Zinédine Yazid Zidane (Arabic: زين الدين زيدان, Transliteration: Zin a-Din Zidan) (born June 23, 1972, in Marseille, France), nicknamed Zizou, is a French football player of Kabyle Algerian descent who has starred for both the French national team and for four club teams, most recently Real Madrid. Zidane is often considered to be the best footballer of his generation, and one of the greatest of all time. His elegant dribbling, balance, passing ability, shot accuracy, shot selection and well placed free kicks have made him one of the game's finest artists and the natural successor of Michel Platini as France's top playmaker.

On 25 April 2006, Zidane officially announced his decision to retire from both club and international football after the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Zidane was born in Marseille and raised in La Castellane, one of the housing projects (cité HLM) in the northern suburbs of Marseille (The "Quartiers Nord"). Though born in Marseille, Zidane has never played for Olympique de Marseille. His time in the French league was spent with AS Cannes and Bordeaux, before he was bought by Juventus for £3 million.

Comment " He is one of the best in the best! Even the best" Have your say

In 2001 Zidane transferred from Italian team Juventus F.C. to Spanish club side Real Madrid on a four-year contract. The transfer fee was €66 million, making him the most expensive player in football history. His fellow 'Galacticos' at Madrid included David Beckham, Raúl González, Luís Figo and Roberto Carlos. He scored the winning goal in a 2-1 win over the German team Bayer Leverkusen in the 2001-2002 Champions League Final in Glasgow's Hampden Park.

On the 7th of May 2006, Zidane played his last home game for Real Madrid at the famous Santiago Bernabéu stadium. Real Madrid players wore a special jersey which had "ZIDANE 2001 - 2006" written on the bottom of the club logo. As expected, the Real Madrid fans gave him a warm reception and kept cheering him through the whole game. This game was played against Villarreal CF and, unfortunately for Zidane, the best result that Real Madrid could get was a 3-3 draw coming from behind. Zidane scored the second goal for Real Madrid without any major celebration. Zidane exchanged his jersey with Juan Roman Riquelme, the Villarreal CF and Argentinian midfielder. At the end of the game, the Real Madrid fans said goodbye to Zidane by giving him a massive ovation that left him in tears.

International career

Being bi-national, with French and Algerian citizenship, Zidane could have played for Algeria. Fate decided otherwise when Algeria national coach Abdelhamid Kermali denied him a position in the team, arguing that the young midfielder was "not fast enough". Zidane received his first "Bleus" jersey on August 17 1994, entering at the 63rd minute of a match against the Czech Republic. France was 2-0 behind when Zidane came to the pitch and the rookie scored the two goals that gave the team a 2-2 final result. Zidane was a member of the French football team in 1998 FIFA World Cup, scoring two headed goals in the final against Brazil, and helping France to a 3-0 victory. Earlier in the competition he received a red card and two-game suspension in a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia; he stamped on an opposing player for no apparent reason. Reports from people close to Zidane state that the Saudi player in question had provoked him verbally^{[citation needed]}. Two years later, Zidane and France won a second major championship, Euro 2000. He has been elected three times as FIFA World Player of the Year (1998, 2000, 2003) and one time as European Footballer of the Year (1998).

Injuries prevented him from performing at his best in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. France's defense of their title was spectacularly unsuccessful; the team was eliminated in the First Round without scoring a single goal. Zidane rushed back from his injury in time to play in France's last game, but could not produce his best form.

On August 12, 2004, after France's performance in the Euro 2004, losing to eventual winners Greece, Zidane retired from international football. He announced on February 4, 2005 that he would retire from the game at the end of his current contract with Real Madrid, at the end of the 2006-07 season.

After France experienced serious problems in attempting to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Zidane announced on August 3, 2005 to come out of international retirement to make a comeback for Les Bleus. He stated on his official website: "I have gone back on my decision, one year after I said it was categorical." On the same day French teammate and Chelsea midfielder Claude Makélélé, who also quit the French team following Euro 2004, said he wanted to come out of international retirement as well. The same week, Lilian Thuram announced he, too, would come back. The trio made their competitive return in the 3-0 FIFA World Cup qualifier win against the Faroe Islands on September 3rd, and 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 after representing France in the 2006 World Cup finals to be held in Germany.

On May 27, 2006, Zidane earned his 100th cap for France with a 1-0 victory over Mexico at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on the outskirts of Paris. It was his last match in that stadium and he became only the fourth Frenchman after Marcel Desailly, Didier Deschamps and Lilian Thuram to earn a century of national caps. He was substituted early in the second half.

In the closing minutes of France's second match of the 2006 World Cup, Zidane was given a yellow card for running into a player late. As a result, he was suspended from the third and final match of the group stage. France nonetheless won that match against Togo 2-0, allowing Zidane to play in the knockout round against Spain.

In the Second Round knockout match in the FIFA 2006 World Cup, Zidane assisted on the second goal and scored a third during France's 3-1 victory over Spain, on June 27, 2006. This win booked Zidane and France's date with defending champions Brazil in the Quarter Finals of the tournament.

On 1 July 2006, France beat Brazil 1-0 in Frankfurt to set up a semifinal meeting with Portugal. Turning in a virtuoso performance complete with one of his trademark "roulette" spins, Zidane provided the free-kick assist from which Thierry Henry scored the winning goal, and was named Man of the Match by FIFA's Technical Study Group.

Legacy

"He dominates the ball, he is a walking spectacle and he plays as if he had silk gloves in each foot"

Alfredo Di Stefano, former Argentine footballer.

Zidane reached the status of football icon and top world-class player after his performance in the final of the 1998 World Cup. While not performing at the height of his ability throughout the tournament in 1998, he did explode in the final where France beat Brazil 3-0. Scoring two goals and being the crux of France's vaunted midfield, he became a household name in the world of football.

In 2004, Zidane was named to the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected by Pelé as a part of FIFA's centenary celebrations. In 2004, he was also voted the best European player for the past 50 years in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll.

In the final stages of his career, many pundits and fans alike already identify him as the most important player of his generation and his name is regularly mentioned in the greatest player of all time.

Honors

With the French national team:

• FIFA World Cup
  • Winner: 1998
  • Appearances: 1998, 2002, 2006
• European Championship
  • Winner: 2000
  • Appearances: 1996, 2000, 2004

With Juventus F.C.:

• European Super Cup: 1996
• Intercontinental Cup: 1996
• Italian League - Serie A champions (scudetto): 1996/1997, 1997/1998
• Italian Super Cup: 1997

With Real Madrid:

• UEFA Champions League: 2001/2002
• Intercontinental Cup: 2002
• Spanish League - La Liga champions: 2002/2003
• European Super Cup: 2002
• Spanish Super Cup: 2001, 2003

Personal honours:

• FIFA World Player of the Year: 1998, 2000, 2003
• European Footballer of the Year (Ballon d'Or): 1998

Trivia

• Zidane is one of the football icons of his generation and is known to be modest, quiet and admittedly shy. However, Zidane has occasionally shown a quick temper on the pitch. One such display occurred in a 2000/2001 Champions League match between Juventus Turin and Hamburger SV, in which Zidane headbutted Jochen Kientz; he received a red card for this action. He also received a red card in the 1998 World Cup for stamping on a Saudi player.
• When Zidane came back from international retirement, in August 2005, he was reinstated as captain of the French national team, where he wears squad number 10. At Real Madrid he wore squad number 5.
• In an interview he declared that when he was a teenager, Zidane admired Olympique de Marseille's Uruguayan playmaker Enzo Francescoli (after whom he named his eldest son). He once was a ballboy at a match with Francescoli and thus saw him up close.
• He was an Athens 2004 Torchbearer.
• In 2004, Zinedine Zidane was appointed as "Chevalier" (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur by French President Jacques Chirac.
• The first penalty kick Zidane ever missed with the French National team was during his last match in a French stadium, while playing a friendly game against China in Saint-Étienne, June 7th 2006, the last preparation game for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, where he accidentally slid and placed the ball above the goal.
• Zidane's 34th birthday coincided with the day France faced Togo, the very last day of the 2006 FIFA World Cup First Round. However, he missed this match due to suspension.
• Zidane is exactly four years older than Patrick Vieira, his teammate on the France national football team, who was born on June 23, 1976.
• Zidane scored the third goal in a 2nd round win over favorites Spain at the 2006 FIFA World Cup which sent France through to the Quarterfinals for the first time since 1998. That day, a song dedicated to Zidane started circulating on the Internet, titled "Allez Zizou" <Download .mp3 here>
• Zidane's first hat trick was against Español in La Liga 2006 with Real Madrid.

Merchandising

Zidane was sponsored by LEGO for a while and wore their logo. He was the official endorser of their Soccer/Football line, and was also immortalised in plastic in the form of a LEGO minifigure of himself, available in several of the sets.

Zidane is also sponsored by Adidas, who supplies Zidane with the Predator boots and gear.

Personal life

His wife, Veronique, is a former dancer and model of Spanish origin. They married in 1993 and have four sons named Enzo, Luca, Théo and Elyaz (Arabic: إلياس‎). Zidane although a muslim calls himself a "non-practicing Muslim" .

Notes

1. ^ Source: FIFA World Cup official site
2. ^ Interview with Zinedine Zidane from The Observer (April 4, 2004)
3. ^ Zidane to retire after World Cup from BBC SPORT (April 25, 2006)
4. ^ France vs. Korea Republic from Yahoo! (June 18, 2006)
5. ^ Togo-France official report from FIFA (June 23, 2006)
6. ^ Man of the Match: Stage 2. Yahoo!. Retrieved on 2006-07-02.

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