Personal information Full name: Zinedine Yazid Zidane
Date of birth: 23 June 1972 (1972-06-23) (age 36)
Place of birth: Marseille, France
Height: 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position: Attacking midfielder (retired)
Youth clubs 1982–1983 US Saint-Henri
1983–1987 SO Septèmes-les-Vallons
1987–1988 AS Cannes
Senior clubs1988–1992 AS Cannes
1992–1996 Girondins Bordeaux
1996–2001 Juventus
2001–2006 Real Madrid
National team 1994–2006 France
Early career, Cannes and Bordeaux (1988–1996)Zidane got an early start in football when he joined the junior team of US Saint-Henri, a local club in the La Castellane district of Marseille. At the age of fourteen, he left Septèmes and participated in the first-year junior selection for the league championship, where he caught the attention of AS Cannes scout Jean Varraud. He went to Cannes for a six-week stay, but ended up remaining at the club for four years to play at the professional level. Zidane played his first Ligue 1 match at seventeen, and scored his first goal on 8 February 1991, for which he received a car as a gift from the team president. His first season with Cannes eventually culminated in a UEFA Cup berth.
Zidane transferred to FC Girondins de Bordeaux for the 1992–93 season, winning the 1995 Intertoto Cup and finishing runner-up in the 1995–96 UEFA Cup in four years with the club. He played a set of midfield combinations with Bixente Lizarazu and Christophe Dugarry, which would become the trademark of both Bordeaux and the 1998 French national team. In 1995, Blackburn Rovers coach Kenny Dalglish had expressed interest in signing both Zidane and Dugarry, to which team owner Jack Walker reportedly replied, "Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?"
Juventus (1996–2001) In 1996, Zidane moved to Champions League winners Juventus F.C. for a fee of £3 million. Zidane served as the top playmaker in Marcello Lippi's team as Juventus won the 1996–97 Scudetto and the Intercontinental Cup with a 1–0 win over River Plate. He also reached the 1997 UEFA Champions League final, which Juventus lost 3–1 to Borussia Dortmund.
He netted seven goals in 32 matches to help Juventus retain the Scudetto the following season and make their second consecutive UEFA Champions League final appearance, losing 1-0 to Real Madrid. In the 2000–01 Serie A season Juventus finished second, two points behind champions AS Roma, but were eliminated in the group stage of the 2000–01 Champions League, during which Zidane was sent off for headbutting Hamburger SV player Jochen Kientz.
In total, he scored 24 league goals over five seasons for Juventus, winning an Intercontinental Cup, the 1999 Intertoto Cup, in addition to the two Scudetti.
Real Madrid (2001–2006)In 2001, Zidane joined Real Madrid for €76 million, the most expensive transfer fee in football history, and signed a four-year contract.
He enjoyed a steady run of success on the individual and team fronts, beginning with a winning volley in a 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 UEFA Champions League final in Glasgow. The next season, Real Madrid won the European Super Cup, and in addition to winning the 2003 Spanish Super Cup, Zidane was named the 2003 FIFA World Player of the Year for the third time, joining Ronaldo as the only other three-time winner of the award.
Despite scoring his first-ever hat-trick in 4-2 win over Sevilla FC, Zidane's final season of club football was less fruitful, as Madrid were eliminated in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey and in the last sixteen of the Champions League, and finished the league 12 points behind champions FC Barcelona.
On May 7, 2006, Zidane, who had announced his impending retirement the month before, played his last home match at the Bernabéu, scoring in a 3-3 draw with Villarreal CF. His teammates wore commemorative jerseys with "ZIDANE 2001–2006" stitched below the club logo.
International careerZidane holds dual citizenship in both France and Algeria, and therefore was eligible to play for the Algerian national team, but coach Abdelhamid Kermali allegedly denied him a position because he felt the young midfielder was not fast enough. Zidane dismissed the rumour in a 2005 interview, saying that playing for Algeria was out of the question since he had already suited up for France.
He earned his first cap with France after coming on as a substitute in the 63rd minute of a friendly against the Czech Republic on 17 August 1994. The match ended in a 2-2 draw after Zidane scored twice to help France erase a 2-0 deficit.
European Footballer of the Year (Ballon d'Or) awarded to Zidane in 1998.At that time, manager Aimé Jacquet had planned to position the team's formation around Manchester United star Eric Cantona, but after Cantona was handed a year-long suspension in January 1995 after assaulting a fan, Jacquet re-arranged the team and positioned Zidane as playmaker. Despite criticism from fans and pundits regarding the choice of players, France made it to the Euro 1996 semifinals, where France were eliminated in a penalty shootout by the Czech Republic after the match ended 0-0 in extra time.
2000 European Championship Zidane helped his team reach the Euro 2000 final with inspired play and important goals. He scored a direct free kick in the quarter-final against Spain, along with a controversial golden goal penalty in the semi-finals against Portugal. France went on to defeat Italy in the final, thus becoming the first team to hold both the World Cup and the European Championship since West Germany in 1974 . Subsequently, France were ranked first in the world by FIFA.
Injuries, retirement, and comeback (2002–2006)A thigh injury prevented Zidane from playing in France's first two matches in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He rushed back prematurely for the third game despite not being fully fit, but could not prevent France from being ignominiously eliminated in the group stage without scoring a single goal.
Going into Euro 2004 as defending champions and heavy favourites, Zidane and his team started strongly as he scored a free kick and penalty in injury-time to defeat England 2-1 in the group stage. On 12 June 2004, after France were eliminated by eventual surprise winners Greece 1-0 in the quarter-finals, Zidane retired from international football. However, prompted by manager Raymond Domenech and seeing France struggle to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, Zidane announced on 3 August 2005 that he was coming out of retirement. He was immediately reinstated as team captain. He made his competitive return in a 3-0 win over the Faroe Islands on 3 September 2005, as France went on to win their qualifying group. However, on 25 April 2006, after an injury-plagued season at Real Madrid, Zidane announced that he would retire from professional football altogether after the 2006 World Cup.
On 27 May 2006, Zidane earned his 100th cap for France in a 1-0 friendly win over Mexico at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. It was his last match in the stadium, and he became the fourth player in the history of French football to earn 100 caps, after Marcel Desailly, Didier Deschamps and Lilian Thuram. He was substituted early in the second half.
2006 World CupFrance began the tournament in similar fashion to their dismal performance in Korea/Japan, frustrated to a 0-0 draw against Switzerland. In the closing minutes of France's second match of the group stage, against South Korea, Zidane was yellow-carded after pushing an opposing defender, which was his second booking of the tournament and resulted in his suspension from the final match of the group stage. France nonetheless advanced to the knockout round after beating Togo 2-0. Zidane returned to action in the second round match against Spain, setting up Patrick Vieira for a goal by sending a free kick into the penalty area, and scoring one himself in the 91st minute after going down the left wing then firing the ball past Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas. The victory sent France into the quarter-final against defending champions Brazil in a rematch of the 1998 final. As France held Brazil to just one shot on goal for the entire match, Zidane's free kick led to a goal by Thierry Henry, sealing a 1-0 win. Zidane was named Man of the match by FIFA. In the semi-final against Portugal four days later, Zidane netted a penalty for the only goal of the match that saw France through to the final against Italy on 9 July, in what would be his career finale.
After scoring a 7th-minute penalty with a chip shot that hit the crossbar and narrowly crossed the goal line, Zidane became only the fourth player in World Cup history to score in two different finals, along with Pelé, Paul Breitner, and Vavá, in addition to being tied for first place with Vavá, Pelé and Geoff Hurst with three WC final goals apiece. However, he was sent off (see below) in the 110th minute with the match tied 1-1, and did not participate in the penalty shootout, which Italy won 5-3. Despite his red card and the controversy that followed, Zidane was nonetheless awarded the Golden Ball as the best player of the competition.
Charity activitiesOn 24 February 2007, before a crowd of 10,000 fans at a match in northern Thailand for the Keuydaroon children's AIDS charity, Zidane scored the first goal and set up the second for a Malaysian teammate as the match ended 2-2. The event raised ฿260,000 ($7,750).
On 19 November 2007, Zidane took part in the fifth annual Match Against Poverty in Malaga, Spain, which also ended in a 2-2 draw; Zidane went scoreless, but set up his team’s second goal in the 70th minute. He and former Real Madrid teammate Ronaldo, who collaborated in conceiving the yearly event to benefit the United Nations Development Programme, regularly captain their respective teams consisting of active footballers, other professional athletes and celebrities. Zidane, a U.N. goodwill ambassador since 2001, stated before the game that “everyone can do something to make the world a better place.”
Awards, honours, and appointmentsIn 2004, Forbes magazine named him the 42nd-highest paid athlete in the world, with earnings of US$15.8 million a year. Zidane is the President for Life for Nouvelle Vague, a club in Marseille coached by his brother Farid. Since 2000, Zidane has been consistently voted one of the most popular French personalities in newspaper polls. He was voted most popular in 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2006, second most popular in 2005, and fourth most popular in 2001 and in 2002.
In November 2006, Zidane toured Bangladesh as the guest of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. He also visited the Algerian birthplace of his parents, and met personally with president Abdel Aziz Bouteflika.
SponsorshipsZidane has had endorsements with many companies, including: Adidas, Lego, France Telecom, Orange, Audi, and Christian Dior. These sponsorship deals earned him €8.6 million on top of his €6.4 million Real Madrid salary in his final season, making him the sixth-highest paid footballer.
Personal lifeZidane is of Kabyle descent. His parents, Smail and Malika, emigrated from the village of Aguemone in the Kabylie region of Algeria in 1953, and settled in Paris, before moving to Marseille a few years later.
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