10 ZIDANE Zinedine Birth Date: 23 June 1972 Height: 185 cm Weight: 80 kg Position: MF Current Club: Real Madrid (ESP) Int'l Goals: 19 (as of 27 May 2002) Int'l Caps: 74 (as of 27 May 2002) First Int'l Cap: Czech Republic (17 August 1994)
Profile: Zinédine Zidane learned to play football
in the backstreets of Marseilles. The son of Algerian immigrants, he was
discovered by a talent-scout at 14 and signed as a schoolboy with Cannes
FC.
""Zizou"" was barely 17 when he made his debut for Cannes in the French
first division. By the 1990/1 season he had become a regular in the side,
although he could do nothing to prevent Cannes from being relegated at the
end of the 1991/2 season. He responded by packing his bags and seeking a
fresh challenge with Girondins de Bordeaux.
With Zidane in their ranks, Bordeaux were consistent contenders for the
French championship, though his first major achievement came in the UEFA
Cup at the end of the 1995/6 season, when Bordeaux reached the final before
losing out to mighty Bayern Munich. By this time Zidane was already being
compared to the legendary Michel Platini, a player he had watched at close
range when he was a ball-boy at the UEFA European Championship 1984.
His dazzling entrance onto the international stage was a foretaste of greater
things to come. He came on as a substitute against the Czech Republic with
France trailing 2-0 and salvaged his side a draw, scoring two memorable goals.
But his real breakthrough with ""Les Bleus"" came in the 1995/6 European
Championship season. National coach Aimé Jacquet placed his trust in Zidane
because the midfielder had the two qualities Jacquet most admired in a footballer:
brilliant ball-control and outstanding work-rate. After a series of consistently
brilliant performances for both club and country, Zidane was swamped with
offers to join Europe's top clubs in the spring of 1996. He eventually decided
on a move to the Italian club Juventus during the close season. His first
success in Italy came at the 1996 FIFA Club World Championship, when ""Juve""
overcame South American champions River Plate.
This was followed by the 1997 and 1998 Italian league titles, before Zidane
was handed the chance to grasp the most prestigious prize of all in front
of his home fans at the FIFA World Cup France 98TM.
The rest, of course, is history. Zidane chose the Final against Brazil in
Paris to score his first two FIFA World Cup goals and become the toast of
the tournament. In the summer of 2000, France added the European Championship
to their accolades, prompting national coaches from around the globe to name
Zidane World Footballer of the Year for the second time in three years.
A year later, Zidane moved to Spanish club Real Madrid for a world record
transfer fee of £47.2 million where he continutes to play magical football.
His annual income is estimated at approximately £5 million.