Zinedine Yazid Zidane

Zinedine Yazid Zidane (born 23 June 1972 in Marseille, France) is widely as the greatest player of all time, along with Pele and Maradona. Nicknamely he is called Zizou, Zidane was a former French football player of Kabyle ethnicity, whose parents immigrated to France from Algeria. Zidane starred for both the French national team and four European club teams, concluding with Real Madrid, during an eighteen-year career in which he was listed as one of the greatest players in football history. Zidane's name is of Arabic origin (Algerian Arabic: Zīn ad-Dīn Yazīd Zīdān, Arabic: زين الدين يزيد زيدان‎, transliteration: Zayn-u-Dīn Yazīd Zaydān). Zinédine translates to "the beauty of the religion" (Arabic Zayn-u-Dīn—from zayn, "beauty", and dīn, "religion; faith"). Yazid is a boy's name, sometimes spelled Yazeed (Arabic Yazīd, "one who increases, becoming greater"). Zidane is expressing the overabundance of something that the bearer of name is said to possess, such as talent (Arabic Zaydān—from zayd, "overabundant", and an, "two"). The nickname Zizou was given to Zidane by coach Rolland Courbis while Zidane played for Girondins de Bordeaux. Yaz is the nickname given to him by his brothers and used by his family and close friends
In the 1998 World Cup final, Zidane attracted international attention with two headed goals against Brazil that won his country's first ever FIFA World Cup title. He contributed to his teams' victories in the Euro 2000, the UEFA Champions League, and domestic championships in Italy and Spain.
Zidane was elected FIFA World Player of the Year a record-equalling three times (1998, 2000, 2003) and was named European Footballer of the Year in 1998. The world-record fee of € 66 million for his transfer to Real Madrid in 2001 remains unparalleled. In 2004, he topped the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll on 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, here Pele named Zidane as his favourite player of all time. At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he played an inspiring role in his team's advancement to the final and was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, receiving the FIFA World Cup award 'Golden Ball'. Thus, he is widely regarded as one of the best players of all time, on par with the likes of Diego Maradona and Pele.
As announced on 25 April 2006,[2] Zidane retired from football after the 2006 World Cup Final on 9 July 2006.
He was also voted second best player in the FIFA World Player of the Year 2006 award finishing after World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro and ahead of Brazilian ace Ronaldinho.

Professional clubs
AS canes (1988-1992) apps(goal) 61(13)
Girondins de bordeaux(1992-1996)apps(goal)159(38)
Juventus(1992-2001)apps(goal)191(47)
Real Madrid(2001-2006)aps(goal)197(72)

Honours
UEFA Club Football Awards, Best Midfielder: 1997-98
World Soccer Player of the Year: 1998
FIFA World Player of the Year: 1998, 2000, 2003
FIFA Silver World Player of the Year: 2006
FIFA Bronze World Player of the Year: 1997, 2002
European Footballer of the Year (Ballon d'Or): 1998
UEFA Champions League Most Valuable Player: 2001-02
UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll (Best European player of the past 50 years): 2004
FIFA World Cup Golden Ball Award: 2006
FIFPro World XI Team: 2005, 2006
Onze d'Or:1998,2000,2001
UEFA European Championship Most Valuable player:2000
FIFA All-Star Team:1998,2006

With France
FIFA World Cup
Winner: 1998
Runner Up: 2006
Appearances: 1998, 2002, 2006
European Championship
Winner: 2000
Appearances: 1996, 2000, 2004

Club team

With Girondins de Bordeaux
UEFA Cup runners up: 1995/1996
UEFA Intertoto Cup:1995
With Juventus F.C.:
Italian League - Serie A champions (scudetto): 1996/1997, 1997/1998
European Super Cup: 1996
Intercontinental Cup: 1996
Italian Super Cup: 1997
UEFA Champions League runners up: 1996/1997, 1997/1998
With Real Madrid:
Spanish Super Cup: 2001, 2003
UEFA Champions League: 2001/2002
Intercontinental Cup: 2002
Spanish League - La Liga champions: 2002/2003
European Super Cup: 2002

Personal honours:
Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur: since 1998
Torchbearer for the 2004 Summer Olympics
Prince of Asturias Awards nomination in the Sports category, 2006.