Zinedine Zidane

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Zinedine Yazid Zidane was born on 23 June 1972 in La Castellane, a neighbourhood in the 16th arrondissement of Marseille, in Southern France. He is the youngest of five siblings born to Algerian parents Smaïl and Malika, who had immigrated to Paris from the village of Aguemoune in the Berber-speaking region of Kabylia in 1953, before the start of the Algerian War. The family, which had settled in the city's tough northern districts of Barbès and Saint-Denis, found little work in the region, and in the mid-1960s moved to the northern Marseille suburb of La Castellane. In an interview with Esquire magazine, he stated: 'I have an affinity with the Arabic world. I have it in my blood, via my parents. I'm very proud of being French, but also very proud of having these roots and this diversity.' His father worked as a warehouseman and security guard at a department store, often on the night shift, while his mother was a housewife. The family lived a reasonably comfortable life by the standards of the neighbourhood, which was notorious throughout Marseille for its high crime and unemployment rates. Zidane credits his strict upbringing and his father as the 'guiding light' in his career. It was in Castellane where Zidane had his earliest introduction in football, joining in at the age of five in football games that the neighbourhood's children played on the Place Tartane, an 80-by-12-yard plaza that served as the main square of the housing complex. In July 2011, Zidane named former Marseille players Blaž Slišković, Enzo Francescoli and Jean-Pierre Papin as his idols while growing up. At the age of ten, Zidane got his first player's licence after joining the junior team of a local club from Castellane by the name of US Saint-Henri. After spending a year and a half at US Saint-Henri, Zidane joined SO Septèmes-les-Vallons when the Septèmes coach Robert Centenero convinced the club's director to get Zidane. Zidane stayed with Septèmes until the age of 14, at which time he was selected to attend a three-day training camp at the CREPS (Regional Centre for Sports and Physical Education) in Aix-en-Provence, one of several such footballing institutes run by the French Football Federation. It was here that Zidane was spotted by AS Cannes scout and former player Jean Varraud, who recommended him to the training centre director of the club. As a 14-year-old watching the 1986 Wo

In Their Own Story

The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff hums with a tension heavy enough to crush stone. The ball loops high into the air, spinning against the grey Welsh sky. Zinedine Zidane watches it fall, his body coiled like a spring. Time seems to dilate; the roar of eighty thousand fans fades into a dull rumble. He chests down the descent before unleashing a left-footed volley that screams toward the corner. The net ripples, and for a moment, he is not just a man playing a game, but a statue carved from pure grace, suspended in the amber of history. This goal in the 2002 Champions League final is considered one of the greatest goals in football history.

Reader's Guide

Zidane started his career at Cannes before establishing himself as one of the best players in the French Ligue 1 at Bordeaux. In 1996, he moved to Italian club Juventus, where he won two Serie A titles and played in consecutive UEFA Champions League finals in 1997 and 1998. He moved to Real Madrid for a world-record fee at the time of €77.5 million in 2001, which remained a record for the next eight years. In Spain, Zidane won several trophies, including a La Liga title and the Champions League. In the 2002 Champions League final, he scored a left-foot volleyed winner that is considered one of the greatest goals in football history. In 2012 and 2017, respectively, Zidane was named in Real Madrid's and Juventus's greatest XI of all time. Capped 108 times by France, Zidane won the 1998 FIFA World Cup, scoring a brace in the final, and was named in the All-Star team. This triumph made him a national hero in France and he received the Legion of Honour in 1998. He won UEFA Euro 2000 and was named Player of the Tournament. He also received the Golden Ball as Player of the Tournament at the 2006 World Cup, despite his infamous sending off in the final against Italy for headbutting Marco Materazzi in the chest. He retired as the fourth-most capped player in French history. In 2004, he was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the world's greatest living players compiled by Pelé, and in the same year was named the best European footballer of the past 50 years in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. Zidane is one of eleven players to have won the World Cup, the Champions League, and the Ballon d'Or. He was the ambassador for Qatar's successful bid to stage the 2022 World Cup, the first Arab country to host the tournament. After retiring as a player, Zidane began his coaching career at Real Madrid Castilla. He remained in the position for two years, before managing the first team in 2016. In his initial three seasons, Zidane became the first and only coach to win the Champions League three consecutive times. He also won the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup twice each, as well as a La Liga title and a Supercopa de España. This success led to Zidane being named Best FIFA Men's Coach in 2017. He resigned in 2018, but returned to the club in 2019, and won another La Liga title and a Supercopa de España, before leaving again in 2021. In 2026, he returned to coaching, succeeding D

Did You Know?

• Zidane scored his first professional goal for Cannes on 10 February 1991 against Nantes in a 2–1 win.
• He won the 1995 Intertoto Cup with Bordeaux after beating Karlsruher SC.
• Zidane was named Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year in his first season at Juventus.
• He scored a left-foot volleyed winner in the 2002 Champions League final, considered one of the greatest goals in football history.
• Zidane is one of eleven players to have won the World Cup, the Champions League, and the Ballon d'Or.