The French DT who put La Scaloneta in difficulty in Qatar has switched to women’s football

A few months ago, at Qatar 2022, Hervé Renard led Saudi Arabia, the team that put La Scaleneta in difficulty before his consecration. Now, the Frenchman has a difficult mission ahead of him at the helm of the French women’s team: to get him out of the crisis he is in after the sacking of Corine Diacre at less than four months from the World Cup.

The French federation has indicated that Renard, who until last Tuesday was the men’s coach of Saudi Arabia, will be in charge of the “bleus” until 31 August 2024, with two key appointments: the World Cup of Australia and New Zealand which will start on July 20 and the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Renard will deliver a press conference this Friday in which he will reveal his first call for the friendlies of April 7 in Clermont-Ferrand against Colombia and April 11 at Le Mans against Canada.

His appointment was obvious after last Tuesday’s defeat against Bolivia, when the coach asked the Arab federation, with whom he had a contract until 2027leave the selector position and even paid compensation out of pocketas published by the newspaper L’Équipe.

The technician now she will begin her journey in women’s football after becoming the last World Cup in Qatar to defeat Leo Messi’s Argentina, on the first day of the group stage, before Lionel Scaloni’s men lifted the trophy.

After that match, Renard predicted that La Scaloneta would not only advance to the group stage, but also eventually be the champion. And it didn’t fail.

Thus Renard will return to his homeland, where he did not have the best results an embellished curriculum in the African and Asian national teamsin which two African Cup of Nations titles stand out, that of 2012 with Zambia and that of 2015 at the helm of the Ivory Coast.

She has no experience in women’s football, although she does have experience in French football, where she managed Sochaux in 2013 and Lille in 2015, with no good results.

A France in turmoil

The 54-year-old coach takes charge of a team in full convulsion, after the captain Wendie Renard put an end to his international career on 23 February disagreed with the work of Diacre, who has led the national team since 2017.

The Lyon player was followed by other emblematic ones, such as the Parisians Marie Antoinette Cattoto AND Kadidiatou Dianiwhich led the French Federation to open an investigation which culminated in Diacre’s sacking on March 9 by the “break of no return” in the locker room and the “difference with the high level requirement”.

Renard’s first task will be to restore peace within the the semi-finalist team in the last Eurocopa and which was the host of the last World Cup, in 2019.

To do so, he must rely on the leadership qualities he has already demonstrated in teams such as Zambia, Angola, the Ivory Coast or Morocco, which he qualified for the 2018 World Cup, ending the 20-year absence of the Atlas lions between the elite. .