Zidane’s time ends? Could the class of ’98 pass the baton again, this time to Henry?

Jeremie Aliadiere, another member of Arsenal’s “Invincibles” and a man who knows Henry as team-mate and friend, sees no reason why not. Speaking to GOAL in association with ToonieBet, he did not hesitate when the idea was put to him.

“Why not? I'm sure Thierry will be delighted to get the job,” he said. “We've seen how patriotic he is and how much he loves France. We saw him during the Olympic Games in 2024 as well. He's had a great tournament there. I'm sure that'll be in the back of his mind and he will love to get the opportunity at some point.”

The admiration for Zidane, though, runs just as deep. Aliadiere knows what this appointment represents.

“But I think Zidane in France is something different and now we've touched the gods. Zidane will always be Zidane. So I wish and I really hope that he succeeds and everything goes well.

“Because as much as Deschamps didn't win this World Cup, he's still all the time going to semis, to finals, won in 2018. So you just think it's still going to be a challenge for Zidane to get over the line.

“Because the next step now really for Zidane, he has to win something. He can't just come and then do a semi-final or a quarter-finals. And we know how hard it is to win it. Only one team can. And we know with England as well. They've been in tournaments lately where they are so close but not quite there. So you just start losing patience. Hopefully Zidane can do it.”

The bar, then, could hardly be higher. Deschamps leaves behind a culture of winning and a squad built to dominate for years. Zidane is not arriving to rebuild; he is arriving to finish the job, to turn potential into more silver.

Aliadiere is convinced the raw materials are already there for France to keep contending for every major trophy.

“Yeah, 100%. I think so,” he said when asked if France will remain among the favourites at European Championships and World Cups. “I think as much as people might say that Didier Deschamps has only one World Cup, that is obviously more than a lot of anyone else. But you just think what he's done in terms of leading the team with such a great squad and great talent.

“Zidane's going to come in and he hasn't got a lot to do really. Everything's already set for him to succeed. So yeah, I think you're right. I think the force, the age, the players that we're missing as well that will be back in the team.

“You think a player like [Rayan] Cherki who couldn't get much minutes in there, he'll be in for two years, four years. You think about [Hugo] Ekitike who was injured before it. It's like the names that you've got and the talent you've got, I think Zidane now has just got to put his little magic on it and then make it work.”

That is the landscape Henry is watching from the sidelines. A national team primed for trophies. A legend in Zidane stepping into the hot seat. A conveyor belt of talent – Cherki, Ekitike and many more – ready to stretch this golden era into the next decade.

If Zidane delivers, he will cement his status as the ultimate French football deity. If, one day, he steps aside, the question will return with even more force.

Will it be Henry’s turn to take the tricolour, step into that technical area and try to write the next chapter of France’s remarkable modern story?