Zinedine Zidane

• 1. La Castellane Roots

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  Zinedine Yazid Zidane was born on the 23rd of June 1972 in La Castellane, a neighbourhood in the 16th arrondissement of Marseille. His parents Smaïl and Malika 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 settled in the city's tough northern districts of Barbès and Saint-Denis before moving to the northern Marseille suburb of La Castellane in the mid-1960s. 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. In an interview with Esquire magazine he stated that his father served as the guiding light in his career. It was in Castellane where Zidane had his earliest introduction to football joining games played by the neighbourhood children on Place Tartane an 80-by-12-yard plaza serving as the main square of the housing complex.

• 2. From Cannes To Bordeaux

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  At age fourteen Zidane attended a three-day training camp at the CREPS Regional Centre for Sports and Physical Education in Aix-en-Provence run by the French Football Federation. AS Cannes scout Jean Varraud spotted him there and recommended him to the club director. He went to Cannes for a six-week stay but ended up remaining four years playing at the professional level. Having left his family to join Cannes he was invited by Director Jean-Claude Elineau to leave the dormitory shared with twenty other trainees and come live with Elineau's family. Zidane later said living with the Elineaus gave him equilibrium. His first coach Jean Varraud encouraged him to channel anger and focus on his game after Zidane spent weeks cleaning duty as punishment for punching an opponent who mocked his ghetto origins. He made his professional debut with Cannes on the 18th of May 1989 in a French Division 1 match against Nantes. He scored his first goal for the club on the 10th of February 1991 also against Nantes in a 2, 1 win. After that match during a party for all Cannes players Zidane received a car from chairman Alain Pedretti who had promised one the day he scored his first goal.

• 3. The Galácticos Goal

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  In 2001 Zidane joined Real Madrid for a world-record fee of 150 billion Italian lire about €77.5 million in instalments signing a four-year contract. The latest addition to the Galácticos era of global stars signed by Real Madrid every year he scored a famous match-winning goal in his first season. It was a volley hit with his weaker left foot from the edge of the 18-yard box in Madrid's 2, 1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final. The magnitude of the strike saw Zidane produce one of his most emotional celebrations running toward the touchline with mouth wide open screaming in delight. The next season he helped Real Madrid win the 2002, 03 La Liga starring alongside Luís Figo in midfield and was named FIFA World Player of the Year for the third time. In 2004 fans voted him as the best European footballer of the previous fifty years in UEFA's fiftieth-anniversary Golden Jubilee Poll.

• 4. World Cup Heroics

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  The 1998 FIFA World Cup was held in France where Zidane set up Christophe Dugarry's goal in the opening match against South Africa from a corner. He contributed to Thierry Henry's opening goal in the second match against Saudi Arabia before being sent off in that same match for a stamp on Fuad Anwar becoming the first French player to receive a red card in a World Cup Finals match. Without their playmaker France proceeded to win 1, 0 in the round of sixteen game against Paraguay and on his return defeated Italy 4, 3 on penalties after a goalless draw in the quarter-finals. Zidane netted the first spot kick in the shoot-out. France then defeated Croatia 2, 1 in the semi-final. They played against defending champions Brazil at the Stade de France in the final. France dominated Brazil from the kick-off with Zidane scoring two similar goals both headers from corner kicks taken by Emmanuel Petit and Youri Djorkaeff. With one hand on the trophy France went into half-time 2, 0 up. Petit added a third goal deep in stoppage time sealing the 3, 0 win and France's first World Cup. Named man of the match Zidane became an instant national hero receiving the Legion of Honour later that year.

• 5. The Berlin Headbutt

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  Seven minutes into the 2006 World Cup final in Berlin Zidane put France ahead with a Panenka-style penalty kick which struck the crossbar and bounced just over the goal line. He became only the fourth player in World Cup history to score in two different finals along with Pelé Paul Breitner and Vavá. He almost scored a second goal during extra time but his header was saved by Italy's goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Then in the 110th minute he headbutted Marco Materazzi in the chest so he did not participate in the penalty shootout which Italy won 5, 3. This marked the fourteenth overall expulsion of Zidane's career joining him with Cameroon's Rigobert Song as the only players ever sent off during two separate World Cup tournaments. He also became the fourth player red-carded in a World Cup final and the first sent off in extra time. The day after the final Place de la Concorde in Paris was filled with thousands of fans waving flags and rhythmically chanting Zizou Zizou while tributes were led by French president Jacques Chirac. Polls showed 61% of French people had already forgiven him for the actions while 52% said they understood them.

• 6. Three Consecutive Titles

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  On the 4th of January 2016 Real Madrid announced the dismissal of Rafael Benítez and appointed Zidane as the new head coach on a two-and-a-half-year deal. His first match five days later saw Real Madrid beat Deportivo La Coruña 5, 0 in a La Liga match. In his first El Clásico held on the 2nd of April at Camp Nou he led his club to a 2, 1 win over Barcelona ending Barça's thirty-nine-match unbeaten run. On the 28th of May Real Madrid won their eleventh Champions League title after a 5, 3 penalty shoot-out victory over Atlético Madrid. Zidane became the seventh man to win the European Cup both as a player and a coach and the second man after Miguel Muñoz to achieve the feat with Real Madrid. He also became the first French coach except Helenio Herrera to win the trophy. The team then defeated Juventus 1, 0 in the 2017 final making Real Madrid the first team to successfully defend their title in the UEFA Champions League era since Milan in 1989 and 1990. They won three consecutive titles in the competition for the first time since Bayern Munich in 1976.

• 7. A Global Icon

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  Zidane has had endorsements with many companies including Adidas Lego France Telecom Orange Audi Volvic and Christian Dior. These sponsorship deals earned him €8.6 million on top of his €6.4 million Real Madrid salary in 2006 totalling €15 million ($20.4 million) which made him the sixth-highest paid footballer. In 2004 Forbes magazine listed his earnings of $15.8 million for the previous twelve months. In May 2010 he appeared in a commercial for Louis Vuitton indulging in a game of table football with Pelé and Diego Maradona. Filmmakers Philippe Parreno and Douglas Gordon filmed a documentary Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait following him during an entire match using seventeen cameras while Scottish post-rock band Mogwai provided the soundtrack. He toured Bangladesh as guest of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus in November 2006 visiting the Algerian birthplace of his parents meeting with president Abdelaziz Bouteflika who gave him an official reception. In 2012 French-Algerian artist Adel Abdessemed unveiled a bronze sculpture depicting Zidane's headbutt of Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup Final.