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Zinedine Zidane

Zinedine Yazid Zidane( born 23 June 1972), popularly nicknamed Zizou, is a French former football midfielder who played for four European clubs, including Juventus FC and Real Madrid. As a member and later captain of the French national team he participated in two World Cup finals - including winning the tournament in 1998 - and in three European Championships, winning that tournament in 2000.

Having gained fame in Europe as a playmaker for Juventus, Zidane attracted worldwide attention in the 1998 World Cup final with two headed goals against Brazil which won his country its first FIFA World Cup. He also contributed to France's victory in Euro 2000, and at the club level he went on to win domestic championships in Italy and Spain with Juventus and Real Madrid respectively. In the final of the 2001-02 UEFA Champions League he scored the winning goal for Real Madrid. At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he was named "Most Outstanding Player" of the tournament, receiving the Golden Ball, captaining the French side that reached the final. However, Zidane's career ended in controversy as he was dismissed in extra-time of the 2006 Final for headbutting Italian defender Marco Materazzi.

Zidane was elected FIFA World Player of the Year a record-equalling three times (1998, 2000, 2003), finished in the top-three an additional three times (1997, 2002, 2006). He was also named European Footballer of the Year in 1998. The world-record fee of €66 million (US$87 million, £47 million) for his transfer to Real Madrid in 2001 is the highest ever paid. In 2004, he topped the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll as the "Best European football player of the past 50 years", and was included in the FIFA 100, Pelé's list of the 125 greatest living footballers.

As originally announced on 25 April 2006, Zidane retired from professional football after the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

In the closing minutes of France's second match of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, against South Korea, Zidane received a yellow card for pushing a Korean defender, his second booking of the tournament. As a result, he was suspended from the third and final match of the group stage. France nonetheless beat Togo 2-0, allowing Zidane to play in the knockout stage, from which he would score or assist in every match afterwards. He returned to the pitch in the Round of the 16th match against Spain. Zidane set up Patrick Vieira for the second goal by sending a free kick into the penalty area. He scored a wonderful goal against Spain in the 91st minute after going down the left wing then firing the ball past Casillas.

The win sent France into a quarter-final against defending champions Brazil, in a rematch of the 1998 final. Zidane's set piece free-kick led to a goal by Thierry Henry, who was unmarked, giving France a 1-0 win over the Seleção. He was named Man of the Match by FIFA's Technical Study Group. In the semi-final against Portugal four days later, Zidane scored a penalty kick against Ricardo for the only goal of the match and saw France through to the final against Italy.

On 9 July, Zidane played his second World Cup final—his final game—and scored in the 7th minute from the penalty spot with a chip shot that hit the crossbar before narrowly bouncing behind the goal line, and then bouncing out again. He became one of only four footballers to achieve the feat of scoring in two different World Cup finals, sharing the honour with Pelé, Paul Breitner, and Vavá. This goal also made him one of the top goalscorers in World Cup final matches, with 3 goals, tied for first place with Vavá, Geoff Hurst and Pelé. He was sent off in the 110th minute, and thus did not participate in the penalty shootout which Italy won 5-3. Despite the subsequent controversy over his offence in the final, Zidane was awarded the Golden Ball as Best Player in the 2006 World Cup.