Zinédine Zidane and the France job may require ministerial pay waiver | OneFootball

Zinédine Zidane is widely viewed as the likely next France head coach, but his contract could hinge on a Sports Ministry waiver to bypass a new salary cap, according to L'Équipe.

Didier Deschamps will leave on Saturday night after 14 years, and Zidane is expected to end his sabbatical to replace him. Since early talks with the FFF and the 54-year-old, a new professional sport governance law has altered pay rules for federation staff.

On 8 July, a joint Senate and National Assembly committee set a ceiling of 450,000 euros gross a year, with the option to exceed it via a ministerial derogation.

Following that agreement, the law is due to be adopted in public sittings on 20 and 21 July, then published in the Journal officiel. If a deal is not already signed, the FFF would need approval from Marina Ferrari, the Minister for Sports, Youth and Community Life. The federation has not said whether an agreement is already in place, and unless Zidane has accepted close to 10 times less than Deschamps, that approval would be required.

Ferrari has said Zidane is a good fit but stressed it is not for the Sports Minister to choose the coach. Any waiver would nonetheless give her a role in the appointment, and some assistants would also be paid above the cap. Observers have questioned a measure that effectively hands political sign-off on the national team, something FIFA frowns upon as interference.

Source: L'Équipe