Zinedine Zidane
pcupdate = July 5, 2006 | ntupdate = July 10, 2006Zinedine Yazid Zidane (IPA: , ), (born 23 June 1972), popularly nicknamed Zizou (IPA: ), is a former French football player of Algerian Kabyle ethnicity who has starred for both the French national team and four European club teams, most recently Real Madrid..
In the 1998 World Cup final, Zidane attracted international attention with two headed goals against Brazil that won his country's first ever FIFA World Cup title. He contributed to his teams' victories in the , the UEFA Champions League, and domestic championships in Italy and Spain.
Zidane was elected FIFA World Player of the Year a record-equalling three times (1998, 2000, 2003) and was nominated European Footballer of the Year in 1998. The world-record fee of € 66 million for his transfer to Real Madrid in 2001 remains unequalled. In 2004, he topped the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll on Best European football player of the past 50 years, and was included in the FIFA 100, Pelé's list of the 125 greatest living footballers. At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, thus receiving the Golden Ball.
As announced on 25 April 2006,
| Zinedine Zidane, image provided by http://soccer-europe.com |
Early career, Cannes and Bordeaux (1988"1996)Zidane got his start in football at an early age when he joined the junior team of US Saint-Henri, his local club in the La Castellane district of Marseille. On the recommendation of Saint-Henri's coach, he was then signed by Septemes Sports Olympiques. At the age of 14, Zidane left Septemes and participated in the first year junior selection for the league championship, where Jean Varraud, AS Cannes' recruiter, took notice of him. Zidane went to Cannes for what was intended to be a six-week stay, but remained at the club for four years to play with professionals. Afterwards, Zidane spent four years with FC Girondins de Bordeaux, leading them to victory in the 1995 Intertoto Cup and to a 2nd place in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup tournament. In 1996, he was transferred to Italy's Juventus F.C. for a fee of £ 3 million.Turin and Madrid (1996"2006)At Juventus, Zidane was one of the top players of Marcello Lippi's team, along with Didier Deschamps, Alessandro Del Piero, and Edgar Davids. His team won two Serie A titles and reached two consecutive UEFA Champions League finals, in 1997 and 1998, losing both, the latter to the Spanish club Real Madrid.
In 2001, Zidane was transferred to Real Madrid on a four-year contract. The transfer fee was € 66 million, the highest in football history. His fellow Galacticos at Madrid included David Beckham, Raúl González, Luís Figo, Ronaldo, and Roberto Carlos. He scored a spectacular winning goal in a 2-1 win over the German team Bayer Leverkusen in the 2001-2002 Champions League final at Glasgow's Hampden Park.
On 7 May 2006, Zidane played his last home game for Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium. His team-mates wore special jerseys that had ZIDANE 2001"2006 written on the bottom of the club logo. The Real Madrid fans gave him a warm reception and kept cheering him throughout the game. The opposing team was Villarreal CF, and the game ended in a 3-3 draw. He scored the second goal for Real Madrid. After the game, Zidane swapped jerseys with Juan Roman Riquelme, the Villarreal CF and Argentinian midfielder. Zidane was given an ovation by spectators, which left him in tears.Zidane holds dual citizenship of both France and Algeria, and therefore could have played for . However, coach Abdelhamid Kermali denied him a position on the team, arguing that the young midfielder was not fast enough.
He earned his first cap with the French national football team on 17 August 1994, coming on as a substitute in the 63rd minute of a friendly match against the . France was behind 0-2 when Zidane came on and scored two goals for a 2-2 draw.
At that time, manager Aimé Jacquet had planned to field the team around Manchester United star Eric Cantona, but after Cantona earned a year long suspension in January of 1995, Jacquet rearranged the team and positioned Zidane as playmaker. Despite criticism from fans and pundits regarding the choice of players, France made it to the semi-finals of the , their best performance in an international tournament since the 1986 FIFA World Cup.1998 World CupZidane was a member of the French national football team that won the 1998 FIFA World Cup. During France's second match of the first round, he received a red card and a two-game suspension in a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia for stomping on Saudi Arabia's team captain Fuad Amin. Reports from people close to Zidane stated that Amin had provoked him verbally.[ tournament, Zidane helped his team reach the final with inspired play and important goals. He scored a direct free kick in the quarter-final against and a golden goal penalty in the semi-final against . France went on to win the tournament by defeating Italy in the final, making it the first team in 34 years to hold both the World Cup and the European Cup. Subsequently, his team was ranked 1st in the world.]Injuries, retirement and comeback (2002"2006)A thigh injury prevented Zidane from playing in France's first two matches of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He rushed back from his injury to play in the third game, but could not perform at his usual level.
In the tournament, Zidane and his team started strongly, and he scored a free kick and a penalty in a come-from-behind victory against England in the group stage. On 12 August 2004, after France was upset in the quarter-finals to the eventual winners, the Greek national football team, Zidane retired from international football.
However, after France experienced problems in qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Zidane announced on 3 August 2005 that he was coming back to play for France and was reinstated as captain of the national team.
On 25 April 2006, after an injury-plagued season at Real Madrid, Zidane announced that he would retire from professional football following the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany.
On 27 May 2006, Zidane earned his 100th cap for France in 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 the stadium, and he became only the fourth French player after Marcel Desailly, Didier Deschamps and Lilian Thuram to earn a hundred national caps. He was substituted early in the second half.
2006 World Cup | A young French girl celebrating "Zizou" |
In the closing minutes of France's second match of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, against , Zidane received a yellow card for a late tackle, his second booking of the tournament. As a result, he was suspended from the third and final match of the group stage.
The win sent France into a quarter-final against defending champions , in a rematch of the 1998 final. Zidane's free-kick led to a goal by Thierry Henry, giving France a 1-0 win over the Seleção. Despite the score, France had thoroughly outplayed Brazil in the match, only facing one shot on goal, while Zidane created numerous scoring chances with his dribbles past defenders, displaying some of his trademark juggling as Brazillians swarmed around him. He was named Man of the Match by FIFA's Technical Study Group.
On 9 July 2006, Zidane played his second World Cup final"his final game"and scored in the 7th minute from the penalty spot with a chip shot that hit the crossbar before narrowly bouncing behind the goal line. He became one of only four footballers to achieve the feat of scoring in two different World Cup finals, sharing the honour with Pelé, Paul Breitner, and Vavá. This goal also made him one of the top goalscorers in World Cup final matches, with 3 goals, tied for first place with Vavá, Geoff Hurst and Pelé. He almost scored a second goal during the first period of extra time, but his header was saved by Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. He was sent off (see below) in the 110th minute, and thus did not participate in the penalty shootout which Italy won 5-3.
Despite the subsequent controversy over his offence in the final, Zidane was awarded the Golden Ball as Best Player in the 2006 World Cup after a poll of journalists covering the tournament. He received 2,012 votes, edging Italy's Fabio Cannavaro (1,977 votes) and Andrea Pirlo (715 votes). The ballot remained open until midnight on the day of the final, making it impossible to determine how many votes were cast before Zidane's offence.
Confrontation with Marco MaterazziIn the 110th minute of the World Cup final against Italy, Zidane was sent off for headbutting Marco Materazzi in the chest in an off-the-ball incident after the two players had exchanged words.
Since video footage suggested that Materazzi had provoked Zidane, newspapers had lip readers try to determine what Materazzi had said, coming up with a variety of obscene and racist insults.
=Reactions=
After the final, President Jacques Chirac hailed Zidane as a national hero and called him a "man of heart and conviction".
=FIFA investigation=
In light of Zidane's statements, FIFA opened disciplinary proceedings to investigate the incident.
*FIFA World Player of the Year: 1998, 2000, 2003
*European Footballer of the Year (Ballon d'Or): 1998
*UEFA Champions League Most Valuable Player: 2001-02
*UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll (Best European player of the past 50 years): 2004
*FIFA World Cup Golden Ball Award: 2006
With France
*FIFA World Cup
**Winner: 1998
**Runner Up: 2006
**Appearances: 1998, 2002, 2006
*European Championship
**Winner: 2000
**Appearances: 1996, 2000, 2004
With Girondins Bordeaux
*UEFA Cup runners up: 1995/1996
With Juventus F.C.:
*Italian League - Serie A champions (scudetto): 1996/1997, 1997/1998
*European Super Cup: 1996
*Intercontinental Cup: 1996
*Italian Super Cup: 1997
*UEFA Champions League runners up: 1996/1997, 1997/1998
With Real Madrid:
*Spanish Super Cup: 2001, 2003
*UEFA Champions League: 2001/2002
*Intercontinental Cup: 2002
*Spanish League - La Liga champions: 2002/2003
*European Super Cup: 2002
Personal honours:
* Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur: since 1998
* Torchbearer for the 2004 Summer Olympics
* Prince of Asturias Awards nomination in the Sports category, 2006.
Zidane was born in Marseille, France to Algerian immigrants, as the youngest of five children, and raised in La Castellane, a government-sponsored housing project (cité HLM) in the city's northern suburbs (the Quartier Nord). His parents Smail (יִשְׁמָעֵאל) and Malika (مللك) were originally from the village of Aguemone, in the Kabylie region of northern Algeria.
* Allegations by members of controversial French right-wing party Front National that Zidane's father was a Harki (an Algerian who fought for the French during the Algerian War of Independence), have been strongly denied by Zidane. He is said to be very proud of his family and his heritage, identifying himself as "first, a Kabyle from La Castellane, then an Algerian from Marseille, and then a Frenchman." He refers to himself as "a non-practising Muslim".
* Zidane is known to be modest, quiet and shy. However, he has occasionally shown a quick temper on the pitch. Besides his controversial offence in the 2006 World Cup final, he received a red card and a two-game suspension for stomping on Saudi Arabia's team captain Fuad Amin in the 1998 World Cup " allegedly in response to an insult " and headbutted Jochen Kientz in a 2000/2001 Champions League match between Juventus and Hamburger SV, for which he was also sent off.
* Zidane has had sponsorship deals with companies including Adidas, Lego, Danone, Generali, France Télécom, Orange, Audi, Ford and Christian Dior. Sponsorship deals like these earned him €8.6 million on top of his €6.4 million Real Madrid salary in the 2005-06 season, making him the sixth highest paid football player.
* Zidane is the President for Life for Nouvelle Vague
* In 2001, Zidane was appointed as the United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador for the fight against poverty.[ ]
* Zidane has consistently been voted as one of France's most beloved personalities. In 2005, he was voted second most popular after the tennis player Yannick Noah. (Perennial favorite Abbé Pierre had asked to be remove from the list in 2004). He was voted most popular in 2000, 2003 and 2004; he was fourth most popular in 2001 and 2002.[ ]
* Zidane, un portrait du 21e siècle
* Zidane headbutt
* / Official website
* Interview on Canal+ concerning the 2006 World Cup final
* Interview on TF1 concerning the 2006 World Cup final
* Zinedine Zidane News
* Zinedine Zidane's career timeline and detailed statistics
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