France have handed a first senior call-up to Sael Kumbedi, the 21-year-old Wolfsburg right-back playing in the German second tier, after Pierre Kalulu was ruled out with a hamstring injury.
Zinedine Zidane did not reach for a safe name when his defensive plans unravelled on Monday. With Juventus defender Kalulu forced to withdraw, the French Football Federation confirmed that Kumbedi, a France Under-21 international with nine caps at that level, has been promoted into the senior squad for the Nations League games against Italy and Turkey.
It is a remarkable rise. Kumbedi plays his club football in the 2. Bundesliga, yet he will now train at Clairefontaine alongside some of the most expensive defenders in world football, days before a trip to Milan where a draw would secure France a Nations League quarter-final place.
A call-up nobody saw coming
Kalulu suffered the left hamstring injury during Juventus' Serie A match against Fiorentina on Sunday and, although he finished the game, scans confirmed a tear that rules him out of both fixtures. France were already without Jules Kounde, left out of the squad Zidane named on Friday because of an ankle injury, so the right-back cupboard was suddenly bare.
Rather than recall a veteran, Zidane kept a promise he has made since taking the job: the door is open to the best young players in the system, wherever they play. Kumbedi had originally been named in Gerald Baticle's Under-21 squad for this window before his promotion, as reported by Reuters, and the federation moved quickly to confirm the switch.
He is not arriving cold, either. Kumbedi has started eight of the nine matches he has played for Wolfsburg this season under Tobias Strobl, and he has been a regular since arriving in Germany.
From Le Havre to Lyon to Wolfsburg
Kumbedi's pathway explains why France's staff trust him despite his club's divisional status. He came through the ranks at Le Havre, one of France's most respected academies, before joining Olympique Lyonnais in 2022. A loan to Wolfsburg in August 2025 gave him Bundesliga minutes, and the German club made the move permanent in January 2026 — a deal reported at around six million euros.
In total he has made 36 appearances for Wolfsburg, providing five assists, and last season he played 27 times in all competitions even as the club slid to relegation. Playing every week under pressure, in a side fighting at the wrong end of the table, has clearly counted for more with Zidane than a bigger club badge on the bench.
France have form for this kind of reach into the youth system — the emergence of Pablo Pagis in this same squad cycle showed Zidane is watching far beyond the obvious names.
So what does it mean for France?
The timing matters. France face Italy in Milan on Thursday needing only a point to reach the Nations League quarter-finals, then host Turkey in Bordeaux on Sunday. Kalulu's absence, on top of Kounde's, means Zidane's right flank is now a genuine selection question rather than a rotation exercise.
England are making the same kind of emergency calls in this window — Dan Burn was drafted in for the injured Marc Guehi — but France's version is bolder: Burn is a Premier League regular, while Kumbedi is being asked to step up from second-tier football to a senior international camp in one move.
For Wolfsburg, the call-up is also a statement. A second-division club rarely supplies a France international, and Kumbedi's value — and his visibility across Europe — will only grow if he gets minutes in Milan or Bordeaux. Get French Football News noted he is a regular starter for Strobl's side; now the whole of France knows his name.
Beyond the Final Whistle: this is Zidane telling every young French player that the pathway is real. Picking a 21-year-old from the German second tier over safer, bigger-name cover is either brave squad-building or a gamble — and given France only need a draw in Milan, it looks like a coach building depth for the tournaments that actually matter. If Kumbedi takes his chance, this week will be remembered as the moment France's next right-back arrived from nowhere.
What do you think — should Zidane be picking players from second-tier clubs, or is international football no place for experiments? Let us know in the comments.
