>>>>> This programs tells you everything you need to know about a Football Player. A MUST READ ZINEDINE ZIDANE ------------------------------ Zinedine Yazid Zidane ( born 23 June 1972), nicknamed Zizou, is a former French footballer and current coach of Real Madrid Castilla. He played as an attacking midfielder for the French national team, Juventus and Real Madrid.[4][5] Renowned for his elegance, vision and technique, Zidane was named the best European footballer of the past 50 years in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll,and has been described as one of the greatest players in the history of the game. At club level, Zidane won the La Liga title and the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid, two Serie A league championships with Juventus and an Intercontinental Cup and a UEFA Super Cup each with both aforementioned sides. His 2001 transfer from Juventus to Real Madrid set a world record fee of an equivalent €75 million. On the international stage with France, Zidane won the 1998 FIFA World Cup, scoring twice in the final, and UEFA Euro 2000 where he was named Player of the Tournament. The World Cup triumph made him a national hero in France, and he received the Légion dhonneur in 1998. Zidane has won the FIFA World Player of the Year three times, a feat achieved only by Ronaldo and Lionel Messi,[10] and the Ballon dOr once. He was Ligue 1 Player of the Year in 1996, Serie A Footballer of the Year in 2001 and La Liga Best Foreign Player in 2002. Zidane received the Golden Ball at the 2006 World Cup, and in the final was infamously sent off for headbutting Marco Materazzi in the chest. Following the tournament, Zidane retired from football. After retirement, Zidane became assistant coach at Real Madrid under Carlo Ancelotti for the 2013-14 season. After a successful year in which the club won the UEFA Champions League and Copa del Rey, Zidane became the coach of Real Madrids B team, Real Madrid Castilla. Zinedine Zidane in La Castellane, Marseille in southern France. Zidane is of Kabyle Berber descent. His parents, Smaïl and Malika, emigrated to Paris from the village of Aguemoune in the Berber-speaking region of Kabylie in northern Algeria in 1953 before the start of the Algerian War. The family, which had settled in the citys 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 the 16th arrondissement of Marseille. In 1972, Zidane was born there as the youngest of five siblings. His father Smaïl worked as a warehouseman / nightwatchman 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 neighborhood, which was notorious throughout Marseille for its high crime and unemployment rates. It was in Castellane where Zidane had his earliest introduction in football, joining in at the age of five in football games that the neighbourhoods 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 Olympique 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 players licence after joining the junior team of a local club from Castellane by the name of US Saint-Henri.[18] 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 clubs Director to get Zidane. Zidane stayed with Septèmes until the age of fourteen, 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. Club Career ------------------- Cannes He’d go past one, two, three, five, six players – it was sublime. His feet spoke with the ball — Jean Varraud, former player who discovered Zidane. Zidane went to Cannes for a six-week stay, but ended up remaining at the club for four years to play at the professional level. Having left his family at the age of fourteen to join Cannes, he was invited by Cannes director Jean-Claude Elineau, to leave the dormitory he shared with 20 other trainees and to come and stay with him and his family. Zidane later said that it was in living with the Elineaus that he found equilibrium. It was at Cannes where Zidanes first coaches noticed that he was raw and sensitive, prone to attack spectators who insulted his race or family. His first coach, Jean Varraud, encouraged him to channel his anger and focus on his own game. Zidane spent his first weeks at Cannes mainly on cleaning duty as a punishment for punching an opponent who mocked his ghetto origins. The occasional violence that he would display throughout his career was shaped by an internal conflict of being a French-Algerian suspended between cultures, and surviving the tough streets of La Castellane where he grew up. Zidane made his professional debut with Cannes on 18 May 1989 at the age of sixteen in a French Division 1 match against Nantes. He scored his first goal for the club on 10 February 1991 also against Nantes in a 2–1 win. After the match during a party for all the Cannes players, Zidane was given a car by Cannes chairman Alain Pedretti, who had promised him one the day he scored his first goal for the club. On the pitch, Zidane displayed extraordinary technique on the ball, offering glimpses of the talent that would take him to the top of the world game. In his first full season with Cannes, the club secured its first ever European football berth by qualifying for the UEFA Cup after finishing fourth in the league. This remains the clubs highest finish in the top flight since getting relegated for the first time from the first division in the 1948–49 season. Bordeaux Zidane was transferred to Girondins de Bordeaux in the 1992–93 season, winning the 1995 Intertoto Cup after beating Karlsruhe, and finishing runner-up against Bayern Munich in the 1995–96 UEFA Cup, in four years with the club. He played a set of midfield combinations with Bixente Lizarazu and Christophe Dugarry, which would become the trademark of both Bordeaux and the 1998 French national team. In 1995, Blackburn Rovers manager Kenny Dalglish had expressed interest in signing both Zidane and Dugarry, to which team owner and chairman Jack Walker reportedly replied, Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood? Also towards the beginning of the 1996 season, according to football agent Barry Silkman, Zidane was offered to Newcastle United for £1.2 million, but the club turned down the offer after watching him, claiming that he was not good enough for the English First Division. In 1996, Zidane received the award for Ligue 1 Player of the Year. Juventus He is a special player. He creates space where there is none. No matter where he gets the ball or how it comes to him, he can get out of trouble. His imagination and his technique are amazing — Juventus teammate Edgar Davids. After a series of consistently outstanding performances for both Bordeaux and France, Zidane had offers to join Europes top clubs in the spring of 1996, deciding on a move to UEFA Champions League winners Juventus during the close season. Zidanes impact in Italy was immediate, and won the 1996–97 Serie A title and the 1996 Intercontinental Cup. He lost in the 1997 UEFA Champions League Final 3–1 to Borussia Dortmund when he was unable to make an impression against the close marking of Paul Lambert.[33][34][35] The following season, Zidane scored seven goals in 32 matches in the league to help Juventus win the 1997–98 Serie A and thus retain the Scudetto. In Europe, Juventus made their third consecutive UEFA Champions League Final appearance, but lost the game 1–0 to Real Madrid, a club Zidane would later join. In 1998, Zidane was named FIFA World Player of the Year, and won the Ballon dOr. Juventus finished second in the 2000–01 Serie A, but were eliminated in the group stage of the Champions League, after Zidane was banned for head-butting Hamburger SV player Jochen Kientz. In 2001, Zidane was named Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year for the second time. Real Madrid With David Beckham at Real Madrid in 2003 In 2001, Zidane joined Real Madrid for a world record fee of 150 billion Italian lire. (about €75 million) and signed a four-year contract. He scored a famous match-winning goal, a volley hit with his weaker foot, in Madrids 2–1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final completing his personal quadruple. The goal has been cited as one of the greatest in Champions League history. He dominates the ball, he is a walking spectacle and he plays as if he had silk gloves on each foot. He makes it worthwhile going to the stadium — hes one of the best I have ever seen. “” — Alfredo Di Stéfano on Zidane after he was named World Player of the Year in 2003. The next season, Zidane helped Real Madrid to win the 2002–03 La Liga and was named the FIFA World Player of the Year for the third time. In 2004, fans voted him as the best European footballer of the previous 50 years in UEFAs fiftieth-anniversary Golden Jubilee Poll. While Zidanes final season of club football ended without a trophy, he enjoyed success on a personal note by scoring his first hat-trick against Sevilla FC in a 4–2 win in January 2006. He ended the season for Real Madrid as their second highest goalscorer and assists provider behind team-mates Ronaldo and David Beckham respectively, with nine goals and ten assists in 28 games. On 7 May 2006, Zidane, who had announced his plans to retire after the 2006 World Cup, played his farewell match and scored in a 3–3 draw with Villarreal. The squad wore commemorative shirts with ZIDANE 2001–2006 below the club logo. The 80,000 fans inside the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu held up a banner reading: ‘Thanks for the magic’. In 2012, Zidane featured for Madrid in an All Stars Match against Manchester United which resulted in a 3–2 win for Real. In April 2013, he was named by Marca as a member of the Best foreign eleven in Real Madrids history. International career Both France and Algeria consider Zidane a citizen, but he was ineligible to play for the Algerian national team. It was rumoured that coach Abdelhamid Kermali denied Zidane a position for the Algerian squad because he felt the young midfielder was not fast enough. However, Zidane dismissed the rumour in a 2005 interview, saying that he would have been ineligible to play for Algeria because he had already played for France. He earned his first cap with France as a substitute in a friendly against the Czech Republic on 17 August 1994, which ended in a 2–2 draw after Zidane scored twice to help France erase a 2–0 deficit. After Éric Cantona was handed a year-long suspension in January 1995 for assaulting a fan, Zidane took over the playmaker position. France was eliminated in the Euro 96 semi-finals in a penalty shootout by the Czech Republic after the match ended 0–0 in extra time. 1998 Fifa World Cup Zidane wore number 10 throughout his international career The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the first World Cup that Zidane participated in. It was held in his home country France. The French team won all three games in the group stage but Zidane was sent off in the second match against Saudi Arabia for a stamp on Fuad Anwar, becoming the first French player to receive a red card in a World Cup Finals. Without their playmaker France proceeded to win 1–0 in the last sixteen game against Paraguay and, on his return to the side, defeated Italy 4–3 on penalties after a goalless draw in the quarter-finals. France then defeated Croatia 2–1 in the semi-final. Zidane played a major role in the teams accomplishment, though he had yet to score a goal at the World Cup. Zidane and France went on to play against defending champions and favourites Brazil at the Stade de France in the 1998 FIFA World Cup 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. Courtesy of Zidanes two goals, France went into the half-time break 2-0 up with one hand already on the World Cup trophy. Petit added a third goal deep in stoppage time to seal the 3–0 win and Frances first ever World Cup. Zidane became an instant national hero, and over one million people celebrated the victory on the Champs-Élysées where a huge image of Zidane was projected on the Arc de Triomphe along with the words Merci Zizou. Euro 2000 Zidane portraited on stairs in Canary Wharf, London prior to Euro 2004 Two years later France won Euro 2000, becoming the first team to hold both the World Cup and the European Championship since West Germany in 1974. Zidane finished with two goals, a memorable bending free kick against Spain in the quarter-final and the golden goal in the semi-final against Portugal, and was named Player of the Tournament by UEFA. 2002 Fifa World Cup As reigning world and European champions, France entered the 2002 World Cup as favourites but a thigh injury prevented Zidane from playing in Frances first two matches and without their talisman, the French team failed to score in either match. He was rushed back prematurely for the third game despite not being fully fit, but could not prevent France from being ignominiously eliminated in the group stage without scoring a single goal; the worst performance by a defending champion in the history of the competition. Euro 2004 At Euro 2004, France topped their group with wins over England and Switzerland, before being knocked out in the quarter finals by eventual champions Greece in a surprise 1–0 loss. In the opening match against England, Zidane scored a free kick and penalty in stoppage time to turn defeat into a 2–1 victory for France. After Frances elimination Zidane announced his retirement from international football. 2006 Fifa World Cup Zidane during the 2006 World Cup Final With the mass retirement of veteran key players such as Bixente Lizarazu, Marcel Desailly, Claude Makelele and Lilian Thuram, France struggled to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. At the urging of coach Raymond Domenech, Zidane came out of retirement and was immediately reinstated as team captain. Zidane, along with Thuram and Makelele, made his competitive return for France in a 3–0 win over the Faroe Islands on 3 September 2005. The trio helped France rise from fourth place to win their qualifying group. On 27 May 2006, Zidane earned his hundredth cap for France in a 1–0 friendly win over Mexico, in what would also be his last match at the Stade de France. Zidane became Frances fourth player to reach 100 caps, after Desailly, Thuram and Didier Deschamps. France had a slow start to the 2006 World Cup and, after being suspended for the final match of the group stage, Zidane returned to set up a goal for Patrick Vieira and score one himself in the second round match against Spain. In the quarter-final France held Brazil to just one shot on goal in the rematch of the 1998 final. Zidane assisted Thierry Henrys deciding goal and he was named Man of the Match by FIFA. France faced Portugal in the semi final and, as in Brussels six years earlier, Zidanes penalty kick decided the contest and sent France to another major final. Before the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final in Berlin, Zidane was awarded the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament. Having already announced he was to retire after the expiration of his Real Madrid contract at the end of the 2005–06 season, the world of football already knew Zidanes second World Cup final was to be the last match of his career. Seven minutes into the match Zidane put France ahead with a penalty kick and became only the fourth player in World Cup history to score in two different finals, along with Pelé, Paul Breitner, and Vavá, in addition to being tied for first place with Vavá, Pelé and Geoff Hurst with three World Cup final goals apiece. He almost scored a second goal during the first period of extra time but his header was saved by Italys goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Zidane was then sent off in the 110th minute of the game after headbutting Marco Materazzi in the chest, so he did not participate in the penalty shootout which Italy won 5–3. Zidanes actions made headlines all over the world, while in France Le Figaro called his head-butt odious, and the front page of LEquipe asked: What should we tell our children, for whom you have become an example for ever? ... How could that happen to a man like you?. The match you played last night was full of talent and professionalism. I know that you are sad and disappointed but what I want to tell you is that the whole country is extremely proud of you. You have honoured the country with your exceptional qualities and your fantastic fighting spirit, which was your strength in difficult times, but also in winning times. “” —President of France, Jacques Chirac, pays tribute to Zidane after the 2006 World Cup. Upon his return to France, the Place de la Concorde in Paris was filled with thousands of fans waving flags and rhythmically chanting Zizou! Zizou!, and tributes were led by the French president Jacques Chirac. Chiracs words reflected the feeling of the French public, with polls done in the immediate wake of the incident showing support for Zidane: 61% of French people said they had already forgiven him for his actions while 52% said they understood them. According to French journalist Philippe Auclair, Zidanes performances in the knock-out rounds were, ranked among his finest in a blue shirt. As the player of the tournament, Zidane had given the team hope, with the French daily newspaper Libération stating; For a month, France was dreaming with Zidane. Zidane remained an icon to the French public, and one French writer stated, Its good for us to see our national hero is fallible. It was later discovered through interviews that Marco Materazzi had insulted Zidanes sister, which led to Zidanes heightened anger and reaction. In 2010, Zidane said that he would rather die than apologize to Materazzi for the headbutt in the final,[63] but also admitted that he could never have lived with himself had he been allowed to remain on the pitch and help France win the match.[64] Following his red card in the final, Zidane retired from professional football and confirmed that he would not go back on his decision. He was sentenced by FIFA to a three match suspension for the red card. He agreed to complete three days of community service with children in one of FIFAs humanitarian projects. Honours -------------- Country ------------ FIFA World Cup: 1998; Runner-up: 2006 UEFA European Football Championship: 2000 Club ----------- Bordeaux UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1995 UEFA Cup Runner-up: 1995–96 Juventus Serie A: 1996–97, 1997–98; Runner-up: 1999–00, 2000–01 Supercoppa Italiana: 1997; Runner-up: 1998 UEFA Champions League Runner-up: 1996–97, 1997–98 UEFA Super Cup: 1996 Intercontinental Cup: 1996 UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1999 Real Madrid La Liga: 2002–03; Runner-up: 2004–05, 2005–06 Supercopa de España: 2001, 2003 Copa del Rey Runner-up: 2001–02, 2003–04 UEFA Champions League: 2001–02 UEFA Super Cup: 2002 Intercontinental Cup: 2002 Personal Awards --------------------------- Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year – 1994 Ligue 1 Player of the Year – 1996 Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year – 1997, 2001 FIFA World Player of the Year Third place – 1997, 2002 ESM Team of the Year – 1997–98, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04 UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year – 1998 FIFA World Cup All-Star Team – 1998, 2006 FIFA World Cup Final Man of the Match – 1998 World Soccer Awards Player of the Year – 1998 French Player of the Year – 1998, 2002 Onze dOr – 1998, 2000, 2001 Ballon dOr – 1998 FIFA World Player of the Year – 1998, 2000, 2003 World Soccer 100 Greatest Players of the 20th century – 1999 UEFA Euro Player of the Tournament – 2000 UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament – 2000, 2004 Serie A Footballer of the Year – 2001 UEFA Team of the Year – 2001, 2002, 2003 UEFA Champions League Final Man of the Match – 2002 La Liga Best Foreign Player – 2002 UEFA Club Footballer of the Year – 2002 FIFA World Cup Dream Team – 2002 FIFA 100 Greatest Living Footballers – 2004 UEFA Best European Player of the Past 50 Years – 2004 FIFPro World XI All-Star Team – 2005, 2006 IFFHS Worlds Best Playmaker – 2006 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball – 2006 FIFA World Player of the Year Second place – 2006 UNFP Honorary Award – 2007 Marca Leyenda Award – 2008 Goal Team of the Decade - 2009 ESPN Team of the Decade - 2009 ESPN Player of the Decade - 2009 Sports Illustrated Player of the Decade - 2009 Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award – 2011 UEFA Champions League Best Player of the Past 20 Years – 2011 World Soccer Greatest XI of all Time - 2013
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 12:35:00 +0000
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