Herve Renard set to become new France Women’s coach after ex-coach sacked following player MUTINY
Saudi Arabia coach Herve Renard is set to become France Women’s new manager… after former coach Corinne Diacre was sacked following the MUTINY player just five months before the World Cup.
Former Ivory Coast and Morocco national team coach Herve Renard will become France Women’s coach two weeks after former coach Corinne Diacre was sacked, according to reports.
The French coach currently coaches the Saudi Arabian men’s team, with whom he has worked since 2019, overseeing their spirited World Cup victory against eventual champions Argentina.
but according to the athleticRenard will now move to the women’s game for the first time, in a decision the players are said to be “very happy about”.
The 54-year-old is said to have taken ‘a significant pay cut’ to manage the women’s team.
Relations with the players under Renard’s alleged predecessor Diacre were extremely fractured, prompting the French Football Federation to take action on March 9.
Herve Renard will be named head coach of the France women’s team ahead of the World Cup.
Corinne Diacre was a divisive figure during her turbulent six-year spell with the national team.
Three of France’s star players, Marie-Antionette Katoto and Kadidiatou Diani of Paris Saint-Germain and captain Wendie Renard, who plays for Champions League champions Lyon, have refused to play with their former coach.
When the FFF opened an investigation into the actions taken by Katoto, Diani and Renard, they found a significant gap between the coach and several of their experienced players.
The former Clermont coach has a history of protracted disputes with players, with the French national team member questioning not only her management style but also her professionalism during her six-year stint as head coach.
Rumors of in-field unrest for the national team surfaced ahead of Euro 2022, where France were knocked out in the semifinals by Germany, but Diacre was given a new contract after the tournament.
In the wake of mounting criticism and a player mutiny in early March, and amid calls for him to resign, Diacre insisted he would stay on and fight allegations he called a “violent smear campaign”.
But his position was weakened by the resignation in late February of one of his strongest allies within the FFF, Noel Le Graet, following allegations of sexual abuse.
With the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand just five months away, the FFF will invest in strengthening France’s prospects by ensuring all of their best players available for selection compete.
Wendie Renard was the first high-profile player to refuse to play under Diacre.
The women’s team is fifth in the FIFA international rankings, one place behind Sabrina Wiegman’s European Championship-winning English team.
Renard’s pedigree is likely to earn him the immediate confidence of the national team, as a long-serving international manager who has also managed Zambia and Angola.
In 2017, he led Morocco’s first World Cup qualification in twenty years, and is the only coach to have won the Africa Cup of Nations with two different countries.
The official announcement from the FFF is expected after an agreement has been reached to terminate the coach’s contract with the Saudi Arabian Football Federation.