After announcing his departure from the French football federation in Le Figaro a few days earlier, Hervé Renard confirmed his desire to take charge of a men’s team after the Olympic Games. His goal is clearly to play in the 2026 World Cup as coach.
“If I had to be brief, I have in the back of my mind the 2026 World Cup in men’s football, I hope that it will be my third World Cup as a coach to represent a perhaps different country, or not, at the head of a men’s team. These are my personal motivations,” said Hervé Renard, who participated in the 2018 World Cup at the head of Morocco and in the 2022 World Cup as coach of Saudi Arabia.
“I announced things to the FFF in January. It didn’t change much since we qualified for a Nations League final. My motivation is intact,” he said. “When I came for women’s football, it was to take on difficult challenges. You promised me hell when I arrived, and so far we’re doing just fine. To do even better would be to win a medal for France,” he added.
In an interview with Le Figaro last week, the president of the FFF Philippe Diallo announced the departure of Hervé Renard at the end of the summer: “Hervé has a contract which ends after the Olympics at the end of August 2024 and he made it known that he was not at all sure whether he would stay afterwards. He is mobilized for the Games and then he looks for his future. “I cannot be 100% positive (editor’s note: on his departure). I live like that, day by day, we’ll see what happens. Let’s have fun, then we’ll see what happens,” the coach clarified his future. Asked whether his decision to leave Les Bleues could have an impact on his group, the coach replied: “They are professionals, they knew it.”
“No matter who leads them, their goal will not change. The objective is to win the titles, because there is talent in French women’s football,” he assured. His team made Olympic gold a top priority after the elimination in the quarter-finals of the 2023 World Cup and the defeat in the Nations League final against Spain at the end of February. Before that, the Blue must qualify for Euro-2025 in a very tough group with England, Sweden and Ireland. They will face Ireland on April 5 and Sweden four days later.