Luca Zidane News

10 Photos of Luca Zidane: Zinedine Zidane's Son Defies Horrific Face Injury At World Cup Opener

Luca Zidane's World Cup debut for Algeria in Kansas City has put the son of Zinedine Zidane back under the spotlight, this time with a protective mask after a brutal facial injury kept him out for more than a month.The goalkeeper started against Argentina on Tuesday in Algeria's opening match, a striking turn for a player whose international path has been as personal as it has been sporting.Algeria's World Cup GambleThe news came after Luca Zidane, 28, switched his senior international allegiance to Algeria in 2025, having previously represented France at youth level. He is eligible through his grandparents' birthplace, and he has been open about the cultural pull that helped shape the decision.'We've lived in an Algerian culture since we were small,' he told The Athletic, adding that the final call was his, after speaking with family, including his father, Zinedine Zidane.The mask, though, added a grim little twist. Zidane fractured his jaw and chin in April while playing for Granada in Spain's second division after a collision against Almeria, and the injury was serious enough to require surgery.Reuters reported that Granada said medical examinations confirmed fractures to both his jaw and chin, following a concussion in the match.For Algeria, the calculation is simple enough. They are not just carrying a famous surname in goal, they are carrying a goalkeeper who had barely returned to action before the tournament.Zidane had not played since 26 April before friendly appearances for Algeria earlier this month, which makes his presence against Argentina all the more notable. Nothing is confirmed yet so everything should be taken with a grain of salt when it comes to how comfortably he will handle the demands of a full World Cup campaign.Road To This MomentTo recall, Zidane's international switch was not a sudden whim. He came through France's youth set-up, but 2025 brought the change of heart that pushed him towards Algeria, a country tied to his family history and, by his own account, to his upbringing as well.He is related to Zinedine Zidane, and the family link is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, because in football terms Luca has spent years trying to build a career separate from his father's shadow.The World Cup stage now gives him the biggest possible platform to do that. He arrived in the tournament after keeping a clean sheet in Algeria's pre-tournament win over the Netherlands, making six saves in a 1-0 victory on 3 June.That performance, more than the family name, offered Algeria a reason to believe they had found a goalkeeper capable of handling a high-pressure month.His route to the match was hardly straightforward. The April injury against Almeria left him in real doubt for the World Cup, with multiple reports saying he faced a race against time after the jaw and chin fractures.By the end of May and into June, however, he had been named in Algeria's squad, and BBC Sport reported on 31 May that he was included in the final group for the tournament.Why The Mask Matters For AlgeriaThe mask is more than a piece of kit. It is a visible reminder that Zidane's World Cup appearance was almost derailed before it started, and that Algeria are asking a goalkeeper to compete after a fairly nasty injury, however protected he now may be.There is something a bit mad about the image, frankly, but football is full of these moments where medical recovery, national hope and sheer celebrity collide in public.Algeria opened against Argentina in Kansas City, with Jordan and Austria also in Group J. That makes every early point valuable, and every decision in goal slightly magnified. Zidane's selection says Algeria trust him enough to start, even if the memory of April still hangs around him like a warning label.Algeria must get through a demanding group, and Zidane must prove that the mask is only a footnote rather than a symbol of fragility. For a player whose surname has followed him from France's youth ranks to Granada and now to a World Cup opener in Kansas City, that is a rather loaded ask.

2026-06-17

Gianluigi Buffon: ‘You have a perception that you are unbeatable, almost omnipotent’

“I tear the gloves off my hands and my bare knuckles, reddened and soaked with sweat, shine in the neon light,” Gianluigi Buffon writes when he remembers leaving the pitch at half-time during the final game of his remarkable career, in May 2023. “I really feel dead inside. I am 45 years old, and around me many of my teammates walking in shorts towards the dressing room could easily be my children.” The gripping and intimate tone of Buffon’s book, Saved, which opens with his last-ever game in a Serie B playoff for Parma, is matched by his warm and open character. The great goalkeeper played professionally for 28 years and his reflections are as moving as they are sombre. “Can you live without it, Gigi?” he asks. “No, I can’t … when you have outlived your youth, and the time when you feel strong and all-powerful has ended, and your muscles, joints and reflexes start to wear out, then it really is like dying.” Today, in contrast, Buffon is full of life. He has a cigarette on the street in King’s Cross and then walks into the Guardian office like a cheerful force of good will, returning the embrace of a security officer who seems overwhelmed by Buffon’s presence. I am equally struck by the thoughtful way in which, during the next 80 minutes, Buffon considers every question as he moves from his retirement to being part of the management team which felt crushed in March when Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third time in a row. He will compare those feelings with the elation of winning the World Cup in 2006, when his brilliant tournament was preceded by the bitter fallout from the infamous Calciopoli scandal in which he was implicated. But first I ask Buffon if retirement still feels like a kind of death? “I have very opposite emotions now because, on the one hand, I felt it was the right choice,” he replies. “So I was happy to end my journey. But on the other hand I obviously had fears because from that moment on, after nearly 30 years, I knew my life would become completely different.” Buffon understands my questions in English but he chooses to answer in Italian. He laughs when I ask if he has played in even a casual five-a-side since that last game with Parma. “No! I really don’t miss playing,” the 48-year-old insists. “I’m convinced it was the right time to finish but I used to have these [conflicted] emotions. And then I realised that, all of a sudden, my life had changed. I’m now living in a different, quieter way. But I learned to accept it and to move on.” It helps to find acceptance when the list of achievements are as impressive as those accrued by Buffon. He is Italy’s most capped men’s player, with 176 international appearances, and been part of five World Cup squads. Buffon has also won the most Serie A titles, having lifted the Scudetto 10 times with Juventus, and he set Italy’s domestic league record for the longest time, 974 consecutive minutes, without conceding a goal in the 2015-16 season. “There are two things I’m particularly proud of,” Buffon adds. “The first is the longevity and continuity of my high-level performance. The second is the bond with my teammates, with our chemistry on the pitch, which is one of the most beautiful ways of working and playing together.” He might have seemed flawless for almost a thousand minutes in that landmark season 10 years ago but Buffon believes his best campaign was in 2002-03 when “I was in superb form, a type of feeling I also experienced in 2006 at the World Cup … in those moments it seems that everything is perfectly in order, you feel almost omnipotent, and you have a perception that you are unbeatable”. The fleeting nature of that sensation makes it all the more precious, and Buffon smiles. “I felt I was invincible but the flow of energy and the mental clarity are very difficult to explain. I don’t know what happens within you, but you see so much clarity.” I’m intrigued by how Buffon found that elusive state at the 2006 World Cup when the buildup was smeared by the murky scandal of Calciopoli which, as he admits in his book, meant the Italian squad was “decidedly unpopular”. There were accusations that Juventus and numerous other Serie A clubs had manipulated the referees’ association so that officials favourable to them took charge of certain matches. Buffon was also accused of placing illegal bets on football and he had to leave the World Cup camp to be grilled for two hours in a prosecutor’s office. He was eventually exonerated. Twenty years on Buffon tells me that, after a national scandal which meant Juventus were relegated to Serie B, “it wasn’t easy to find the calm and serenity to focus on our priority – which was to play the World Cup at our best. But the real difference is that, when you look at yourself in the mirror, you realise you’re not a liar. You’re true to yourself. We knew we hadn’t done anything bad. We were paying an inexplicable price but the injustice brought out the best in us.” The 2006 World Cup final between France and Italy was held in Berlin. Buffon shrugs cheerfully when he remembers that, in the seventh minute, his former Juventus teammate Zinedine Zidane scored a penalty against him when his Panenka kick kissed the underside of the crossbar and bounced across the goalline. Marco Materazzi equalised 12 minutes later and the score remained 1-1 at full-time. Then, just before the first period of extra time ended, Buffon denied Zidane with a brilliant save. “I remember it well,” Buffon says with a wry grin of his save, which was preceded by a deft cross from Willy Sagnol that Zidane rose to meet with a bullet header close to goal. Buffon displayed astonishing reflexes to tip the ball over the bar. “When Zidane hit the ball he headed with such strength and a kind of nastiness,” Buffon says. “It was as if he had connected with his foot rather than his head because it was so fast. I knew he was convinced he had scored. So he was frustrated that I saved it but, being the incredible champion he is, I believe he also appreciated my save in the end.” Rage soon enveloped Zidane. Five minutes after Buffon’s heroics Materazzi, the Italy defender, insulted the French captain. No one else heard what was said and, at the time, it seemed as if Buffon was the only other player who saw Zidane smash his head into Materazzi’s chest. “I was about 15 metres away and I could hear the thud,” Buffon writes. “If he had done that to anyone else, they would have been knocked out. The linesman didn’t see it. The only one who witnessed it was me. So I ran to the referee and assistant in order to attract their attention. Materazzi was on the ground, Zidane was motionless, I was protesting, and finally the game stopped.” The referee, Horacio Elizondo, consulted with his assistants and, with television cameras having captured the shocking incident, he sent off Zidane. Italy went on to win the World Cup on penalties. Buffon admits of Zidane’s dismissal that “I was shaken up and caught between mixed emotions. I knew it was Zidane’s last game, and he was one of the greatest and classiest players in the history of football. And I was sorry that it was ending for him in that way”. More than a year would pass before Materazzi admitted that he taunted Zidane by saying: “I prefer the whore that is your sister”. Buffon shakes his head when I ask if he and Zidane ever discussed the infamous incident. “We never spoke about it,” he says. “Obviously we met so many different times and I believe there is a nice relationship based on mutual trust. I never wanted to talk about it as a matter of respect. He’s a champion who won everything, but I believe that deep down this has always been a painful situation and this is why I didn’t want him to remember that.” “It’s my fault,” Buffon then jokes in English, recalling Zidane’s disbelief after the Italian’s save was followed by the head-butt. Buffon suggests that Parma resemble his mother, Juventus his father and Paris Saint-Germain, his third club, is like a wild friend with whom he goes on holiday. So what does Italy, as a team, represent to him? He thinks carefully before, with some tenderness, replying: “The national team is a grandfather. There is a notion of legacy that means it needs it to be protected with delicacy. The grandpa needs to be supported.” Last month, with Buffon as the head of delegation for the national team, Italy were beaten 4-1 on penalties in a World Cup playoff against Bosnia and Herzegovina. That disappointment and humiliation followed Italy failing to beat Sweden in a World Cup qualification decider in 2017 that also spelt the end of Buffon’s international career and, in 2022, a defeat to North Macedonia that meant they also did not compete at that year’s World Cup in Qatar. As he considers the latest calamity Buffon says: “It has been a painful page for Italian football and myself. If they had told me this would happen [12] years ago I would have said that it’s much easier to see 1,000 aliens around me rather than Italy not qualifying for three tournaments consecutively. But that’s the reality. “In order to overcome this we need to understand why there are difficulties. We need to change. If we are clear about this analysis, we have the potential to create a much better future. But if you deny there is a problem, then that problem will always be there.” What are the reasons for the decline of Italian football? “I would say there are three clear ones,” Buffon says “The first is globalisation, which has made it possible for all teams to be very competitive, and the average level of play has increased a lot. Secondly, up to 15 years ago when we used to win, we were stronger tactically than our opponents. And thirdly, we have some fantastic players but what’s missing is the truly creative talent like [Roberto] Baggio, [Alessandro] Del Piero or [Francesco] Totti that used to help us prevail.” Buffon does not shy away from acknowledging that, even as a great player, he was sometimes affected by depression and panic attacks. But, he says now: “I definitely learned that sharing your weaknesses and your vulnerability can be a synonym of strength, and I feel more secure and more balanced now. I’m at ease when I talk about how vulnerable I’ve been. When I was experiencing that tough period, I realised that talking to people was good therapy.” We look at a photograph of Buffon kissing the World Cup in 2006 and his usual homage to the ultras is printed on the bottom of his gloves. ‘BUFFON C.U.I.T’ is a tribute to the Commando Ultrà Indian Tips fans with whom he used to support his Tuscan home town team, Carrarese. Buffon wore ‘C.U.I.T’ on his gloves until that very last game he played for Parma and he suggests “I’m one of very few players who had a past as a hardcore fan. The ultra-world is often at the centre of controversy, thanks to acts of criminality and violence, but it is also a world that is little-known. Many of those fans adhere to strong moral codes, and among the ultras there are organisations that do work for charity.” Does Buffon worry about the increasing sanitisation of football? “That’s a tough one and we need a good debate about it,” he replies. “I think that when sport becomes business, the risk is that you end up losing your values as well as the passion and sense of belonging you have when you wear the jersey of your favourite football team.” Now that he is no longer working with the national team, Buffon is focused on being “a good father” to his two sons. “It’s a big job in itself and obviously I haven’t been very present in their lives [while a footballer].” But the game runs through him so powerfully that it seems likely Buffon will soon find his way back. “It is the world I know and understand best,” he says. “So I’ll always stay in a world where I’m appreciated and where I can express myself well. And that world is football.” In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email [email protected] or [email protected]. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

2026-04-22

Gianluigi Buffon: ‘You have a perception that you are unbeatable, almost omnipotent’

“I tear the gloves off my hands and my bare knuckles, reddened and soaked with sweat, shine in the neon light,” Gianluigi Buffon writes when he remembers leaving the pitch at half-time during the final game of his remarkable career, in May 2023. “I really feel dead inside. I am 45 years old, and around me many of my teammates walking in shorts towards the dressing room could easily be my children.” The gripping and intimate tone of Buffon’s book, Saved, which opens with his last-ever game in a Serie B playoff for Parma, is matched by his warm and open character. The great goalkeeper played professionally for 28 years and his reflections are as moving as they are sombre. “Can you live without it, Gigi?” he asks. “No, I can’t … when you have outlived your youth, and the time when you feel strong and all-powerful has ended, and your muscles, joints and reflexes start to wear out, then it really is like dying.” Today, in contrast, Buffon is full of life. He has a cigarette on the street in King’s Cross and then walks into the Guardian office like a cheerful force of good will, returning the embrace of a security officer who seems overwhelmed by Buffon’s presence. I am equally struck by the thoughtful way in which, during the next 80 minutes, Buffon considers every question as he moves from his retirement to being part of the management team which felt crushed in March when Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third time in a row. He will compare those feelings with the elation of winning the World Cup in 2006, when his brilliant tournament was preceded by the bitter fallout from the infamous Calciopoli scandal in which he was implicated. But first I ask Buffon if retirement still feels like a kind of death? “I have very opposite emotions now because, on the one hand, I felt it was the right choice,” he replies. “So I was happy to end my journey. But on the other hand I obviously had fears because from that moment on, after nearly 30 years, I knew my life would become completely different.” Buffon understands my questions in English but he chooses to answer in Italian. He laughs when I ask if he has played in even a casual five-a-side since that last game with Parma. “No! I really don’t miss playing,” the 48-year-old insists. “I’m convinced it was the right time to finish but I used to have these [conflicted] emotions. And then I realised that, all of a sudden, my life had changed. I’m now living in a different, quieter way. But I learned to accept it and to move on.” It helps to find acceptance when the list of achievements are as impressive as those accrued by Buffon. He is Italy’s most capped men’s player, with 176 international appearances, and been part of five World Cup squads. Buffon has also won the most Serie A titles, having lifted the Scudetto 10 times with Juventus, and he set Italy’s domestic league record for the longest time, 974 consecutive minutes, without conceding a goal in the 2015-16 season. “There are two things I’m particularly proud of,” Buffon adds. “The first is the longevity and continuity of my high-level performance. The second is the bond with my teammates, with our chemistry on the pitch, which is one of the most beautiful ways of working and playing together.” He might have seemed flawless for almost a thousand minutes in that landmark season 10 years ago but Buffon believes his best campaign was in 2002-03 when “I was in superb form, a type of feeling I also experienced in 2006 at the World Cup … in those moments it seems that everything is perfectly in order, you feel almost omnipotent, and you have a perception that you are unbeatable”. The fleeting nature of that sensation makes it all the more precious, and Buffon smiles. “I felt I was invincible but the flow of energy and the mental clarity are very difficult to explain. I don’t know what happens within you, but you see so much clarity.” I’m intrigued by how Buffon found that elusive state at the 2006 World Cup when the buildup was smeared by the murky scandal of Calciopoli which, as he admits in his book, meant the Italian squad was “decidedly unpopular”. There were accusations that Juventus and numerous other Serie A clubs had manipulated the referees’ association so that officials favourable to them took charge of certain matches. Buffon was also accused of placing illegal bets on football and he had to leave the World Cup camp to be grilled for two hours in a prosecutor’s office. He was eventually exonerated. Twenty years on Buffon tells me that, after a national scandal which meant Juventus were relegated to Serie B, “it wasn’t easy to find the calm and serenity to focus on our priority – which was to play the World Cup at our best. But the real difference is that, when you look at yourself in the mirror, you realise you’re not a liar. You’re true to yourself. We knew we hadn’t done anything bad. We were paying an inexplicable price but the injustice brought out the best in us.” The 2006 World Cup final between France and Italy was held in Berlin. Buffon shrugs cheerfully when he remembers that, in the seventh minute, his former Juventus teammate Zinedine Zidane scored a penalty against him when his Panenka kick kissed the underside of the crossbar and bounced across the goalline. Marco Materazzi equalised 12 minutes later and the score remained 1-1 at full-time. Then, just before the first period of extra time ended, Buffon denied Zidane with a brilliant save. “I remember it well,” Buffon says with a wry grin of his save, which was preceded by a deft cross from Willy Sagnol that Zidane rose to meet with a bullet header close to goal. Buffon displayed astonishing reflexes to tip the ball over the bar. “When Zidane hit the ball he headed with such strength and a kind of nastiness,” Buffon says. “It was as if he had connected with his foot rather than his head because it was so fast. I knew he was convinced he had scored. So he was frustrated that I saved it but, being the incredible champion he is, I believe he also appreciated my save in the end.” Rage soon enveloped Zidane. Five minutes after Buffon’s heroics Materazzi, the Italy defender, insulted the French captain. No one else heard what was said and, at the time, it seemed as if Buffon was the only other player who saw Zidane smash his head into Materazzi’s chest. “I was about 15 metres away and I could hear the thud,” Buffon writes. “If he had done that to anyone else, they would have been knocked out. The linesman didn’t see it. The only one who witnessed it was me. So I ran to the referee and assistant in order to attract their attention. Materazzi was on the ground, Zidane was motionless, I was protesting, and finally the game stopped.” The referee, Horacio Elizondo, consulted with his assistants and, with television cameras having captured the shocking incident, he sent off Zidane. Italy went on to win the World Cup on penalties. Buffon admits of Zidane’s dismissal that “I was shaken up and caught between mixed emotions. I knew it was Zidane’s last game, and he was one of the greatest and classiest players in the history of football. And I was sorry that it was ending for him in that way”. More than a year would pass before Materazzi admitted that he taunted Zidane by saying: “I prefer the whore that is your sister”. Buffon shakes his head when I ask if he and Zidane ever discussed the infamous incident. “We never spoke about it,” he says. “Obviously we met so many different times and I believe there is a nice relationship based on mutual trust. I never wanted to talk about it as a matter of respect. He’s a champion who won everything, but I believe that deep down this has always been a painful situation and this is why I didn’t want him to remember that.” “It’s my fault,” Buffon then jokes in English, recalling Zidane’s disbelief after the Italian’s save was followed by the head-butt. Buffon suggests that Parma resemble his mother, Juventus his father and Paris Saint-Germain, his third club, is like a wild friend with whom he goes on holiday. So what does Italy, as a team, represent to him? He thinks carefully before, with some tenderness, replying: “The national team is a grandfather. There is a notion of legacy that means it needs it to be protected with delicacy. The grandpa needs to be supported.” Last month, with Buffon as the head of delegation for the national team, Italy were beaten 4-1 on penalties in a World Cup playoff against Bosnia and Herzegovina. That disappointment and humiliation followed Italy failing to beat Sweden in a World Cup qualification decider in 2017 that also spelt the end of Buffon’s international career and, in 2022, a defeat to North Macedonia that meant they also did not compete at that year’s World Cup in Qatar. As he considers the latest calamity Buffon says: “It has been a painful page for Italian football and myself. If they had told me this would happen [12] years ago I would have said that it’s much easier to see 1,000 aliens around me rather than Italy not qualifying for three tournaments consecutively. But that’s the reality. “In order to overcome this we need to understand why there are difficulties. We need to change. If we are clear about this analysis, we have the potential to create a much better future. But if you deny there is a problem, then that problem will always be there.” What are the reasons for the decline of Italian football? “I would say there are three clear ones,” Buffon says “The first is globalisation, which has made it possible for all teams to be very competitive, and the average level of play has increased a lot. Secondly, up to 15 years ago when we used to win, we were stronger tactically than our opponents. And thirdly, we have some fantastic players but what’s missing is the truly creative talent like [Roberto] Baggio, [Alessandro] Del Piero or [Francesco] Totti that used to help us prevail.” Buffon does not shy away from acknowledging that, even as a great player, he was sometimes affected by depression and panic attacks. But, he says now: “I definitely learned that sharing your weaknesses and your vulnerability can be a synonym of strength, and I feel more secure and more balanced now. I’m at ease when I talk about how vulnerable I’ve been. When I was experiencing that tough period, I realised that talking to people was good therapy.” We look at a photograph of Buffon kissing the World Cup in 2006 and his usual homage to the ultras is printed on the bottom of his gloves. ‘BUFFON C.U.I.T’ is a tribute to the Commando Ultrà Indian Tips fans with whom he used to support his Tuscan home town team, Carrarese. Buffon wore ‘C.U.I.T’ on his gloves until that very last game he played for Parma and he suggests “I’m one of very few players who had a past as a hardcore fan. The ultra-world is often at the centre of controversy, thanks to acts of criminality and violence, but it is also a world that is little-known. Many of those fans adhere to strong moral codes, and among the ultras there are organisations that do work for charity.” Does Buffon worry about the increasing sanitisation of football? “That’s a tough one and we need a good debate about it,” he replies. “I think that when sport becomes business, the risk is that you end up losing your values as well as the passion and sense of belonging you have when you wear the jersey of your favourite football team.” Now that he is no longer working with the national team, Buffon is focused on being “a good father” to his two sons. “It’s a big job in itself and obviously I haven’t been very present in their lives [while a footballer].” But the game runs through him so powerfully that it seems likely Buffon will soon find his way back. “It is the world I know and understand best,” he says. “So I’ll always stay in a world where I’m appreciated and where I can express myself well. And that world is football.” In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email [email protected] or [email protected]. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

2026-04-22

Former Champions League manager, 49, tragically dies after collapsing

Former Champions League manager Jacek Magiera has tragically died at the age of 49. Magiera, who had been the assistant for the Poland national team since last July and managed Legia Warsaw in Europe's elite club competition, reportedly died after collapsing while on a morning run. He was taken to the Military Clinical Hospital in Wroclaw but was sadly unable to be saved. The Polish Football Association announced his tragic passing in a statement on Friday morning. It read: “The Polish Football Association has received with deep sadness and immense regret the news of the death of Jacek Magiera, the assistant coach of the Polish national team. “The PZPN extends its most sincere condolences to the family, friends, and loved ones of Jacek Magiera. “At the same time, we ask that the privacy and peace of his loved ones be respected during this very difficult time.” Polish FA President Cezary Kulesza also paid tribute in a message of his own. He said: “With great sadness and disbelief, I received the news of Jacek Magiera’s death. “It is difficult to find the right words in the face of such a sudden and completely unexpected loss. “Jacek was an exceptional footballer, an excellent coach, but above all, a very good man on whom one could always rely. I wish to extend my condolences to the family and loved ones. “At the same time, I appeal to the media and all commentators to respect the privacy of the family immersed in mourning.” Legia Warsaw issued a statement after learning of Magiera's death. The centre-back played nine years for the club and managed them in their 2016/17 Champions League campaign, where they finished third in the group stage to qualify for the Europa League, beating Sporting CP 1-0 at home and drawing 3-3 against Real Madrid. The club said: “With immense sadness and regret, we received the news of the death of Jacek Magiera – former footballer and coach of Legia Warsaw, who for 20 years with dedication and passion co-created the history of our club. "He will forever remain in our memory as a man full of commitment and heart for football. To the family, loved ones, and all those immersed in mourning, we extend our most sincere condolences.” Aston Villa and Poland star Matty Cash also paid tribute on social media, saying: “Jacek (broken heart emoji) You were such an amazing guy always with a smile, You will be missed dearly. RIP legend.” More to follow... This is a breaking sports story and is being constantly updated with the latest news, pictures and videos. Please refresh the page regularly. You can also get email updates on the day’s biggest sports stories straight to your inbox by signing up for our sports newsletter. Get all the very best sports news, pictures, opinion and video by following Daily Star every time you see our name. Follow Daily Star on Google News - CLICK HERE and click the star Follow Daily Star on Apple News - CLICK HERE available on Apple devices Follow Daily Star on Flipboard - CLICK HERE and click follow You can also sign up for Twitter alerts for breaking news by following @‌DailyStar_Sport and follow us @‌dailystar for all the latest updates. Keep up-to-date with your must-see sports stories, features, videos and pictures throughout the day by following us on Facebook at Daily Star Football | London

2026-04-10

Zinedine Zidane in line for France head coach role after FIFA World Cup 2026? What we know

French football legend Zinedine Zidane is reportedly set to take over as the country’s men’s team head coach after the FIFA World Cup 2026.Current France head coach Didier Deschamps will step down after the FIFA World Cup later this year, ending a 14-year stint with the national team.An official announcement on the new appointment, however, is yet to be made.FFF President hints at Zinedine Zidane appointmentFrench Football Federation (FFF) president Philippe Diallo has hinted that a successor to Deschamps has already been identified.“Yes, I know his name,” Diallo told a French newspaper, Le Figaro.“I invite you to come after the World Cup,” he said when asked whether Zidane would take over.“The France team is one of the best in the world and cannot be left to just anyone. It must be someone with many qualities and with the backing of the French,” he added.Diallo also said he has received fewer than five applications from French coaches.Reports in France suggest negotiations with Zinedine Zidane are progressing. The former midfielder is also believed to be seeking an expanded backroom staff, led by David Bettoni.Zidane was part of the France squads that won the FIFA World Cup 1998 and UEFA Euro 2000.He previously managed Real Madrid across two spells, from January 2016 to May 2018, and again from March 2019 to May 2021, with Bettoni serving as his assistant.France's upcoming FIFA World Cup campaignFrance, which last won the World Cup in 2018, is in Group I for the 2026 edition, alongside Senegal and Norway. A team from Inter-Confederation Playoff Path B (Iraq, Bolivia or Suriname) will complete the group.Les Bleus are scheduled to play friendlies against Brazil (27 March), Colombia (30 March) and the Ivory Coast (5 June), before opening their World Cup campaign against Senegal on 16 June in New York.The 2026 tournament will be the first to feature 48 teams, up from 32, divided into 12 groups of four. It will be held across the United States, Canada and Mexico, starting 11 June.

2026-03-24

Zinedine Zidane Returns: French Legend Set for Dream Role After FIFA World Cup 2026

Zinedine Zidane is an legend of the beautiful game, not only as a manager but as a player as well. But Zidane is a great coach for many reasons, not least because he was one of the greatest players ever., Football, Times Now

2026-03-24