Zinedine Yazid Zidane known simply as Zinedine Zidane or Zizou is a former French football player and currently the manager of the Spanish club Real Madrid. He currently manages soccer club Real Madrid. He is best known for his playmaking skills, insane techniques and visionary passes on the pitch. The all-time football star Zidane last played for Real Madrid as a midfielder and too played for clubs like Cannes, Bordeaux, and Juventus. The 46 years old World Cup winner has an estimated net worth of $70 million. He also won the most prized trophy in soccer history Fifa World cup 1998 from his country France and also reached the final of 2006 World Cup. He is head coaching career at Real Madrid Castilla and in his two and a half seasons with Madrid, Zidane won the UEFA Champions League an unprecedented three times consecutively, a La Liga title, a Supercopa de Espana, and the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup twice each. Due to his success, he was named Best FIFA Men's Coach in 2017, but he resigned in May 2018. Following poor results by Real Madrid in the subsequent months, Zidane returned to the club as manager in March 2019.
Real Madrid's Manager, Zinedine Zidane says picking Keylor Navas over Thibaut Courtois in goal is not a 'Final Decision'
Zidane insisted that he has not made any "final decision" about his first-choice goalkeeper at Real Madrid, stressing that every player will be called upon to revive the club's fortunes. Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas was recalled to the starting line-up for the first game of Zidane's second spell in charge of Real, a 2-0 victory over Celta Vigo, at the expense of Thibaut Courtois. Navas made a smart early save to deny Maxi Gomez the opening goal, with Isco then repaying the head coach for recalling him too by opening the scoring on the hour mark. But Courtois is not permanently dropped nor is Isco now Zidane's untouchable playmaker, with the returning boss telling Marca: "No one can take away what all these players have achieved in the past. I have a squad of 25 players and I am going to have to count on all of them, on Courtois, Keylor, Isco.
Why is Zinedine Zidane Famous For?
Zidane is famous as one of the best footballers that have ever played this sport and also due to his great vision, ball technique and great scoring skills with both legs. He is also remembered for his achievements as a footballer, winning numerous titles including Champions League, La Liga, Serie A, a World Cup, and European Cup titles with the national team of France. He also won the Ballon d’Or for best European Player of the Year (Nowadays known as FIFA Ballon d’Or).
Zinedine Zidane's Early Life
Zinedine Zidane was born on 23rd June 1972, in Marseille, France with the birth name of Zinedine Yazid Zidane. He is nicknamed as "Zizou". He was born to Smail Zidane, his father and Malika Zidane, his mother. He is of Algerian Kabyle descent and belongs to French nationality. He is the youngest of his other four siblings; Lila Zidane, Farid Zidane, Noureddine Zidane, and Madjid Zidane. His religion is Muslim and his horoscope sign is Cancer. His nationality is French and his ethnicity is White. He started to play football at the age of 5 on the roads of La Castellane, a rough section of Marseille. The son of the Algerian immigrants then played for the local clubs while he was 10. Zidane's educational background is not known.
Zinedine Zidane's Age And Birthday
Zinedine Zidane is currently 46 but his age will be 47 on his upcoming birthday in June as of 2019.
Zinedine Zidane's Body Measurement
Zidane is a very handsome person with slim body build. He has a tall height of 185 cm and balanced weight of 80 Kg. His hair is bald and eye color is green. His chest size is 40 in, arms size is 13.5 in and waist size is 30.5 in. His shoe size is 10.5 US.
Zinedine Zidane's Professional Career
- Zidane began his football career since 1986 joining the youth squad of a French club AS Cannes.
- He made his professional debut with Cannes on 18th May 1989 in a French Division 1 match against Nantes and scored his first professional goal on 10th February 1991 against Nantes.
- He played for the club for three years appearing in 61 games and scoring 6 goals.
- After that, he switched to Bordeaux in 1992 signing a four years contract.
- In there, he played the role of mid-fielder starting regular for his team, he received the award of Ligue 1 Player of the Year in the year 1996.
- He was in the club for 4 years making his appearances in 139 games and scored 28 goals; he then moved towards Italy. After a series of stand out performances for both Bordeaux and France, he had offers to join Europe's top clubs in the spring of 1996 and decided a move to UEFA Champions League winners Juventus.
- He was also named FIFA World Player of the Year and won the Ballon d'Or in 1998.
- He was in the club for 5 years helping his team to win several major trophies.
- He won 151 caps for the club and scored 24 goals.
- He then moved to the most valuable team of the time, Real Madrid in the year 2001 signing a four-year contract with a record fee of 150 billion Italian lire, (about €77.5 million by the fixed exchange rate.
- In his first season at the club, Zidane's match-winning goal, a volley hit with his weaker foot, in Madrid's 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final is still regarded as one of the greatest in Champions League history.
- He ended the season for Real Madrid as their second highest goalscorer and assists provider only behind teammates Ronaldo and David Beckham respectively having scored nine goals and ten assists in 28 games.
- He has won 155 caps for the team and scored 37 goals.
- He announced his plans to retire after the 2006 World Cup, played his last match and scored in a 3-3 draw with Villarreal.
- The team wore dedicatory shirts with ZIDANE 2001-2006 below the club logo.
- The 80,000 fans inside the Santiago Bernabeu held up a banner reading, "Thanks for the magic."
- He featured for Madrid in an All-Stars Match against Manchester United which resulted in a 3-2 win for Real in 2012.
- He was named by Marca as a member of the "Best foreign eleven in Real Madrid's history" in April 2013.
Zinedine Zidane's International Career
- Zidane made his professional debut with France as a substitute in a friendly match against the Czech Republic on 17 August 1994, the game ended in a 2–2 draw after he scored twice to help France erase a 2–0 deficit.
- After Eric Cantona's long suspension, Zidane took over the playmaker position.
- The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the first World Cup that Zidane participated in, his two goals from the header in the final against the defending World Cup Champions won France the World Cup Title in 1998.
- He won several other major trophies with his national side.
- He also led his national side to the 2006 World Cup final.
- minutes into the final match against Italy, 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 Pele, Paul Breitner, and Vava.
- He was then sent off in the 110th minute of the game after headbutting Marco Materazzi in the chest and France lost the match in penalties.
- After the red card in the final, he retired from professional football and confirmed that he would not go back on his decision.
Zinedine Zidane's Managerial Career
- Zidane was announced as the advisor to the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Perez on November 2010.
- He was declared as a special adviser to Real Madrid's first team in response to an appeal made by former Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho to work more closely with the team.
- In July 2011, it was announced that he would become Real Madrid's new sporting director and later in 2013, Zidane was appointed as assistant coach to Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid's first team.
- After the dismissal of Madrid's manager Rafael Benitez, Zidane was named the new manager of the club on 4 January 2016.
- Two seasons with the club as manager and he won every major trophy like Champions League, Super Cup, La-Liga and much more.
- He currently manages the star players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Isco, Luca Modric, Gareth Bale in the Real Madrid.
Zinedine Zidane's Personal Life
Zinedine Zidane is a married person. He was married to Veronique Fernandez. Zidane met Fernandez while he was playing for Cannes, at the age of 17. The couple dated for several years and finally tied their knots on 28th May 1994. Zidane and Fernandez are the proud parents of four sons named Enzo Alan Zidane Fernandez born on 24th March 1995, Luca Zinedine Zidane Fernandez born on 13th May 1998, Theo Zidane Fernandez born on 18th May 2002, and Elyaz Zidane Fernandez born on 26th December 2005. All his sons are playing football; Enzo plays as a midfielder for Deportivo Alaves, Luca is a third-choice goalkeeper for Real Madrid, Theo plays as a midfielder in Cadete A and Elyaz too a midfielder in Infantil B for Real Madrid Academy. As of today, the couple is living a happy life without any disturbances. His sexual orientation is straight.
Zinedine Zidane's Net Worth and Salary
Zinedine Zidane was a very successful football player. He has an estimated net worth of $70 million in 2017, including all his incomes and properties. He started his career as a manager and has already managed to place himself among the top ten highest paid managers in 2016, he is listed in the top 10 list with an annual salary of $5 million in 2016. He lives with his family in a mansion in Madrid worth $2.5 million with home cinema, swimming pool, gaming zone etc. As for riding he has several cars but usually uses a Porsche. He has several endorsing deals with brands like Adidas, Lego, France Telecom, Orange, Audi, Volvic and Christian Dior. The sponsorship deals earned him €8.6 million on top of his €6.4 million Real Madrid salary in 2006, totaling €15 million ($20.4 million), which made him the sixth-highest paid football star. His source of wealth is from his endorsements and as a manager. He is satisfied with his earnings.
