Zinedine Zidane

Zinedine Yazid Zidane (often incorrectly spelled Zinédine in French, transliteration: Zaynu-d-Dīn Yazīd Zīdān, Algerian Arabic: Zīn ad-Dīn Yazīd Zīdān), (born 23 June 1972), popularly nicknamed Zizou (pronounced ^*), is a former French football player of Kabyle Algerian descent who has starred for both the French national team and for four European club teams, most recently Real Madrid.

Zidane received international attention with two headed goals in the 1998 World Cup final against Brazil that essentially won his country's first ever FIFA World Cup title.

He has been elected FIFA World Player of the Year three times (1998, 2000, 2003), a record that has only been matched by Ronaldo, and once as European Footballer of the Year (1998). In 2004, Zidane was included in the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers (50 active, 75 retired), as selected by Pelé to mark FIFA's centenary celebrations.

As announced on 25 April 2006, Zidane retired from international football after the 2006 World Cup Final on 9 July 2006.

Club career

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 Marseilles. He moved on to Septemes Sports Olympiques after Saint-Henri's coach convinced its director to sign him. After leaving Septemes at the age of 14, Zidane participated in the first year junior selection for the league championship. He was called in for three days at the sport regional centre in Aix-en-Provence, where Jean Varraud, AS Cannes' recruiter, took notice of the French-Algerian player. Zidane ventured off to Cannes for what was intended to be a six-week stay, but he remained at the club for four years to play with professionals. After spending four years with Bordeaux, he was transferred to Italy's Juventus F.C. for a fee of £ 3 million.

At Juventus, he was one of the top players of Marcello Lippi's team, along with countryman 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, the team for which he would next play.

In 2001, Zidane was transferred from Juventus 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 famous 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 opponent 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 a massive ovation by spectators, which left him in tears.

International career

Zidane holds dual citizenship of both France and Algeria, and therefore could have played for . However, Algerian national coach Abdelhamid Kermali denied him a position on the team, arguing that the young midfielder was "not fast enough". Zidane 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 match against the . France was behind 0-2 when Zidane came on and subsequently scored two goals, to make the final score 2-2.

Zidane was a member of the French national football team in 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 stamping on Saudi Arabia's team captain Fuad Amin. Reports from people close to Zidane stated that Amin had provoked him verbally. . After scoring in the penalty shootout against Italy in the quarter-final, he scored his only regular goals of the tournament in the final against Brazil, leading his team to a 3-0 victory, with France winning its first ever World Cup championship. This was also the first time in 20 years that the host country's team had won the tournament.

Two years later, at the championship, he helped his team reach the final with inspired play and important goals, in quarter-finals against Spain — via direct free kick — and a golden goal penalty against in the semi-final. France went on to win the tournament, making it the first team since 34 years to hold both the World Cup and the European Cup. Subsequently, his team was ranked 1st in the world.

Injuries prevented Zidane from performing at his best in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. France's attempt at defending their title was 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 perform at his usual level.

On 12 August 2004, after France lost in to the eventual winners, the Greek national football team, Zidane retired from international football.

However, after France experienced serious problems in attempting to qualify 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.

He made his competitive return in the 3-0 qualifier win against the Faroe Islands on 3 September 2005, and France went on to win their qualifying group.

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 Frenchman 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

In the closing minutes of France's second match of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, against , Zidane was given 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. France nonetheless beat 2-0, allowing Zidane to play in the knockout stage. He returned to the pitch in the Round of 16 match against in Hanover on 27 June 2006. Zidane assisted Patrick Vieira on the second goal by sending a free kick into the penalty area. During stoppage time, he scored the final goal of the match, capping a 3-1 victory.

The win sent France into a quarterfinal against defending champions , in a rematch of the 1998 final. On a free-kick opportunity, Zidane assisted on a Thierry Henry goal for the first time in his international career, propelling France to a 1-0 win over the Seleção. Zidane was named Man of the Match by FIFA's Technical Study Group. In the semifinal against four days later, Zidane scored a penalty kick against Ricardo for the only goal of the match and saw France through to the final against .

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, ahead of Italy's Fabio Cannavaro (1,977s) and Andrea Pirlo (715). 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 Materazzi

In 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. Video replays showed Materazzi holding Zidane and pulling his shirt lightly after Italy had captured the ball in an attack by the French team. Materazzi let go, and after a brief exchange of words, Zidane walked away from him. Then, the Italian appeared to be saying something. Zidane turned around, took a few short steps, lowered his head and butted Materazzi in the chest, sending him to the ground. Although play was halted, referee Horacio Elizondo did not appear to have seen the confrontation. After the intervention of the fourth official Luis Medina Cantalejo, Zidane was shown the red card and sent off. He gave the captain's armband to Willy Sagnol (in order to hand it to Fabien Barthez) and exited the pitch.

Provocation

What exactly had prompted Zidane's violent offence remained debated for several days after the match. Newspapers had lip readers try to interpret what Materazzi had said. They came up with different interpretations, ranging from racist remarks concerning Zidane himself, to obscene and insulting comments about Zidane's wife, mother, or sister. A prevalent claim was that Materazzi had called Zidane "the son of a terrorist whore".

Materazzi admitted that he had insulted Zidane, but stressed that the insults were "the type that we've heard before so many times on the pitch, and sometimes we don't even notice it." He insisted that the insult was not racist in nature, nor did it involve Zidane's mother.

Three days after the match, Zidane gave two television interviews. On Canal+ he stated that Materazzi had seriously insulted his mother and his sister, that he would "rather have taken a blow to the face than hear that," and that Materazzi had repeated his insults several times. He apologized to viewers and "people in education whose job it is to show children what they should and shouldn't do", adding that he did not regret his offence because "it would be like admitting that he TF1 [http://www.eurosport.fr/football/coupedumonde/2006/sport_sto924766.shtml" target="_blank" >^*, Zidane was asked if the insults were of a racist nature, to which he responded "no." When asked if they were referring to his family, he replied "yes", confirming his earlier statements.

Reactions to the incident

After the French national football team had returned to Paris, President Jacques Chirac hailed Zidane as a national hero, a "virtuoso" and "a genius of world football." He added: "You are also a man of heart and conviction. That is why France admires and loves you." A few days later, Chirac said that, while he understood that Zidane had been provoked, the offence was unacceptable, nonetheless. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria sent Zidane a letter of support, expressing solidarity with him.

French newspaper Le Figaro called the headbutt "odious" and stated that Zidane's "unacceptable gesture was sanctioned properly." Claude Droussent, editor-in-chief of French sports daily L'Equipe, compared Zidane's greatness to Muhammad Ali's, adding that neither Ali, nor Jesse Owens nor Pelé had "broken the most elementary rules of sport" like Zidane did. He questioned how Zidane could explain the offence to his four sons and "millions of children around the world", but apologized for his writings the following day. Algerian newspaper L'Expression accused Italy of being "xenophobic" , while a commentator for TIME magazine regarded the incident as a symbol for Europe's "grappling with multi-culturalism". A sportswriter for the Boston Globe stated that "on most professional fields of play in the U.S., it's more of a news bulletin if someone isn't insulting your mother (emphasis added)."

Zidane's sponsors announced that they would stick with him. A French advertising executive was quoted saying that the "childish gesture" would not do him harm, but give "a more human image of the hero," and that it would "bring the icon closer to the people." The headbutt became an internet meme within a few days after the match and was subject of numerous clips and edits, including videos that lampooned and parodied the headbutt. The combined number of "headbutt clips" on popular video sharing site YouTube received over 2 million views within 24 hours after the match had ended.

FIFA investigation

On 11 July 2006, FIFA announced plans to open a disciplinary investigation into Zidane's conduct, to clarify the circumstances surrounding the incident. It also affirmed the legality of referee Horacio Elizondo's decision to send Zidane off. This was done to reject claims that fourth official Luis Medina Cantalejo had relied on video transmission before informing Elizondo about Zidane's misconduct, which would have been illegal.

Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that FIFA president Joseph Blatter had mentioned the possibility of Zidane being stripped of the Golden Ball award

On 13 July 2006 FIFA opened disciplinary proceedings against Materazzi. The proceedings were initiated in the light of Zidane's statement about having been repeatedly provoked by Materazzi prior to the incident. As part of the investigation, both players were summoned to attend a face-to-face hearing before the Committee, with a decision expected on 20 July 2006.

Honours

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 the French national team:

FIFA World Cup
- Winner: 1998
- Runner Up: 2006
- Appearances: 1998, 2002, 2006
European Championship
- Winner: 2000
- Appearances: 1996, 2000, 2004

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

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 http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/world/news/1998/09/01/france_legionhonor/#more
Torchbearer for the 2004 Summer Olympics

Personal life

Zidane was born as the youngest of five children http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/sport/2006/0708/4038508077SPS2ZIDANE.html in Marseille, France to two Algerian immigrants, Smail and Malika, and raised in La Castellane, a government-sponsored housing project (cité HLM) in the northern suburbs of Marseille (the Quartiers Nord). His parents were originally from the village of Aguemone, in the Kabylie region of 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 describes himself as a "non-practicing Muslim".

He is married to Véronique Zidane (née Lentisco), a former dancer and model of Spanish origin. They married in 1993 and have four sons: Enzo (born 24 March 1995), Luca (born 13 May 1998), Théo (born 18 May 2002), and Elyaz (born 26 December 2005).

Trivia

Though born in Marseille, Zidane has never played for Olympique de Marseille. As a teenager, he had admired Olympique de Marseille's Uruguayan playmaker Enzo Francescoli, after whom he named his eldest son. He had been a ballboy at a match with Francescoli.
Zidane is known to be modest, quiet and admittedly 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 stamping 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 Turin and Hamburger SV, for which he was also sent off. Overall, he was sent off 14 times in his career. He is one of four players that have been sent off in a World Cup final, one of two players that have been sent off during two different World Cup tournaments (the other player being Cameroon's Rigobert Song) and the only player ever to be sent off during extra time of a World Cup final.
The first penalty kick Zidane ever missed for France was during his last match in a French stadium, while playing a friendly game against China in Saint-Étienne, 7 June 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 was sponsored by LEGO for a while, being the official endorser of the company's soccer line. He was immortalised in plastic in the form of a LEGO mini-figure of himself. Zidane is also sponsored by adidas, who supply him with Predator football boots and gear. Other sponsorship deals have included Danone, Generali, France Télécom, Orange, Audi, Ford and Christian Dior. During the 2005/2006 season, sponsorship deals like this earned him €8.6 million, on top of his €6.4 million Real Madrid salary, making him the sixth highest paid football player.

Zidane has two first names, both of which are Arabic : Yazid and Zinedine. The nickname Zizou was given to Zidane while he played for Bordeaux. Yaz is the nickname given to him by his brothers and used by his family and close friends. .He is also President for Life for a team, Nouvelle Vague, in Marseilles, which is coached by his brother Farid.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2088-2261766_2,00.html
Zidane is an avid follower of tennis and Formula 1, and occasionally delves into cooking. While playing for Juventus, Zidane frequented a restaurant called Chez Angelino every day, where he sometimes practiced cooking. His other hobbies include theatre and movies. http://www.realmadrid.com/articulo/rma5271.htm

Notes

External links

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