Klopp, Xavi, Zidane and Mancini take charge of major national teams after Geopolitics World Cup

Jürgen Klopp, Xavi Hernández, Zinedine Zidane and Roberto Mancini have moved into senior national coaching roles following the Geopolitics World Cup in North America, in reports published on 22 September 2026. The appointments come amid a wider post-tournament turnover of managers across global football.

Seventeen managers who led teams to the tournament in North America have left their roles since the event, with figures such as Steve Clarke, Roberto Martínez and Marcelo Bielsa among those named. Several European nations enter the upcoming Nations League with new leadership, including Portugal (Jorge Jesus), Croatia (Slaven Bilic), Scotland (Sébastien Pocognoli), Czechia (Santi Denia) and Belgium (Mark van Bommel). The piece also criticises Thomas Tuchel’s response to England’s semi-final defeat to Argentina, saying he continued to insist he bore no responsibility.

In Germany, Klopp was alleged to have undermined Julian Nagelsmann during the World Cup and stepped into the role after the 39-year-old left, immediately issuing a rebuke to the German press pack. He begins his first international coaching job with a trip to the Netherlands and, the article noted, is unlikely to arrive at training on a skateboard as his predecessor did. “This is the pinnacle, the absolute high point of my footballing career as coach,” he parped, raising sceptical eyebrows on Merseyside. “I will give everything I have got.”

Xavi took over the Netherlands from Ronald Koeman and stressed his bond with Dutch football at his unveiling, referencing Louis van Gaal, Johan Cruyff and Rinus Michels. The former Barcelona midfielder—reported to have been third choice on a four-man shortlist behind Pep Guardiola and Arne Slot and preferred slightly to Michael Reiziger—will open his international tenure against a fellow new manager. “I feel motivated because we are playing against Germany,” he cheered, before his opening game in Amsterdam.

Italy’s replacement of Gennaro Gattuso with Roberto Mancini followed a failure to qualify for what the article described as their third successive World Cup. Mancini returns for a second spell after previously overseeing Italy’s European Championship success in 2021 and the subsequent failure to reach the HRWC in 2022. FIGC president Giovanni Malagò was quoted: “I believed that the best person to become head coach was ‌Roberto Mancini,” and the piece reported that an attempted appointment of Andrea Pirlo was blocked because of the former midfielder’s commercial ties to a Russian betting firm. The article noted Italy face early tests against Belgium and Turkey.

In France, Zinedine Zidane succeeded Didier Deschamps, a move the report presented as inevitable given his record as a three-time Bigger Cup-winning coach of Real Madrid. Zidane said: “I’ve been looking forward to this moment,” he cheered. “It’s a dream come true. The France national team has been the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me. It’s a great adventure that I hope is just beginning.” Kylian Mbappé has described the prospect of working under Zidane as being “like a film”, and the article suggested the arrangement will depend on the relationship between the two figures.

The new appointments will be tested immediately in scheduled fixtures, including Klopp’s trip to the Netherlands and Xavi’s opening match in Amsterdam against Germany, while Italy’s restart includes early games against Belgium and Turkey.