World Cup looms, Renard names France women's football coach

2023-03-31 11:59

World Cup looms, Renard names France women's football coach


Herve Renard has been named head coach of the French women's football team until 2024 and will lead the team to this year's World Cup, the French Football Federation (FFF) said on Thursday .


The 54 -year-old Frenchman resigned this week as head coach of the Saudi Arabian men's team after leading them to last year's World Cup in Qatar, where they beat eventual champions Argentina in the group stage.

Renard will unveil his squad for France's next two friendlies in a speech on Friday. They will face Colombia on April 7 and current Olympic champions Canada on April 11 .

The FFF sacked Corinne Diacre this month after captain Wendy Renard said she would not be at the World Cup if the coach stayed in charge.

France, ranked fifth in the world, is looking to win its first World Cup at this year's tournament, which runs from July 20 to August . 20 in New Zealand and Australia.

Reynald said after last week's 2-1 loss to Bolivia in Jeddah that he felt he had taken Saudi Arabia as far away as he could.

In the 2012 African Cup of Nations final, the flamboyant Reinal led Zambia to a spectacular victory against Ivory Coast.

World Cup looms, Renard names France women's football coach

Three years later, he led Ivory Coast to victory over Ghana in the final, earning his second Intercontinental title by becoming the first coach to lift the trophy with two different teams.

Diacre's position became untenable after Wendy Renard said she would not play in this year's World Cup to preserve her mental health.

Internationals Marie - Antoinette Catoto and Kadidiato Diani were quick to follow suit, both saying they are taking a step back from their national team.

Widely regarded as one of the best coaches in women's football, Hervé Renard represented France against Norway, Denmark and Uruguay last month.

After France's Euro 2017 quarter-final exit, she was stripped of the captain's armband by Diacke and then regained in 2021 .

Diacre was also criticized for leaving veteran player Amandine Henry and their all-time top scorer Eugenie Le Sommer out of her squad at last year's European Championships in England .