5 responses to “Is Zinedine Zidane too controversial a topic for a french oral?”

• 

  B-Man January 3rd, 2010 at 00:34

  True he did head butt someone last World Cup but man he is the David Beckham of France they have to forgive him sometime. He is a legend so if you want to do that then I say go ahead.

• 

  CollegeFootballFan January 3rd, 2010 at 01:30

  Zinedine Zidane became known after his famous headbutt during the world cup final to everyone that doesn’t follow soccer. But for those that are familiar with the sport, Zidane has been one of the best players of all time and the best French player in the history of the sport. He led France to their only world cup title in 1998.

• 

  karoni_rain23 January 3rd, 2010 at 01:54

  No it is a shame that he did that headbutt but after what came out about what the Italian player said to him to get him to do that many have forgiven him. It was a stupid move but he is still one of the most recongnizable soccer players on the planet and a complete soccer superstar. It would be like American kids not doing a report on Michael Jordan because he got into some gambling and infedelity on his wife. Both are bad and wrong but it doesn’t change the fact that he is one of if not the best ever in his sport just like Zidane is. Go for it! I’m sure it will be easy to find info on him and make it easier to report.

  A lil background on him personally. Zidane was born in Marseille on 23 June 1972 as the youngest of five children, and was raised in La Castellane, a government-sponsored housing project (cité HLM) in the city’s northern suburbs (the Quartier Nord). His parents, Ismail and Malika are Berbers (Kabyle) from the village of Aguemone, Algeria, from where they immigrated to France. In 1993, Zidane married Véronique Zidane (born Lentisco), a former French dancer of Spanish origin whose parents live in Rodez, Aveyron, France. They have four sons: Enzo (born 24 March 1995 and named after the Uruguayan Football player Enzo Francescoli, Zidane’s childhood hero,), Luca (born May 13th,1998), Théo (May 18th ‘02), and Élyaz (born Dec. 26th ‘06)
  As far as soccer goes, Zidane got his start in football at a young age when he joined the junior team of US Saint-Henri, his local club in the La Castellane district of Marseille. At the age of 14, Zidane left Septemes and participated in the first year junior selection for the league championship, where Jean Varraud, AS Cannes’ recruiter, took notice of him. Zidane went to Cannes for what was intended to be a six-week stay, but remained at the club for four years to play with professionals. Showing the determination of an athlete who wanted to exceed expectations, Zidane played his first game in First Division at the age of 17, and it was from then that football went from an ambition to a passion. The Cannes midfielder scored his first goal on 8 February 1991 (he received a Clio as a promise from the Cannes President, who promised him a car when he scored his first goal as a professional), and his first season with the club was marked by a qualification for the UEFA Cup. Zidane’s second season with Cannes was not as promising. During this time he met his future wife Veronique, a Spanish dancer.[9] Afterwards, Zidane spent four years with FC Girondins de Bordeaux, leading them to victory in the 1995 Intertoto Cup and 2nd place in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup tournament. In Bordeaux, he met Bixente Lizarazu and Christophe Dugarry, with whom he played a set of midfield combinations that would become the trademark of both Bordeaux and the 1998 French national team. In 1996, he was transferred to Italy’s Juventus F.C. for a fee of £ 3 million.

  Internationally with soccer Zidane holds dual citizenship of both France and Algeria, and therefore could have played for Algeria. However, coach Abdelhamid Kermali denied him a position on the team, arguing that the young midfielder was not fast enough.This rumor was dismissed by Zidane himself though, saying it was not possible for it to happen as he had already played for France before.

  He earned his first cap with the French national football team on 17 August 1994, coming on as a substitute in the 63rd minute of a friendly match against the Czech Republic. France was behind 0-2 when Zidane came on and scored two goals for a 2-2 draw.

  European Footballer of the Year (Ballon d’Or) awarded to Zidane in 1998At that time, manager Aimé Jacquet had planned to position the team’s formation around Manchester United star Éric Cantona, but after Cantona earned a year long suspension in January of 1995 (he launched a ‘kung-fu’ style kick against an allegedly abusive Crystal Palace fan, Matthew Simmons), Jacquet rearranged the team and positioned Zidane as playmaker. Despite criticism from fans and pundits regarding the choice of players, France made it to the semi-finals of the Euro 1996, where the Czechs beat France on 6-5 on penalties (0-0 after extra time).

  Zidane was a member of the French national football team that won the 1998 FIFA World Cup. During France’s second match of the first round, he received a red card and a two-game suspension in a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia for stomping on Saudi Arabia’s team captain Fuad Amin. Reports from people close to Zidane stated that Amin had provoked him verbally. This incident was much like the incident to follow, in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. After scoring in the penalty shootout in the quarter-final against Italy, he scored his only other goals of the tournament in the final against Brazil; both goals were headers off corner kicks during the first half. France won the match 3-0 and obtained their first and only World Cup title.
  In the Euro 2000 tournament, Zidane helped his team reach the final with inspired play and important goals. He scored a direct free kick in the quarter-final match against Spain and a golden goal penalty in the semi-final match against Portugal. France went on to win the tournament by defeating Italy in the final, making it the first team in 26 years to hold both the World Cup and the European Cup (since Germany held both titles in 1974). Subsequently, his team was ranked 1st in the world.

  A thigh injury prevented Zidane from playing in France’s first two matches of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He rushed back from his injury to play in the third game, but could not perform at his usual level. France was eliminated in the first round without scoring a single goal, and the attempt at defending the World Cup title was unsuccessful.

  In the Euro 2004 tournament, Zidane and his team started strongly, and he scored a free kick and a penalty in a come-from-behind victory against England in the group stage. On 12 June 2004, after France was upset in the quarter-finals to the eventual winners, the Greek national football team, Zidane retired from international football.

  However, after France experienced problems in qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Zidane announced on 3 August 2005 that he was coming back to play for France and was reinstated as captain of the national team.He made his competitive return in the 3-0 FIFA World Cup qualifier win against the Faroe Islands on 3 September 2005, and France went on to win their qualifying group.

  On 25 April 2006, after an injury-plagued season at Real Madrid, Zidane announced that he would retire from professional football following the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany.

  On 27 May 2006, Zidane earned his 100th cap for France in a 1-0 victory over Mexico at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on the outskirts of Paris. It was his last match in the stadium, and he became the fourth French player after Marcel Desailly, Didier Deschamps and Lilian Thuram to earn a hundred national caps. He was substituted early in the second half.

  He has been awarded many honors. In 2004, Forbes magazine had named him the 42nd highest paid athlete in the world at earnings of US$15.8 million a year. Zidane is the President for Life for Nouvelle Vague,a club in Marseille coached by his brother Farid. In 2001, Zidane was appointed as the United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador for the fight against poverty. Since 2000, Zidane has been consistently voted one of the most popular French personalities in newspaper polls. He was voted most popular in 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2006, second most popular in 2005, and fourth most popular in 2001 and in 2002.

  In November 2006, Zidane toured Bangladesh as the guest of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.

  He has tons of sponsorships deals! The companies include Adidas, Lego, Danone, Arentrella, Generali, France Télécom, Orange, Audi, Ford and Christian Dior. Sponsorship deals like these earned him €8.6 million on top of his €6.4 million Real Madrid salary in the 2005-06 season, making him the sixth highest paid football player.

• 

  mguardian_north January 3rd, 2010 at 02:43

  I don’t think it’s too controversial. The head-butting is just one small part of his career. (He’s a Muslim. What do you expect?) Just don’t obsess with the head-butting.
  http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinedine_Zidane

• 

  Zizo Zidan2 January 3rd, 2010 at 03:17

  what you talking about. post soccer Question next team plz.

  Zizou Zidane is the best player not just in history soccer of France but in whole world he was play music by his foots not just kick it. take this song to know what means this name (Zidane) in soccer – A R T – M U S I C

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsgL35RCGcc

  btw: Zidane make all French Proud about their self he gave them Glory in Soccer (WC 1998) he better than Platini by far who failed to make France win WC FIFA.