Former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry has been named the new head coach of the France Under-21s team.
The 46-year-old returns to the dugout after an eight-month break from coaching, having departed his post as Belgium assistant manager following the World Cup.
Henry takes over from the long-serving Sylvain Ripoll, whose six-year tenure came to an end last month following France's Euro 2023 quarter-final exit at the hands of Ukraine.
"The FFF executive committee took the decision to appoint Thierry Henry, following a phase of discussions led by a selection committee and on the committee's recommendation," a statement from the French Football Federation read.
"The committee, made up of Marc Keller, who is responsible for national selection on the executive committee, Hubert Fournier, the FFF's national technical director, and Philippe Diallo, president of the FFF, studied several profiles of French coaches. The FFF would like to pay tribute to the high professional and human qualities of the various candidates."
Following his retirement as a player in 2015, Henry entered the coaching landscape with Arsenal's youth teams before being appointed to Roberto Martinez's Belgium coaching team in 2016, departing for the first time after the 2018 World Cup.
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The Frenchman took on his first managerial position with Monaco in 2018, but he was dismissed after just 20 games at the helm, having only masterminded five wins for Les Monegasques.
Henry subsequently spent just over a year in charge of MLS outfit Montreal Impact, but his record once again left a lot to be desired, as he won just nine of his 29 games in the hotseat.
Nevertheless, Henry did manage to propel Montreal Impact into the MLS playoffs for the first time in four years, but he left in February 2021 in order to be closer to his family in London.
Following his departure from the United States, Henry returned to the Belgium setup as Martinez's assistant once again, helping to oversee their 2022 World Cup campaign before exiting upon Domenico Tedesco's appointment.
Earlier this year, it was reported that the former Arsenal and Barcelona striker had been under consideration for the France Women's job, but he rejected that opportunity in favour of managing the USA.
As France Under-21s head coach, Henry will oversee Les Bleuets' qualification campaign for Euro 2025, as well as the France Olympic Team for the 2024 Games in Paris.
The Frenchman's first game as head coach comes against Slovenia Under-21s in a European Championships qualifier on September 11.
Ben Knapton
