Zidane Essay, Research Paper

Zinedine Zidane is a French soccer player. He is best known as the man who scored the winning goal for France in the World Cup in 1998

Zinedine Zidane was born on the 23rd of june 1972. He was born in the beautiful french town of Marseille. His father was a Algerian watchman and his mother of French origin. He enjoyed playing football and had made a habit of breaking the chandeliers in his home in marseille. He spent all his time playing with a ball and would never stop. He went to school in the Castellane area. Whenever he came back from school, he would throw his schoolbag away to go and play football with his friends. He didn’t do very well at school. Football was the only thing that mattered to him. He also liked judo but football was what he preferred. He’s a really nice and hard-working person. As a kid, he liked to be pampered. He was a capricious child but it was his only flaw apart from the fact that he wouldn’t work at school. Going to school was not among his priorities, he was too busy chasing after girls! But since he has been playing in Cannes, Bordeaux and Torino, he’s grown wiser and seems perfect to his familly team mates and friends. He’s a very family-oriented person and he spends time with his familly whenever he can.

Zidane is the nearest thing yet to true successor to Michel Platini at Juventus and in the French team. Extremely gifted ball player with a deceptively light touch for a big man. Although he has won two Serie A titles, a world club title and the European Super Cup with Juventus, he has been on the losing team in three European finals — with Bordeaux in the UEFA Cup in 1996 and with Juventus in the European Cup finals in 1997 and 1998. Began professional career with Cannes (scoring 6 goals in 61 league appearances) before moving to Bordeaux when Cannes were relegated to the second division in 1992. Made his French international debut versus the Czech Republic in August ‘94, scoring two goals in 17 minutes. Shortly before Euro 96 he moved to Juventus, and like Platini before him, Zidane struggled in his first months with the big Italian club before settling down to become a key element in the Juve side. In 1998, France hosted the 16th World Cup for soccer. The French team were given an outside chance of winning but to everyone’s surprise they made it through to the finals. In the final, France faced a head on clash with the defending World Champions, Brazil. Zinedine Zidane’s two headers stunned Brazil in the first half of their championship match on July 12 at the Stade de France just outside Paris. These goals gave the French a 2-0 lead. A third goal was added by the team in the second half to win. the French team had beaten the strongest team in the world!

Just reccently he lead france to victory in the UEFA 2000 championship.1

A purist?s dream, Zidane can illuminate any game with his velvet touch and explosive shooting. He was confirmed as one of the truly great playmakers of the modern game when named World Player of the Year after leading the French team to victory in the 1998 World Cup.

Zidane now lives with his wife Veronica and his two sons Enzo ( named after his soccer idol ) and new born Luca. His favorite team is Olympic Marseille and his best friend is fellow team mate Dugarry. They occupy resorts together . He is self admittedly shy and is a very warm and friendly person. He loves the sea and spent his last summer holidays sailing off the

Mediterranean shores of Greece and Turkey. He was one of the players who took part in the recent UNICEF child victims of war campaign, adding his voice to a charity record. His favourite supermodel is Laetitia Casta.

Bibliography

encarta 2000