Frank Thomas

Notable Sports Figures
Zinedine Zidane
join the Cannes junior soccer team at the age of 13. The
Cannes adult team was a prestigious, First Division team
at that time, and Zidane began playing in First Division
games with them when he was 17. In 1991, at the age of
18, he scored his first goal in a First Division game. As
the president of the Cannes club had promised, he gave
Zidane a car, a red Clio, for scoring that first goal.
Moving Up
The Cannes club had a good season that year, finishing
fourth in the rankings and qualifying for the Union
of European Football Associations (UEFA) Cup, but in
1992 the team finished so poorly that they were relegated
to the Second Division. Zidane and his wife,
Veronique, moved to Bordeaux and Zidane joined their
club. Zidane played for Bordeaux for four seasons. The
Bordeaux club was a solid if not an outstanding team in
those years. They qualified for the UEFA Cup every
year, and in 1996 they made it all the way to the finals,
where they lost to Bayern Munich in two games.
Zidane’s performance in Bordeaux brought him to
the attention of an Italian team, Juventus of Turin, which
recruited him after the 1995-96 season. With this team,
Zidane would finally become a champion. Under his
leadership Juventus won five titles in the next three
years. In 1998 Zidane’s role in these victories was honored
with two prestigious awards: the Golden Ball and
the “Player of the Year” designation by the Fédération
Chronology
1972 Born June 3 in Marseille, France
1986 Joins the Cannes junior team
1989 Plays in his first First Division soccer game
1991 Scores first goal in a First Division soccer game
1992 Signs a four-year contract with the Bordeaux team
1994 Begins playing for the French national team
1996 Bordeaux makes it the to Union of European Football
Associations Cup finals
1996 Signed by Juventus of Turin
1999 Becomes Christian Dior’s first male model
2001 Signs a record four-year, $68.6 million contract with Real
Madrid
Zidane
Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). As these
judges and others have noticed, Zidane has outstanding
ball-handling skills. He can spin 360 degrees while balancing
the soccer ball on top of his foot, a maneuver that
he often uses in games to avoid a tackler.
Cultural Impact
Zidane also became a hero in France for helping to
lead the French national team to victory in the World
Cup in 1998, for the first time in 68 years, and the Euro
Cup in 2000. His success was especially important to
other Beurs, as second-generation North Africans are
called in France. Zidane is one of the only Beurs to be
widely visible in French culture, which is often hostile
to Arab and other immigrants, and he is by far the most
successful one. Zidane’s influence has encouraged thousands
of young French Arabs to join soccer teams, and
Zidane even sponsors a team in his old neighborhood of
La Castellane himself.
In 1999 Zidane became arguably the sexiest man in
France when he became Christian Dior’s first male
model. To the very happily married Zidane (he kisses
his wedding ring as he steps onto the field at the beginning
of each match as a gesture of love to his wife and
their two sons), the sack loads of fan mail he receives
from women who appreciate his good looks and athletic
prowess have become a source of consternation. As John
Lichfield reported in the Independent, “‘Some say they
are in love with me,’ he told an interviewer, with touching
confusion, as if he was expected to reciprocate in
some way. ‘But I’m married.’”
Another Club, Another Country
Zidane became the best-paid soccer player in history
on June 9, 2001, when he signed a $68.6 million, fouryear
contract with Real Madrid, one of the strongest
clubs in the history of European soccer. He was given
the number five jersey, the number that had, until he retired
at the end of the 2000-01 season, belonged to Real
Madrid’s star Manuel Sanchez for 18 years. Real
Madrid’s fans expected the same level of stardom out of
Zidane, and he did not disappoint them. Less than a year
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