Karim Benzema Backs Zinedine Zidane as France Manager

Karim Benzema has never been one for half-measures. When he backs someone, he goes all in. And on the brink of a historic shift for French football, he has nailed his colours firmly to Zinedine Zidane.

Speaking to Konbini in their "In or Out" segment, the 38-year-old lit up at the mere mention of his former coach potentially taking over Les Bleus.

"He’s a legend, he’s the big brother," Benzema said, drawing a straight line back to the years they dominated Europe together at the Santiago Bernabeu. On the question of Zidane becoming France manager, he added: "I don't know for sure if it’s him, but if it is him, yes, I am seriously happy."

For Benzema, this is not just admiration from afar. It is lived history. Under Zidane at Real Madrid, he was one of the pillars of a side that turned the Champions League into something close to a private competition.

The end of one era, the start of another

France’s semifinal exit at the 2026 World Cup signalled more than just a bad night. It marked the fading light of the long Didier Deschamps era. The French Football Federation has now moved into transition mode, and all roads point to Zidane.

The FFF has announced a press conference for Tuesday, led by president Philippe Diallo, following an extraordinary meeting of the executive committee earlier that morning. No official confirmation yet, no contract waved in front of the cameras, but the direction is clear. Diallo has already promised an announcement before the end of the month. All signs suggest Tuesday is the day that promise is cashed in and Zidane is presented as Deschamps’ successor.

If that happens, the emotional and tactical shockwaves will be felt far beyond Clairefontaine. One of the first names dragged back into the conversation is Benzema’s.

Benzema, still lurking in the background

On paper, the idea sounds fanciful. Benzema is 38. He has been away from the European spotlight for some time. Yet the numbers refuse to let the story die.

Now at Al-Hilal, he has kept his edge, scoring nine goals in 13 appearances this season. Before that, at Al-Ittihad, he racked up 57 goals in 87 matches. Those are not the stats of a striker easing into retirement. They belong to a player who still lives in the penalty area, still punishes mistakes.

If Zidane walks back into a dressing room he once led as a player and long dreamed of managing, he will find a very different attacking landscape. Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele are established pillars. Around them, a new generation has pushed its way in, with Michael Olise and Bradley Barcola adding fresh pace, flair and versatility to the French frontline.

Any talk of a Benzema return, then, comes with a hard caveat: it only happens if Zidane wants it. The decision rests on his tactical blueprint, his willingness to blend experience with youth, and his assessment of how a veteran finisher might fit into a rapidly evolving attack.

A bond forged in trophies

What Zidane knows, better than anyone, is exactly what Benzema brings. During their two spells together at Real Madrid (2016–18 and 2019–21), the striker became one of Zidane’s most trusted lieutenants. In that time, Benzema scored 108 goals, a figure bettered only by Cristiano Ronaldo in Zidane’s squads.

Their relationship ran deeper than raw numbers. Benzema often sacrificed his own spotlight, doing the unseen work that allowed Ronaldo and Gareth Bale to thrive in the famed "BBC" forward line. Zidane saw that. He valued it. He built around it.

The reward was an era that will sit in football history for decades: three consecutive Champions League titles in 2016, 2017 and 2018, two LaLiga crowns, and a stack of UEFA Super Cups, Spanish Super Cups and FIFA Club World Cup trophies. Benzema stood at the heart of that machine, a striker trusted to link, to finish, to lead.

Now, with Zidane on the verge of taking charge of France, that old bond hovers over the national team picture. Not as a guarantee, not as nostalgia for its own sake, but as a real tactical option for a coach who knows exactly how to squeeze the last drops out of a great player.

A new Zidane project

The stage is set. Deschamps’ long reign is almost over. The FFF has cleared its schedule for a decisive Tuesday. Diallo will take the microphone. Zidane, barring a late twist, will finally get the job that has shadowed his post-Madrid career.

If and when that happens, the questions will come thick and fast. How will he reshape a squad still stacked with talent but scarred by near-misses? How ruthless will he be with the old guard? And in that storm of decisions, will there be room for one last chapter with Karim Benzema in a France shirt?

The answers will not come in a press conference soundbite. They will arrive on a team sheet, in a call-up list, in the way Zidane chooses to write the next lines of French football history.