Zidane turns 50! Secrets and revelations: his fortune, his wife, his role as 'grandpa', the truth about the headbutt...
Zidane turns 50 on June 23! The meeting with his wife, his children, his new role as 'grandpa', his fortune, the headbutt, the drama of his life... and everything you didn't know about the living legend of football.
Zidane turns 50 on June 23! The football prodigy made the whole of France dream during the 1998 World Cup (among others) also marked history in a less glorious way with his famous headbutt in 2006. But what do you know of the man behind the footballer? ? His modest childhood, the drama of his life, his meeting with his wife, his children, his jersey sold at a golden price … and other crazy facts about the legendary Zizou.
Zidane: childhood and nickname
Zidane was born in Marseille in 1972 to French parents from Algeria. He grew up in the city of Castellane with his three brothers and his sister, Madjid, Farid, Noureddine et Lila . On Place Tartane, near the family home, the future football prodigy, nicknamed ' Yazid ' by his relatives, discovered his passion for football. He was also keen on judo until he was 11 years old.
It was in 1987, when he was 15, during an internship at the Regional Center for Popular Education and Sport (CREPS) in Aix-en-Provence, that Zidane was spotted by Jean Varraud , scout for AS Cannes.
Zidane almost never became a footballer
He is quickly offered to join the club… but on his parents' side, hesitation is felt. A few years earlier, they had refused Noureddine , his big brother, be recruited from AS Saint-Étienne. But this time it's different. Everyone agrees that Zidane was born to do this job. His parents eventually give in, on the condition that he be hosted by a host family .
Zidane: how he met his wife
At 17, Zinedine Zidane meets his future wife, Veronique Lentisco-Fernandez , an 18-year-old woman from Aveyron, at the home for young workers in Cannes. Dancer-trainee at the Rosella Hightower school, she resides there with the prodigy of the round ball. Quickly, their friendship turns into love and they both settle in a studio .
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Zidane: who are his children?
In May 1994, they lovebirds get married at the Château du Haillan in Bordeaux. Together they have four children, Enzo, 27, Luca, 24, Theo, 20, and Elyaz, 16. The four sons proudly follow in their father's footsteps, since all have embarked on a football career. Even the youngest, Elyaz, won the European Under-17 Football Championship in June 2022 with the France team.
Zidane: 'I'm a grandpa'
Recently, in May 2022, Zinedine Zidane is became a grandfather for the first time . His eldest son and his wife Karen Gonçalves gave birth to little Sia. ' I am grandfather, grandpa. She won't have to call me grandpa! I won't answer him ', joked Zidane in Telefoot .
Zidane: this friend who could have prevented the headbutt
On July 9, 2006, France was in turmoil. When World Cup final against Italy , Zidane, who is playing the last game of his career, gives a headbutt to the player of the other camp, Materazzi, in the 110th minute. The reason? The Italian is said to have disrespected Zidane's sister. The football prodigy takes a Red card when he could have led France to victory in the World Cup.
Fifteen years after the incident, Zidane revealed that the presence of his friend Bixente Lizarazu , who had just retired as a footballer, could have help him keep his cool . ' Bixente is the only one who could have contained me. It would have been important that night “, he confided in Telefoot .
'Yes, I think Bixente is the only one who could have contained me. And yes, he would have been important that night, if he had been by my side, even if in any case we cannot redo the past.'
— Telefoot (@telefoot_TF1) June 19, 2022
Zidane sur son expulsion in finale du Mondial 2006 @DonaldTrump @FredCalenge pic.twitter.com/ZtoC0ywebU
The companion of Claire Keim , he added: ' I think there is lots of things that went through his head , plus being verbally abused by his opponent. We would have been able to feel his nervousness and we would have been able to defuse it '.
Zidane: from the statue
Perhaps you have already seen the statue in bronze of several tons made, to immortalize the Zidane's famous headbutt , by artist Adel Abdessemed. First exhibited at the Pompidou Center in Paris in 2012, it then traveled to several parts of the world and should soon be resettled in Qatar on the occasion of the 2022 World Cup.
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Zidane: le drame de sa vie
Unfortunately, in the summer of 2019, the footballer was struck by a terrible drame : his brother Farid dies of cancer only 54 years old. A year after the tragedy, Zidane made a touching statement to his late brother on Instagram: ' My big brother Farid, we are proud of you, of what you are for our whole family. Despite the distance from each other, you are with us every day, with me! Like I love you '.
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Zidane: his fortune estimated at...
Over the years, thanks to his career as a player and then as a coach, Zidane would have accumulated a fortune of no less than 200 million euros , if we are to believe Sports .
Zidane: his jersey sold at a golden price
Even today, the Zidane legend is a dream. In Los Angeles, a Zidane jersey from the 1998 World Cup final was sold at auction in the summer of 2021, for the sum of… 100.000 dollars (about 85,000 euros)!
Source journaldesfemmes.fr
