Zidane names first France squad, drops Thuram

Guillaume Restes, Jérémy Jacquet and Estéban Lepaul also get their first look-in.

Kylian Mbappé stays as captain, Zidane confirmed at his press conference. Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué, Bradley Barcola and Rayan Cherki all keep their places. Lepaul's call owes plenty to his form: the Rennes centre-forward has scored 17 of his club's goals this season, with Rennes sitting 19th in the Europa League on a single point from one match.

Marcus Thuram misses out, along with Theo Hernandez and Aurelien Tchaouameni. William Saliba and Jean-Philippe Mateta are out through injury. N'Golo Kanté, now at Fenerbahce, does not feature either.

Zidane picked 23 players when the rules allowed him 26.

France open the Nations League campaign against Turkey on 25 September, then travel to Belgium three days later. They host Italy in Paris on 2 October before a return fixture with Belgium on 5 October. It is Zidane's first squad since replacing Didier Deschamps after France finished fourth at the 2026 World Cup, where Mbappé scored 11 goals in three matches.

Adrien Truffert's inclusion stands out for a different reason: the Bournemouth left-back's only cap came back in 2022, and four years on he gets a chance to win his second. Manu Koné, Roma's breakout of the World Cup, and Milan pair Mike Maignan and Adrien Rabiot

Cutting Thuram just before facing Italy, where he plays his club football for Inter, and dropping Kanté so soon after his move to Fenerbahce, suggest Zidane is prepared to break from Deschamps-era certainties from his very first list.