Former French professional footballer Zinedine Zidane played as an attacking midfielder. Zidane was recognized for his elegance, vision, passing, ball control, and technique as well as being considered one of the greatest players in football history. During his playing career, he earned several awards, including FIFA World Player of the Year distinctions in 1998, 2000, and 2003, along with the 1998 Ballon d’Or.
Wiki/Biography
Zidane was born on June 23, 1972, in La Castellane, Marseille, in the south of France. His full name is Zinedine Yazid Zidane and he is also known by the name of Zizou. Zidane started his career at Cannes before establishing himself as one of the best players in the French Ligue 1 at Bordeaux.
Zinedine Zidane as a child
In 1996, he moved to Italian team Juventus, where he won trophies including two Serie A titles. He moved to Real Madrid for a world record fee at the time of €77.5 million in 2001, which remained unmatched for the next eight years.
Physical Appearance
- Height (approx): 6 ft 1 in
- Weight: 80 Kg
- Eye color: Green
- Hair color: Bald
Family & Ethnicity
Zidane was born in Algeria as a Muslim of Kabyle origin. He is of Algerian origin.
Parents, Brothers, and Sisters
He is the youngest of five siblings. During the Algerian War in 1953, his parents, Smail and Malika migrated to Paris from Aguemoune in the Berber-speaking area of Kabylie in northern Algeria. They, therefore, drove to the northern suburb of La Castellane in the 16th arrondissement of Marseille in the 1960s.
“I have an affinity with the Arab world. I have it in my blood, through my parents. I am very proud to be French, but also very proud to have these roots and this diversity.”
— Zidane’s interview with Esquire magazine.
His father worked as a storekeeper and night watchman in the departmental store, usually at night, while his mother was a housewife. By the norms of the community, known throughout Marseille for its high crime and unemployment rates, the family led a rather comfortable life. During his career, Zidane credits his severe upbringing and his father for his ‘guiding lights’.
Zinedine Zidane’s father
Zinedine Zidane’s mother
His siblings include Lila Zidane (Zidane’s business advisers), Farid Zidane (died of cancer on July 12, 2019, at the age of 54), Madjid Zidane (Maintenance agent in a swimming pool in Marseille; b. 17 October 1963), Nourredine Zidane (State engineer of the merchant navy at ETFIM Bejaia)
Nourredine Zidane
Madjid Zidane
Lila Zidane
Farid Zidane
Relationships, Wife, Children
At 17, Zidane met his prospective wife, Véronique Fernández (a descendant of Spanish immigrants from Aveyron), while playing football for Cannes in 1988-89. They got married in 1994.
Zinedine Zidane with his wife
They have four kids: Enzo Zidane Fernández (French professional footballer; born March 24, 1995), Luca Zidane Fernández (French professional footballer; born May 13, 1998), Theo Zidane Fernández (French professional footballer; born May 18, 2002) and Elyaz Zidane Fernández (French professional footballer; born December 26, 2005).
Enzo Zidane
Zinedine Zidane with his son Theo
Zinedine Zidane’s son Elyaz
Zinedine Zidane’s son Theo as a child
Zinedine Zidane with his son Luca
Zinedine Zidane’s family picture
Childhood picture of Zinedine Zidane’s kids
Career
As a Player
Cannes
In the beginning, planning to stay at AS Cannes for six weeks, Zidane remained for four years, playing at a professional level. When Zidane’s first coaches noticed him at Cannes, they witnessed how raw he was and how particularly sensitive he was to slurs directed at his ethnicity or family. In order to channel his anger and focus on his own game, Jean Varraud, his first trainer, gave him advice. Against Nantes, in the French Division, 1 on May 18, 1989, Zidane made his professional debut with Cannes. The first goal he achieved for the club was also against Nantes on February 10, 1991, in a 2–1 win.
Zinedine Zidane in AS Cannes
Bordeaux
During his four years with Girondins de Bordeaux, Zidane won the 1995 Intertoto Cup after beating Karlsruhe and finished second against Bayern Munich in the 1995-96 UEFA Cup, which he won in 1996. He won the Ligue 1 player of the year award in 1996.
Zinedine Zidane in Bordeaux
Juventus
With a string of outstanding performances for Bordeaux and France, Zidane received offers to join Europe’s top clubs in the spring of 1996. During the close season, he opted to join UEFA Champions League champions Juventus. In his first season, he was named Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year. After Zidane’s first season at Juventus in 1997-98, the club won Serie A and the Scudetto with seven goals in 32 appearances. He won the Ballon d’Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 1998. Zidane was named Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year for the second time in 2001.
Zinedine Zidane in Juventus
Real Madrid
Alongside Luis Figo in midfield, Zidane led Real Madrid to the 2002-03 La Liga title and was named FIFA World Player of the Year for the third time. Despite losing his last season of club football without a trophy, Zidane scored a personal success in January 2006, with a hat-trick against Sevilla in a 4-2 win. During the season for Real Madrid, he was their second-largest assist provider and goalscorer, behind teammates Ronaldo and David Beckham. He was named by Marca as a member of the ‘Best away XI in the history of Real Madrid’ in April 2013.
Zinedine Zidane in Real Madrid
International career
At the 1993 Mediterranean Games in Languedoc-Roussillon, Zidane was part of the French Under-21 team that won a bronze medal. On 17 August 1994, he made his first appearance for France as a substitute against the Czech Republic, which ended in a 2–2 draw after two goals.
1998 World Cup
In 1998, Zidane took part in his first FIFA World Cup, which was held in his home country of France. At the Stade de France, Zidane and the French took on defending champions and favorites Brazil for the 1998 FIFA World Cup Final. Zidane was named man of the match and became an instant national hero. He received the Legion of Honor later that year. In Paris, a million people lined the Champs-Élysées, around which celebrations were centered around the Arc de Triomphe.
Zinedine Zidane in 1998 World Cup
Euro 2000
Zidane had been named UEFA’s Player of the Tournament.
Zidane in Euro 2000
2002 World Cup
After winning the world and European championships in 2000 and 2002, France entered the 2002 World Cup in Japan/Korea as favorites. However, a thigh injury suffered by Zidane before the tournament prevented him from playing in France’s first two games, and the France team failed to score a goal without him in either match.
Zinedine Zidane in 2002 World Cup
2006 World Cup
At coach Raymond Domenech’s insistence, Zinedine Zidane came out of retirement and was immediately reinstated as team captain. On May 27, 2006, Zidane earned his 100th cap for France against Mexico in a 1–0 friendly win, which also turned out to be his last game at the Stade de France.
Zinedine Zidane in 2006 World Cup
Coaching career
During the 2013-14 season, he served as Real Madrid’s assistant coach. Real Madrid announced he would be their new sporting director in July 2011. He was appointed as Carlo Ancelotti’s assistant coach in 2013 at Real Madrid.
Real Madrid Castile
Real Madrid announced in June 2014 that Zinedine Zidane would coach their B team, Real Madrid Castilla. Miguel Galán, director of CENAFE (Spanish National Center for Training Football Coaches), reported Zidane on August 29 for acting as head coach of Real Madrid Castilla without having the required coaching badges.
Real Madrid
The Madrid club announced on 4 January 2016 that coach Rafael Benitez was to be dismissed and on the same day Zidane was appointed as their new manager on a two-and-a-half-year contract. Real Madrid beat Manchester City 1-0 on aggregate in the 2016 UEFA Champions League Final on May 4, with Zinedine Zidane as manager. Zidane-led Real Madrid won their 12th European Cup (La Duodécima) by winning the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final 4-1 against Juventus in Cardiff on June 3, 2017. Zidane achieved his first double as a club manager, a feat not achieved since 1956-57. Zidane became only the second manager other than José Villalonga to win the European Cup in his first two seasons in charge. It was on August 8 that he won 2-1 against Manchester United in the 2017 UEFA Super Cup. As a result, Zidane became the first manager to win back-to-back UEFA Super Cups since Arrigo Sacchi had done in 1990 for Milan. Zidane’s success saw him win FIFA’s Best Men’s Coach award in 2017. Zidane won his eighth trophy as a manager when Real beat Grêmio in the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup which was held in the United Arab Emirates in December 2017. As the third manager, alongside Bob Paisley and Carlo Ancelotti, he is the only one to win the European Cup three times, as well as the first to win the trophy in three consecutive seasons. Zidane announced his resignation as Real Madrid manager on May 31, five days after the Champions League final. Zidane cited ‘the club’s need for change’ as his reason for leaving.
Prizes/Honors
- 1998 FIFA World Cup champion Zidane was named to the All-Star team
- In 1998, he was awarded France’s Legion of Honor
- In 2000, he won the UEFA Euro and was named player of the tournament.
- At the 2006 World Cup, he won the Ballon d’Or as the player of the tournament.
- Ballon d’Or
- Zidane became the first manager to win the Champions League three times in a row.
- UEFA Super Cup
- FIFA Club World Cup twice
- Spanish Super Cup and the La Liga title.
- FIFA’s Best Men’s Coach in 2017 and won the Spanish Cup and the Spanish league.
Autograph
Zinedine Zidane’s Autograph
Favorites
- Team: Juventus and Barcelona
- Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Controversies
- Zidane’s position in Algeria’s World Cup squad was reportedly turned down by coach Abdelhamid Kermali because he wasn’t fast enough. Nonetheless, Zidane’s 2005 interview dismissed the rumor, stating that he had previously played for France and would not have been eligible to represent Algeria.
- When Zidane was sent off for headbutting Marco Materazzi in the chest in the 110th minute of the 2006 World Cup, he did not take part in the penalty shootout, which Italy won 5-3. After being sent off for the fourteenth time in his career, Zinedine has now joined Cameroonian Rigobert Song as the only player to have been sent off at two different World Cup tournaments. As well as becoming the first player to be sent off in extra time, he was the fourth player to receive a red card in a World Cup final. The controversy surrounding Zidane’s actions made headlines around the world, as his whim was described as “odious” in Le Figaro, and the front page of L’Equipe asked: “What should we tell our children, for whom you have become an example forever? ?… How could this have happened to a man like you?” Zidane had been praised for his performances during the tournament, and Pep Guardiola wrote that he is such an influence on the team that ” France is never disorganized.” Zidane was awarded the Ballon d’Or as the tournament’s player of the year the day after the final. Marco Materazzi later confessed in interviews that he had insulted the sister Zidane prompting the player’s backlash and increased anger The former France manager says he ‘rather die than apologize’ to Materazzi after the headbutt in the 2010 final, but he also confessed that he could ‘never live with himself if he had been allowed to stay on the pitch and help France win.’ He later said: ‘If you look at the fourteen red cards I’ve had in my career, twelve of them were the result of a taunt. It’s not a justification, it’s not an excuse, but my passion, my temper, and my blood made me react.” Zidane retired from professional football after being sent off in the final and confirmed that he would not reconsider his decision FIFA suspended him for three matches after receiving the red card FIFA’s humanitarian program invited him to do three days of service with children After receiving six cards in his World Cup matches, Zidane equaled the record with Brazilian Cafu.
- All three matches of the 1998 FIFA group stage were won by France, contributing to Thierry Henry’s first goal against Saudi Arabia and setting up Dugarry’s goal in the opener against South Africa; Zidane, however, was sent off in the first game for trampling on Fuad Anwar. It was the first time a French player was sent off in the World Cup final.
Net Worth
In the last 12 months, Forbes magazine brought in $15.8 million in revenue.
Facts / Anecdotes
- It was a controversial moment when he headbutted a competitor during the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He later received a red card.
- He is the only manager in world football to win all three consecutive Champions League trophies.
- In the 1998 World Cup, he scored twice and helped his team win the championship.
- He took part in football matches that neighborhood children played in Place Tartane, an 80 by 12-meter square that served as the main plaza of the complex, from the age of five.
- Zidane hailed former Marseille stars Enzo Francescoli, Blaž Slišković, and Jean-Pierre Papin as his idols throughout his youth.
- A local club called US Saint-Henri in Castellane, where Zidane played as a junior at the age of ten gave the youngster his first playing license.
- He wore number 10 for much of his international career to distinguish himself as an elite playmaker.
Zidane wearing a number 10 jersey
- Zidane is considered a French citizen as well as an Algerian citizen.
- A sports complex consisting of five-a-side football pitches owned and operated by Zidane is sponsored by Adidas.
- Zidane has been endorsed by a number of companies including Adidas, Lego, France Telecom, Orange, Audi, Volvic, and Christian Dior. As a result of these sponsorship deals, Zidane earned an additional €8.6 million on top of his €6.4 million salary at Real Madrid in 2006, for a total of €15 million (20.4 million dollars). This makes him the sixth highest-paid footballer.
Zidane in an advertisement for Lego
Zidane and David Beckham in an ad campaign of Adidas
Zidane standing near an Audi
Zidane in an advertisement for Dior
- During a Louis Vuitton ad in May 2010, Zidane played foosball with Diego Maradona and Pelé.
- The Ultimate Edition FIFA 20 video game features Zidane on the cover.
Cover of The Ultimate Edition FIFA 20 video game
- During a match in 2005, filmmakers Philippe Parreno and Douglas Gordon filmed Zidane with 17 cameras, to create the documentary Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait. Zidane is followed throughout the match. Music is provided by Scottish post-rock band Mogwai. The documentary was screened at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in 2009.
- Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus invited Zidane to Bangladesh in November 2006.
Muhammad Yunus and Zidane
- In addition to visiting his parents’ birthplace in Algeria, he met Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and received an official reception from him.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Zidane
- In the Family Guy episode “Saving Private Brian” on November 5, 2006, Zidane was seen headbutting an old lady in a parody of his headbutt against Materazzi.
- Jean-Philippe Toussaint also wrote a lyrical essay on Zidane’s infamous whim titled La Mélancolie de Zidane (2006).
The cover of La Mélancolie de Zidane (2006)
- A bronze sculpture depicting Zidane’s headbutting of Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final was unveiled in 2012 by Algerian artist Adel Abdessemed.
A bronze sculpture of Zidane and Marco Materazzi
- Zidane appeared in Shakira’s 2010 music video ‘Waka Waka’, in which he celebrates France’s victory at the 1998 World Cup.
- Sports presenter Les Murray collaborated with Australian band Vaudeville Smash to perform a tribute song to Zinedine Zidane, accompanied by a video featuring four footballers performing ball tricks wearing Zidane masks, one of which ended up headbutting a night watchman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Znd6sybvS1o
- Jordan’s Royal Center for Islamic Strategic Studies named Zidane one of the world’s 500 most influential Muslims in 2016, stating, “[Zidane’s] modest character endeared him to the general public.”
- Qatar has won the right to host the 2022 World Cup as the first Arab nation. He was the ambassador of Qatar’s bid to host the World Cup.
- Real Madrid signed Zidane for a world record fee of 150 billion Italian lire in 2001, which translates to around 77.5 million euros at a fixed exchange rate, or 12.8 billion pesetas at a fixed rate. reported exchange rate, in installments, and a four-year contract.
- Zidane, the last of the Galácticos era of world-class players that Real Madrid has brought in every year, scored a memorable winning goal, volleying his stronger left foot from the edge of the Champions League penalty area. 2002 UEFA League Final in Madrid’s 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen. Several people have cited this goal as one of the greatest goals in Champions League history. When Zidane scored, he ran towards the touchline with his mouth wide open, screaming with delight. It was one of his most emotional goal celebrations.
“Zinedine Zidane, 18 yards out, watches and waits, adjusts his body and, in one fluid movement, spins and catches him in full volley with his left foot. It flies over Hans-Jorg Butt. It was Zidane’s moment of apotheosis, more so than the 1998 World Cup final, because of the grace and beauty of the moment, because of his control of everything around him. He was Bruce Lee in slow motion as kung fu mayhem reigned.”
— Rory Smith in The Telegraph, Top 20 Sporting Moments of the Decade: Winner of Zinedine
“He dominates the ball, he’s a walking spectacle and he plays like he has silken gloves on each foot. It’s worth going to the stadium – he’s one of the best I’ve had never seen.”
—Alfredo Di Stéfano on Zidane after he was named World Player of the Year in 2003.
- According to UEFA’s Golden Jubilee Poll, voted by supporters for the federation’s 50th anniversary, he was the best European player of the past 50 years.
- After announcing his intention to retire after the 2006 World Cup, Zidane played his farewell game, drawing 3–3 with Villarreal on 7 May 2006. Beneath the club logo were commemorative ZIDANE 2001 shirts –2006. “Thank you for the magic,” read a banner held by 80,000 fans at the Santiago Bernabéu.
- The Danone Nations Cup, which involves 2.5 million children from more than 11,000 clubs around the world, has chosen Zidane as its ambassador.
Danone Nations Cup’s post on Twitter about Zinedine Zidane being the ambassador
- Zidane scored twice in the 2–2 draw with Malaysia on 24 February 2007 in a match in northern Thailand for children’s AIDS charity Keuydaroon. Zidane set up a Malaysian teammate for the second goal in front of a crowd of 10,000. Approximately $7,750 was raised. These funds were used to build two schools and 16 three-bedroom houses.
- He also appeared in the fifth annual Poverty Match in Malaga, Spain on November 19, 2008, which was also a draw; he was scoreless but provided the assist for his team’s second goal.
- It is common for fans to copy those they look up to and look up to. Zidane’s absolute brilliance at the 1998 World Cup led the world to copy him. As a result, many admired him and wanted to be associated with him; hence, a new hairstyle had swept the globe. Among the many people with his “monk” hairstyle, there are men, women, and children.
- Zizou retired from football after playing in the 2006 World Cup final in Germany. Real Madrid was his last team, with whom he would conquer six titles. The French genius has maintained his ties with the club by working as a presidential adviser, assistant first team manager, manager of Castilla and currently, as manager of the first team.
- Zinedine Zidane was banned for headbutting Hamburger SV player Jochen and his appeal was rejected.
- Zinedine Zidane announce his first retirement in 2004 after which he came back again in 2006 to help his national team win the world cup.
- After reaching 100 selections, Zidane is the fourth French player to reach this milestone after Didier Deschamps, Desailly, and Thuram.
- In March 2019, Zinedine Zidane returned as Real Madrid’s new head coach to hold the position until the summer of 2022. However, he left the club for the second time on May 27, 2021.
- In his role as Real Madrid coach, he won the unprecedented UEFA Champions League three times in a row (2016, 2017, and 2018).
- His name appeared in the FIFA 100 in 2004, a list of the world’s greatest living players compiled by Pelé.
- As of 2022, he has 31.1 million followers on his Instagram profile.
Zinedine Zidane’s Instagram
- He has a toy poodle as a pet dog named Eros.
Zinedine Zidane with his pet dog Eros
- He has a statue of himself at the Adidas headquarters.
Zinedine Zidane gets a picture with his own statue at Adidas HQ
Zinedine Zidane in Adidas HQ
- He visited India (Jaipur) in June 2016.
Zinedine Zidane posted on Instagram about his trip to Jaipur
- He has a post on Instagram where he wished David Beckham a happy birthday and welcomed him on Instagram in May 2015.
Zinedine Zidane’s post about David Beckham
- He came on Instagram on September 13, 2014 with a black and white picture of his own self.
Zinedine Zidane’s first post on Instagram
