Zinedine Yazid Zidane was born on June 23, 1972 in Marseille.
Son of Algerian parents, he had a humble childhood and lived in one of the most violent neighborhoods in Marseille without great luxuries.
At the age of 5, Zidane had his first contact with football, starting to participate in games with other immigrant children in a Marseille square.
Zidane from 5 to 10 years old played daily soccer in the square with his friends.
At the age of 10 Zidane managed to join the youth team of the local club called US Saint-Henri.
His technical capacity did not go unnoticed and after 1 and a half years he moved to SO Septèmes-les-Vallons, which was already a more notorious club in the region.
At that time, at the age of 11, Zidane was already where no one believed that an emigrant could reach.
Zidane went through several difficulties due to being a migrant and receiving racial insults because of his origins and the place where he lived.
In 1986, at the age of 14, Zidane participated in a 3-day test at the CREPS (Regional Center for Sports and Physical Education) institute that was managed by the French Football Federation.
He caught the eye of a Cannes scout:
When I saw Zidane for the first time I realized that he was on another level. by VARRAUD
This made him win the chance to audition at Cannes. This test lasted 6 weeks and in the end Zidane was selected to stay on the club's training teams.
However, he had to overcome several difficulties, one of which was the fact that he had to leave his family and go to live in the club's dorm.
The other problem was the fact that he was very sensitive about comments related to his family, several times he went to the gression with his opponents when they insulted him.
As time went by his coaches were helping him to control these reactions.
On the 18th of May 1989, at the age of 17, Zidane made his debut in the main team of Cannes in the French championship.
His first goal as a professional came in the 1990/1991 season.
This goal made Zidane ganahr a Renault Clio that had been promised by the president of Cannes when he scored his 1st goal as a professional.
Despite having played a lot of games, critics criticized Zidane because when the team needed him most he ended up having bad performances.
Cannes ended up dividing.
Zidane represented Cannes for 5 seasons from 1988 to 1992 where he played 71 games and scored goals.
In the 1992/1993 season Zidane was transferred to Bordeaux for 7.5 million euros.
In his first season, Zidane spent most of the time being a substitute used in the 2nd part of the games and ended up participating in 39 games scoring 9 goals.
In the 1993/1994 and 1994/1995 seasons, Bordeaux improved a lot and it is at this time that Zidane asserts himself as the team's starter.
In the 1994/1995 season, Zidane won the Intertoto Cup (now extinct).
This season Zidane had his first call-up for the French team for a friendly against the Czech Republic. Zidane only entered the 2nd half and scored the 2 goals that gave the game a draw.
In 1995/1996 Zidane was voted best player in the French championship despite the terrible Bordeaux championship (10th place).
Despite the poor league, Bordeaux reached the UEFA Cup final and ended up losing against Bayern Munich.
In the four seasons that represented Bordeaux Zidane participated in 177 games, scored 39 goals and made 11 assists.
Zidane with all his demonstrated class was summoned to EURO 96 and ended up losing the semi-finals against the Czech Republic.
In 1996/1997, Zidane signed for Juventus.
Since arriving in Turin, Zidane has undergone several comparisons with Platini.
In the 1st season he won the European Super Cup, Serie A and also the world club championship.
After all these achievements, Zidane was voted the 3rd best player in the world by FIFA.
This season he participated in 44 games scoring 7 goals and making 8 assists.
In the second season, 1997/98, Zidane again won the title of champion of Serie A, won the Italian Super Cup but lost again the final of the Champions League this time against Real Madrid.
This season he played 48 games, scored 14 goals and made 8 assists.
At the end of this season, Zidane wins the 98 World Cup in France, winning Brazil 3-0 in the final.
With all the titles won this season and his excellent performances, Zidane won the award for best player in the world.
In the 1998/1999 season, they only managed to win the Intertoto Cup and finished the championship in 6th place.
In 1999/2000, Zidane did not win any title and Juventus finished in second place behind Lazio.
Despite this, Zidane again won the award for best player in the world.
This award is related to the title won by France at Euro 200.
In 2000/01 Juventus continued their title fast, as this season they did not win any titles again.
With Juventus (1996-2001) he participated in 212 games, scored 31 goals, made 316 assists and won 6 titles.
In the 2001/2002 season, Zidane was signed by Real Madrid in a transfer of €73 million. At the time, it was the most expensive transfer in the history of football.
In the first season at Real Madrid, Zidane won the Champions League by scoring the winning goal of the final.
This season he also won the Club World Cup.
These titles were enough to give Zidane the prize of best player in Europe.
IN THE 200/2003 season Zidane won the La Liga title with Real Madrid and the Spanish Super Cup.
The great exhibitions contributed to him winning the prize for best player in the world for the 2nd time.
In 2003/2004 he only won the Spanish Super Cup.
In 2004/2005 Real Madrid did not win any titles. However Zidane, despite being 33 years old, continued to demonstrate his full class on the pitch.
The 2005/2006 season was the last season that we saw Zidane playing, as he at the end of that season decided to retire.
With the shirt of Real Madrid (from 2001 to 2006) he participated in 229 games, scored 49 goals, made 66 assists and won 6 titles.
Unfortunately, one of the best players in history left football in the worst possible way by attacking Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final.
Their numbers for the French team were 108 games, 31 goals, 30 assists and 2 titles.
Undoubtedly Zidane was a player who showed class on and off the field.
