Zinedine Yazid Zidane (born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French former professional football player who played as an attacking midfielder. He recently coached Real Madrid and is one of the most successful coaches in the world. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Zidane was an elite playmaker renowned for his elegance, vision, passing, ball control, and technique. He received many individual accolades as a player, including being named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1998, 2000 and 2003, and winning the 1998 Ballon d'Or.
Zidane started his career at Cannes before establishing himself as one of the best players in the French Division 1 at Bordeaux. In 1996, he moved to Juventus where he won trophies including two Serie A titles. He moved to Real Madrid for a world record fee at the time of €77.5 million in 2001, which remained unmatched for the next eight years. In Spain, Zidane won several trophies, including a La Liga title and the UEFA Champions League. In the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final, he scored a left-foot volleyed winner which is considered to be one of the greatest goals in the competition's history.
Capped 108 times by France, Zidane won the 1998 FIFA World Cup, scoring twice in the final, and was named to the All-Star Team. This triumph made him a national hero in France, and he received the Legion of Honour in 1998. He won UEFA Euro 2000, and was named Player of the Tournament. He also received the Golden Ball for Player of the Tournament at the 2006 World Cup, despite his infamous sending off in the final against Italy for headbutting Marco Materazzi in the chest. He retired as the fourth-most capped player in French history.
In 2004, he was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the world's greatest living players compiled by Pelé, and in the same year was named the best European footballer of the past 50 years in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. Zidane is one of eight players to have won the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the Ballon d'Or. He was the ambassador for Qatar's successful bid to stage the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the first Arab country to host the tournament.
After retiring as a player, Zidane transitioned into coaching, and began his head coaching career at Real Madrid Castilla. He remained in the position for two years before taking the helm of the first team in 2016. In his initial two and a half seasons, Zidane became the first coach to win the Champions League three times consecutively, won the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup twice each, as well as a La Liga title and a Supercopa de España. This success led to Zidane being named Best FIFA Men's Coach in 2017. He resigned in 2018, but returned to the club as coach in 2019, and proceeded to win another La Liga and Supercopa de España title.
Honours
Player
Bordeaux[11]
- UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1995
Juventus[11]
- Serie A: 1996–97, 1997–98
- Supercoppa Italiana: 1997
- UEFA Champions League: runner-up: 1996–97, 1997–98
- UEFA Super Cup: 1996
- Intercontinental Cup: 1996
- UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1999
Real Madrid[11]
- La Liga: 2002–03
- Supercopa de España: 2001, 2003
- UEFA Champions League: 2001–02
- UEFA Super Cup: 2002
- Intercontinental Cup: 2002
France[11]
- FIFA World Cup: 1998; runner-up: 2006
- UEFA European Championship: 2000
Individual
- French Division 1 Young Player of the Year: 1993–94[246]
- French Division 1 Player of the Year: 1995–96[246]
- Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year: 1996–97, 2000–01
- Ballon d'Or: Bronze award 1997
- FIFA World Player of the Year: Bronze award 1997, 2002[247]
- Onze d'Argent: 1997, 2002, 2003
- FIFA XI: 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002[248]
- ESM Team of the Year: 1997–98, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04
- UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year: 1998[246]
- L'Équipe International Champion of Champions: 1998[249]
- L'Équipe France Champion of Champions: 1998[249]
- FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1998, 2006
- World Soccer Awards Player of the Year: 1998[246]
- France Football French Player of the Year: 1998, 2002[246]
- Onze d'Or: 1998, 2000, 2001
- Ballon d'Or: 1998[11]
- FIFA World Player of the Year: 1998, 2000, 2003[11]
- El País European Player of the Year: 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003
- Onze de Bronze: 1999
- World Soccer's Selection of the 100 Greatest Footballers of the 20th century: 1999
- 2nd French Player of the Century (France Football): 2000[250]
- Ballon d'Or: Silver award 2000
- UEFA European Championship Player of the Tournament: 2000[246]
- UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 2000, 2004
- Serie A top assist provider: 2000–01[251]
- Serie A Footballer of the Year: 2000–01
- UEFA Team of the Year: 2001, 2002, 2003
- Don Balón Award: 2001–02
- La Liga Best Foreign Player: 2001–02[252]
- UEFA Club Footballer of the Year: 2002
- FIFA World Cup Dream Team: 2002
- FIFA 100: 2004
- UEFA Best European Player of the Past 50 Years: 2004
- FIFA FIFPro World XI: 2005, 2006
- IFFHS World's Best Playmaker: 2006[253]
- FIFA World Cup Golden Ball: 2006[11]
- FIFA World Player of the Year: Silver award 2006[254]
- UNFP Honorary Award: 2007
- AFS Top-100 Players of All Time #5: 2007[255]
- Marca Leyenda Award: 2008
- Golden Foot Legends Award: 2008
- ESPN Team of the Decade: 2009
- ESPN Player of the Decade: 2009
- Fox Sports Player of the Decade: 2009[256]
- Sports Illustrated Team of the Decade: 2009[257]
- Sports Illustrated Player of the Decade: 2009[246]
- Don Balón Team of the Decade: 2010[258]
- Don Balón Player of the Decade: 2010[258]
- Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award: 2011[246]
- UEFA team of teams: 2011[259]
- UEFA Champions League Best Player of the Past 20 Years: 2011[260]
- Équipe type spéciale 20 ans des trophées UNFP: 2011
- Real Madrid Greatest XI of All Time: 2012[261]
- World Soccer Greatest XI of All Time: 2013[262]
- Real Madrid Hall of Fame: 2014[263]
- UEFA Ultimate Team of the Year (substitute): 2015[264]
- IFFHS Legends: 2016[265]
- UEFA European Championship All-Time XI: 2016[266]
- FourFourTwo's Selection of the 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time #8: 2017[267]
- Juventus Greatest XI of All Time: 2017[268]
- L'Équipe Best French Player of All Time: 2018[269]
- Ballon d'Or Dream Team (Silver): 2020[270]
- IFFHS All Time World Men's Dream Team (B-Team): 2021[271]
- IFFHS All Time Europe Men's Dream Team: 2021[272]
Manager
Real Madrid
- La Liga: 2016–17,[273] 2019–20
- Supercopa de España: 2017, 2019–20
- UEFA Champions League: 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18
- UEFA Super Cup: 2016, 2017
- FIFA Club World Cup: 2016, 2017
Individual
- La Liga Manager of the Month: April 2016, May 2017[274][275]
- UEFA La Liga Team Revelation of the Year: 2015–16[276]
- UEFA Champions League Breakthrough XI: 2015–16[277]
- IFFHS World's Best Club Coach – Runner-up: 2016[278]
- The Best FIFA Football Coach: 2017;[279] Runner-up: 2016,[280] 2018[281]
- France Football French Manager of the Year: 2016,[282] 2017[283]
- Le Buteur Coach of the Year: 2016[284]
- UEFA La Liga Team of the Season: 2016–17,[285] 2019-20[286]
- France Football UEFA Champions League Team of the Season: 2016–17[287]
- Onze d'Or Coach of the Year: 2016–17,[288][289] 2017–18[290]
- ESPN Manager of the Year: 2017[291]
- IFFHS World's Best Club Coach: 2017,[292] 2018[293]
- IFFHS Men's World Team: 2017[294]
- RMC French Manager of the Year: 2017[295]
- Globe Soccer Awards Best Coach of the Year: 2017[296][297][298]
- World Soccer Magazine World Manager of the Year: 2017;[299] Runner-up: 2018[300]
- France Football 22nd Greatest Manager of All Time: 2019[301][302]
- Sports illustrated 34th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2019[303]
- Miguel Muñoz Trophy: 2019–20[304]
- L'Equipe's Best Club Coach: 2020[305]
- FourFourTwo's 36th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2020[306]
- Globe Soccer Awards Coach of the Century 2001–2020 (Runners-Up)[307]
- IFFHS's 38th All Time World’s Best Coach: 2021[308]
Orders
- Knight of the Legion of Honour: 1998[309]
- National Order of Merit: 2006[310]
- Officer of the Legion of Honour: 2008[311]
Records
As a player
- The most expensive footballer in history: 2001–2009[312]
- Oldest player to win the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball: 34 years and 17 days[313]
- Most goals scored in FIFA World Cup Final matches: 3 goals (shared with Pelé, Vavá and Geoff Hurst)[314]
- Most FIFA World Cup Final matches scored in: 2 matches (shared with Pelé, Vavá and Paul Breitner)[314]
- Most red cards received in FIFA World Cup matches: 2 (shared with Rigobert Song)[314]
- Midfielder with the most appearances in the ESM Team of the Season[315]
- One of the two players in history to be named player of the year in 3 of the Top 5 Leagues: Division 1 Player of the Year (1996), Serie A Footballer of the Year (2001), Don Balón Award (2002)[316]
- Only player in history to win the World Cup and the European Championship while being named best player of both competitions[317]
- Most Onze d'Or awards: 7 in total (shared with Cristiano Ronaldo)[318]
- Most FIFA World Player of the Year awards: 6 in total[319]
As a manager
- Best winning streak in the history of La Liga: 16 games (shared with Pep Guardiola)[320]
- Most consecutive away wins in the history of La Liga: 13 games[321]
- Manager with the lowest number of defeats after 100 games (in Spanish football): 8 losses[322]
- Manager with most trophies after 100 games (in Spanish football): 7 titles[323]
- Longest unbeaten run in Real Madrid history: 40 games[324]
- Longest unbeaten run in Spanish football: 40 games[324]
- First French manager, except the French-Argentinian Helenio Herrera, to win UEFA Champions League: 2015–16[325]
- Longest scoring run (all major competitions) in European football: 73 games[326]
- Only manager in history to win two consecutive UEFA Champions League trophies in its modern format: 2015–16, 2016–17[327]
- Only manager to win three consecutive European Cup/UEFA Champions League finals: 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18[328]
- Only manager in Real Madrid history to win four trophies in one season[329]
- Only manager in Real Madrid history to win the UEFA Super Cup twice[330]
- First manager to win two consecutive UEFA Super Cup titles since Arrigo Sacchi[329]
- Quickest manager in the history of the Top 5 Leagues to win 7 titles with a single club: 19 months[331]
- Quickest manager in the history of the Top 5 Leagues to win 8 titles with a single club: 23 months[332]
- Quickest manager in history to be named FIFA Football Coach of the Year: 653 days[331]
- Most The Best FIFA Football Coach awards: 3 in total[333]
- Only person in history to win the Onze d'Or award as a player and as a manager[334]
- Only person in history to win FIFA's Player of the Year award and Coach of the Year award[335]
- Only person in history to win the IFFHS award as the best playmaker and as a manager[336]
- Only person in history to win the FIFA Club World Cup trophy successively as a manager[337]
- Only manager in Real Madrid history to win five trophies in a calendar year[338]
- Only person in history to win the FIFA Club World Cup/Intercontinental Cup twice as a player and twice as a manager[339]
- Only person in history to be named French Player of the Year twice and French Manager of the Year twice[340]
- Highest score for a manager winning the IFFHS World's Best Club Coach award: 326 points[336]
- First manager to reach three consecutive UEFA Champions League finals since Marcello Lippi: 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18[341]
- Manager with most Champions League trophies: 3 (shared with Bob Paisley and Carlo Ancelotti)[342]