France national team: who is Hamidou Msaidie, Zinedine Zidane's discreet and indispensable all-rounder?

The French Football Federation (FFF) officially presented Zinedine Zidane as the new manager of the French national team on Tuesday. The former Real Madrid coach will arrive at Clairefontaine with, among others, his all-around player, the invaluable Hamidou Msaidie.

Desired by many and anticipated for months, even years, on the French national team bench, Zinédine Zidane was officially appointed manager of the French national team this Tuesday. The 1998 World Cup winner succeeds Didier Deschamps, who left his post after 14 years of loyal service following the World Cup semi-final defeat against Spain (2-0). This Thursday, he officially announced the first 22 members of his staff. Unsurprisingly, "Zizou" will once again rely on his trusted duo of David Bettoni and Hamidou Msaidie, his two iconic assistants at Real Madrid. While Bettoni's name has always been circulating, Msaidie is a much more discreet figure but just as indispensable to the former French international.

Specializing in fasciatherapy

Recruited by Zinedine Zidane in 2014 to assist him when he was in charge of Real Madrid's reserve team, Hamidou Msaidie has always remained out of the spotlight. Born in the Comoros Islands and arriving in France at the age of 20 months, the 51-year-old coach himself played football from the age of 8 to 18, despite the numerous moves required to follow his father, a soldier in the French army. He notably lived in Germany between the ages of 15 and 18. "I experienced the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was a key moment in shaping my life: it gave me this 'anything is possible' mindset and this spirit of freedom," he explains in a video posted two years ago on his YouTube channel.

At the age of 18, he "switched to physiotherapy, out of passion" for football. "I had a background in sports, so physiotherapy was a plus, but I was already interested in sports and elite athletes. I wanted to find the techniques that would allow me to treat and give access to performance to athletes," he explains.

A graduate in physiotherapy, he also holds a master's degree in sports traumatology and is currently working on a doctorate in sports science, motor skills, and human movement. Among his areas of expertise is fasciatherapy. "These are techniques for treating the fascial tissues that connect all the organs of the body," he explains. "I've been able to bring another dimension to treatment, monitoring, and performance because these techniques allow for a physical as well as a psychological approach."

He is introduced to Zidane by Bettoni

Innovative methods that appeal to a certain... David Bettoni. Hamidou Msaidie crossed paths with him during the 2002-2003 season when the latter was playing for US Créteil, in Ligue 2, as reported by Le Parisien in 2018. A meeting that changed his life since it was he who would later introduce him to his friend Zinédine Zidane, himself attentive to this practice.

"He (Hamidou Msaidie) was well known in the professional football world, so I was expecting to see someone a bit of a show-off, with an aura. In fact, I found a very discreet little man, extremely kind. Someone gentle. We sat around a table and he was as intimidated as I was," said Arnaud Leray, a physiotherapist in Nantes who met him in 2013 for his thesis on the subject, in the columns of L'Équipe in 2018.

A cross-functional role within the staff

At Real Madrid, the Comorian's role remains unclear even to the most dedicated followers of the Spanish club, especially since he never speaks to the media. "He is so unknown that, during the last Champions League final (in 2018), he was next to Zidane on the sidelines and some people mistook him for a ball boy," said Moussa Fayssoil, director of communications for the Comorian Football Federation.

In reality, his combined background in both sports and medicine led him to play a cross-functional role within the staff. "As an assistant coach, my unique strength is really having a 360-degree view of everything that happens within the team," he explains in another video posted on his YouTube channel three months ago. "I was what you might call an 'aidante' (assistant coach). My role, in particular, was really the connection between the medical staff, the physical conditioning staff, and the coaching staff."

Thus, Hamidou Msaidie analyzed the players daily "during training, after training, and during matches," and also worked "with the coaches on preparing training sessions and matches." His role extended beyond the field. "I was primarily involved in supervision with the medical and physical conditioning staff to gather the necessary information for the players' daily work and to develop the right strategies for the team," he explains.

An approach that paid off in the Spanish capital, alongside Zinedine Zidane and David Bettoni. The trio even got together for a unique conversation broadcast on the Comorian's YouTube channel. "What was important was the connection we had," he recalls. "You were always asking me: 'Why are we doing this? How? What's the benefit?' These are questions we ask ourselves all the time, every day. I think the players appreciated this versatility we had with them. It's surgical."