Zinedine Yazid Zidane (pronounced [ˌzineˈdin jaziːd ziˈdane]; born 23 June 1972 in Marseille), popularly nicknamed Zizou, is a French former football midfielder. He was a member of the French national team that won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000, as well as being the recipient of the Golden Ball after he captained the French side to the 2006 World Cup final.
He played for four European clubs, and won the 2002 UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid. One of only two three-time FIFA World Player of the Year winners (Ronaldo being the other), he 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 FIFA 100.
Zidane retired from professional football after the 2006 FIFA World Cup.[1]
Club career
Cannes (1988-1992)
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.
Bordeaux (1992-1996)
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?"[2]
Juventus (1996-2001)
Zidane (left) with David Beckham at Real Madrid.
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 scored the match-winning goal in a 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 UEFA Champions League final. 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 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.[3] 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.[4]
Early career (1994-1998)
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. 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.
A Zidane football jersey, number 10 for France.
World and European champion (1998-2000)
Zidane scored a direct free kick in the Euro 2000 quarter-final against Spain, and a 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.[5]
France started strongly as Zidane 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 winners Greece 1-0 in the quarter-finals, Zidane retired from international football.[6] However, prompted by manager Raymond Domenech and seeing France struggle to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, Zidane came out of retirement and was immediately reinstated as team captain.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9]
On 27 May 2006, Zidane earned his 100th cap for France in a 1-0 friendly win over Mexico 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.[10]
2006 World Cup
Zidane during the 2006 World Cup final.
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.[11] France nonetheless advanced to the knockout round after beating Togo 2-0.[12] Zidane returned to action in the second round match against Spain, setting up a goal for Patrick Vieira and scoring one himself in the 91st minute. 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.[13] 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 seventh-minute penalty, 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.[14]
Confrontation with Marco Materazzi
As Zidane and Italy defender Marco 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.[15]
After consulting his assistants, Elizondo issued Zidane a red card in the 110th minute.[16][17] It marked the fourteenth overall expulsion of Zidane's career, and joined him with Cameroon's Rigobert Song as the only players ever to be sent off during two separate World Cup tournaments.[18] He also became the fourth player red-carded in a WC final, in addition to being the first sent off in extra time.[19]
Provocation
After video evidence suggested that Materazzi had verbally provoked Zidane, three British media newspapers claimed to have hired lip readers to determine what Materazzi had said, with The Times, The Sun and Daily Star claiming that Materazzi called Zidane "the son of a terrorist whore." Later, in 2008, The Sun and Daily Star tabloids made public apologies to Materazzi. The Times has yet to do so.[20] [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.[22] Materazzi admitted insulting Zidane, but argued that Zidane's behaviour had been very arrogant and that the remarks were trivial.[23][24] 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 fifteen, 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 punch to the face than hear that." He also apologized, but added that he did not regret his offence because he felt that this would condone Materazzi's actions.[25] Two months later, in continuing to assert the triviality of his comments, Materazzi publicly refused to apologise 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 remarked, "If you want my shirt I will give it to you afterwards," and that he in turn replied to Zidane that he would prefer his sister.[26] Materazzi later stated in an interview that his precise words to Zidane were: "I prefer the whore that is your sister."[27]
Reactions
After the final, French president Jacques Chirac hailed Zidane as a national hero and called him a "man of heart and conviction".[28] Chirac later added that he found the offence to be unacceptable, but he understood that Zidane had been provoked.[29] Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika expressed his solidarity with Zidane in a letter of support. However, French newspaper Le Figaro called the headbutt "odious" and "unacceptable".[30] 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 apologised for his comments the following day.[31] Time magazine regarded the incident as a symbol for Europe's "grappling with multi-culturalism".[32] Despite the ongoing furor, Zidane's sponsors announced that they would stick with him.[33] In an interview after her rescue from FARC captivity, French-Colombian politician Íngrid Betancourt expressed her adoration for Zidane's gesture, and claimed she "would have done the same thing."[34]
The incident was extensively lampooned on the Internet and in popular culture. In addition to becoming a staple of parody via numerous online videos, a novelty song titled Coup de Boule ("Headbutt") reached the top of the French charts.
A new book, The Hidden Face Of Zidane, written by journalist Besma Lahouri and published in September 2008, revealed that Zidane had expressed his regrets for the incident during a conversation with his cousin.[35]
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.[36] 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.[37]
Charity activities
Zidane during a radio interview.
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).[38]
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,[39] 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.[40] Zidane is the President for Life for Nouvelle Vague, a club in Marseille coached by his brother Farid.[41] 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.[42]
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.[43][44]
Sponsorships
Zidane 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.[45]
Personal life
Zidane 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.
Zidane describes himself as a non-practicing Muslim.[46] He met his wife, French former dancer Veronique Fernández, while playing for Cannes in the 1991-92 season.[47] Their sons, Enzo Fernández and Luca Zidane,[48] are part of Real Madrid Infantil B[49] and the Benjamín B team, respectively.[50]
Statistics
[51]
| Club Performance | League | Cup | Continental | Total |
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| France | League | Coupe de France | Europe | Total |
| 1988-89 | Cannes | Division 1 | 2 | 0 | - | - | 2 | 0 |
| 1989-90 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 |
| 1990-91 | 28 | 1 | - | - | 28 | 1 |
| 1991-92 | 31 | 5 | - | 4 | 0 | 35 | 5 |
| 1992-93 | Girondins Bordeaux | Division 1 | 35 | 10 | - | - | 35 | 10 |
| 1993-94 | 34 | 6 | - | 6 | 2 | 40 | 8 |
| 1994-95 | 37 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 44 | 9 |
| 1995-96 | 33 | 6 | 14 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 55 | 10 |
| Italy | League | Coppa Italia | Europe | Total |
| 1996-97 | Juventus | Serie A | 29 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 48 | 8 |
| 1997-98 | 32 | 7 | 13 | 5 | 11 | 3 | 56 | 15 |
| 1998-99 | 25 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 41 | 2 |
| 1999-00 | 32 | 4 | 14 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 50 | 9 |
| 2000-01 | 33 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 44 | 8 |
| Spain | League | Copa del Rey | Europe | Total |
| 2001-02 | Real Madrid | La Liga | 31 | 7 | 9 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 49 | 11 |
| 2002-03 | 33 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 3 | 54 | 15 |
| 2003-04 | 33 | 6 | 11 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 54 | 13 |
| 2004-05 | 29 | 6 | - | 10 | 0 | 39 | 6 |
| 2005-06 | 29 | 9 | 15 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 48 | 14 |
| Total | France | 200 | 34 | 17 | 5 | 22 | 4 | 239 | 43 |
| Italy | 151 | 24 | 49 | 13 | 49 | 5 | 249 | 42 |
| Spain | 155 | 37 | 42 | 13 | 47 | 9 | 244 | 59 |
| Career Total | 506 | 95 | 108 | 31 | 118 | 18 | 732 | 144 |
Honours
Club
Girondins de Bordeaux - UEFA Cup
- UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1995
Juventus F.C. - Serie A: 1996–1997, 1997–1998
- European Super Cup: 1996
- International Cup: 1996
- Italian Super Cup: 1997
- UEFA Champions League
- Runners Up: 1996–1997, 1997–1998
Real Madrid - La Liga: 2002–2003
- UEFA Champions League: 2001–2002
- International Cup: 2002
- European Super Cup: 2002
- Spanish Super Cup: 2001, 2003
Country
- France
- FIFA World Cup:
- Winner: 1998
- Runner Up: 2006
- UEFA Euro:
Individual
European Footballer of the Year (Ballon d'Or) awarded to Zidane in 1998.
- UEFA Club Football Awards, Best Midfielder: 1997/1998
- UEFA Club Footballer of the Year: 2002
- World Soccer Player of the Year: 1998
- FIFA World Player of the Year: 1998, 2000, 2003
- FIFA Silver World Player of the Year: 2006
- FIFA Bronze World Player of the Year: 1997, 2002
- European Footballer of the Year (Ballon d'Or): 1998
- UEFA Champions League Most Valuable Player: 2001/2002
- UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll (Best European player of the past 50 years): 2004
- FIFA World Cup Golden Ball Award: 2006
- FIFPro World XI Team: 2005, 2006
- Onze d'Or: 1998, 2000, 2001
- UEFA European Championship Player of the Tournament: 2000
- FIFA All-Star Team: 1998, 2006
- UEFA BEST XI: 2001, 2002, 2003
- Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur: since 1998[52]
