Zinedine Yazid Zidane (pronounced [ˌzineˈdin jaziːd ziˈdan ]; born 23 June 1972 in Marseille), popularly nicknamed Zizou, is a French former professional footballer of Algerian Kabyle descent. A midfielder, he was a member and later captain of the French national team that won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000, and was also the recipient of the Golden Ball as he captained the French side to the 2006 World Cup final, a match that saw his career end in controversy after he was sent off for headbutting Italy defender Marco Materazzi.
He played for four European clubs, including Juventus and Real Madrid, with whom he won Serie A and La Liga championships, including lifting the 2002 UEFA Champions League trophy with Real after scoring the match-winning goal. One of only two three-time FIFA World Player of the Year winners (Ronaldo the other), he also finished in the top three an additional three occasions, and was also named European Footballer of the Year in 1998. In 2004, fans voted him atop UEFA's fiftieth-anniversary Golden Jubilee Poll, and he was included in Pelé's selection of the 125 greatest living footballers.
Zidane retired from professional football after the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Club career
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 Septemes 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 7 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. 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 spectacular 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 and Birgit Prinz as the only three-time winners 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 early from the Copa del Rey and 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. The home fans cheered Zidane throughout the match, after which he swapped jerseys with Villarreal midfielder Juan Román Riquelme and was then given an ovation with the audience chanting "merci", which left him in tears.
International career
Zidane 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.[5] 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
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.
1998 World Cup
During France's second match of the first round, Zidane received a red card and a two-game suspension in a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia after he stomped on Saudi defender Fuad Amin. Reports from people close to Zidane stated that Amin had provoked him verbally. After netting in the penalty shootout in the quarter-final against Italy, he scored his two other goals of the tournament off headers in the first half of the final against Brazil as France won the match 3-0 and obtained their first World Cup.
2000 European Championship
A Zidane shirt, number 10 in France
A Zidane shirt, number 10 in France
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 history after Marcel Desailly, Didier Deschamps and Lilian Thuram to earn 100 caps. He was substituted early in the second half.
2006 World Cup
France 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.[13] France nonetheless advanced to the knockout round after beating Togo 2-0.[14] 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 "Budweiser Man of the Match" by FIFA.[15] 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 subsequent controversy that followed, Zidane was nonetheless awarded the Golden Ball as the best player of the competition.
Discipline
Zidane was also well-known for his short temper on the pitch, as he was sent off fourteen times throughout his career. In addition to his World Cup send-offs in 1998 and 2006, he was red-carded for headbutting Jochen Kientz while playing for Juventus in a 2000-01 Champions League match against Hamburger SV. One of only four players to have been sent off during a World Cup final, Zidane also joined Cameroon's Rigobert Song as the only two players ever to be red-carded during two separate World Cup tournaments, He is also the only player ever to be sent off during extra time of a World Cup final.
Confrontation with Marco Materazzi
As Zidane and Materazzi were jogging up the pitch in close proximity of each other, they briefly exchanged words after Materazzi was seen tugging at Zidane's jersey before Zidane began to walk away from him. Moments later, Zidane suddenly stopped, turned around and rammed his head into Materazzi's chest, knocking him to the ground. Although play was halted, referee Horacio Elizondo did not appear to have seen the confrontation. According to match officials' reports, fourth official Luis Medina Cantalejo informed Elizondo of the incident through his headset. After consulting his assistants, Elizondo issued Zidane a red card.
Provocation
After video evidence suggested that Materazzi had verbally provoked Zidane, British media newspapers claimed to have hired lip readers to determine what Materazzi had said, with The Times claiming that Materazzi called Zidane "the son of a terrorist whore."[21] In his first public comments since the incident, Zidane only partly explained that repeated harsh insults about his mother and sister had caused him to react.[21] Materazzi admitted insulting Zidane, but argued that Zidane's behaviour had been very arrogant and that the remarks were trivial.
Materazzi also insisted that he did not insult Zidane's mother (who was ill at the time), claiming, "I didn't talk about his mother, either. I lost my mother when I was 15, and even now I still get emotional talking about her." Zidane replied that Materazzi had seriously and repeatedly insulted his mother and his sister, adding that he would "rather have taken a blow to the face than hear that". He also apologized to viewers, particularly children and educators, but said that he did not regret his offense because he felt that this would condone Materazzi's actions. Two months later, in continuing to assert the triviality of his comments, Materazzi publicly refused to apologize to Zidane, but stated his desire for reconciliation. He also offered his version of events, claiming that after he had grabbed Zidane's jersey, Zidane offered it to him sarcastically, and that he in turn replied to Zidane that he would prefer his sister. Materazzi later c
Reactions
After the final, France president Jacques Chirac hailed Zidane as a national hero and called him a "man of heart and conviction".Chirac later added that he found the offense to be unacceptable, but he understood that Zidane had been provoked. Algeria President Abdelaziz Bouteflika expressed his solidarity with Zidane in a letter of support.However, French newspaper Le Figaro called the headbutt "odious" and "unacceptable". The editor-in-chief of French sports daily L'Équipe compared Zidane's greatness to that of Muhammad Ali, but added that Ali, Jesse Owens, and Pelé had never "broken the most elementary rules of sport" as Zidane had. He questioned how Zidane could explain the offense to "millions of children around the world", but apologized for his comments the following day. Time magazine regarded the incident as a symbol for Europe's "grappling with multi-culturalism". Despite the ongoing furor, Zidane's sponsors announced that they would stick with him.
The incident was extensively lampooned on the Internet and in popular culture. In addition to becoming a staple of parody via numerous videos posted on YouTube, a novelty song titled Coup de Boule ("Headbutt") reached the top of the French charts. It was also parodied in the Family Guy episode titled "Saving Private Brian", and referenced in The Simpsons episode "Marge Gamer."
FIFA investigation
In light of Zidane's statements, FIFA opened disciplinary proceedings to investigate the incident.FIFA also affirmed the legality of Elizondo's decision to send Zidane off, rejecting claims that Cantalejo had illegally relied on video transmission to make a decision about handling Zidane's misconduct. On the grounds that both players had stressed that Materazzi's comments, while defamatory, were not of a racist nature, FIFA issued a CHF5,000 fine and a two-match ban against Materazzi, while Zidane received a three-match ban and a CHF7,500 fine. Since Zidane had already retired, he voluntarily served three days of community service on FIFA's behalf as a substitute for the match ban.
Charity activities
On 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 appointments
In 2004, Forbes magazine named him the 42nd-highest paid athlete in the world, with earnings of US$15.8 million a year.[38] Zidane is the President for Life for Nouvelle Vague, a club in Marseille coached by his brother Farid.[39] 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, and befriended UK-born Bangladeshi rapper Naz Haque Attack. Zidane has said in interviews that Haque's first touch is as good as his. He also visited the Algerian birthplace of his parents, and met personally with president Abdel Bouteflika.
Sponsorships
Zidane has had endorsements with many companies, including: Adidas, Lego, France Télécom, 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 football player.
Family
Zidane met his wife, Spanish dancer Veronique Fernández, while playing for Cannes in the 1991-92 season. Their sons, Enzo Fernández and Luca Zinedine Zidane, are part of Real Madrid Infantil B and the Benjamín B team, respectively.
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