[7] The occasional violence that he would display throughout his career was shaped by an internal conflict of being an Algerian-Frenchman suspended between cultures, and surviving the tough streets of La Castellane where he grew up.

His imagination and his technique are amazing" After a series of stand out performances for both Bordeaux and France, Zidane had offers to join Europe's top clubs in the spring of 1996, deciding on a move to UEFA Champions League winners Juventus during the close season.

Juventus finished second in the 2000–01 Serie A, but were eliminated in the group stage of the Champions League, after Zidane was banned for head-butting Hamburger SV player Jochen Kientz.

[45] Zinedine Zidane, 18 yards out, watching and waiting, adjusts his body and, in one, smooth movement, pirouettes and catches it full on the volley with his left foot.

The next season, Zidane helped Real Madrid to win the 2002–03 La Liga, starring alongside Luís Figo in midfield, and was named the FIFA World Player of the Year for the third time.

[48] While Zidane's final season of club football ended without a trophy, he enjoyed success on a personal note by scoring his first hat-trick, against Sevilla, in a 4–2 win in January 2006.

[59] Without their playmaker, France proceeded to win 1–0 in the round of sixteen game against Paraguay and, on his return to the side, defeated Italy 4–3 on penalties after a goalless draw in the quarter-finals, with Zidane netting the first spot kick in the shoot-out.

France dominated Brazil from the kick-off, with Zidane scoring two similar goals, both headers from corner kicks taken by Emmanuel Petit and Youri Djorkaeff.

From the opening game against Denmark to the final against Italy, 'Zizou' shone brightly, casting a spell on his opponents with clever flicks, mesmerising stepovers, slaloming runs and masterful vision.

He was rushed back prematurely for the third game against Denmark, despite not being fully fit, but could not prevent France from losing 2–0, and being ignominiously eliminated in the group stage without scoring a single goal; the worst performance by a defending champion in the history of the competition.

With the mass retirement of veteran key players such as Bixente Lizarazu, Marcel Desailly, Claude Makélélé and Lilian Thuram, France struggled to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.

[91] Zidane's actions made headlines all over the world, while in France Le Figaro called his head-butt "odious", and the front page of L'Équipe asked, "What should we tell our children, for whom you have become an example for ever?

Upon his return to France, the Place de la Concorde in Paris was filled with thousands of fans waving flags and rhythmically chanting "Zizou!

[94] In 2010, Zidane said that he would "rather die than apologize" to Materazzi for the headbutt in the final,[95] but also admitted that he "could never have lived with himself" had he been allowed to remain on the pitch and help France win the match.

In 2015 he played in a futsal tournament in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, during which an opposition player received a yellow card to much amusement for taking an in-match selfie with Zidane.

He and Ronaldo, who collaborated in conceiving the yearly event to benefit the United Nations Development Programme, regularly captain their respective teams consisting of active footballers, other professional athletes and celebrities.

Part of a team that included the likes of Figo, Fernando Redondo and Manolo Sanchís, the fixture raised funds for the Manchester United Foundation.

"[119] In June 2018, Zidane reunited with his France 1998 World Cup winning teammates to play a charity game against an All-Star side which included Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.

"[125] While the official match report for Castilla's opening game in the Segunda División B lists Santiago Sánchez as the Los Blancos' head coach and Zidane as his assistant, Galán states, "This hierarchy only exists on paper.

The truth is the exact opposite: Zidane is acting as Real Madrid Castilla's head coach, while, with all due respect to him as a colleague, Mr Sánchez's role basically boils down to providing the badges.

"[125][126] On 4 January 2016, Real Madrid announced the dismissal of Rafael Benítez and on the same day Zidane was appointed the new head coach of the club on a two-and-a-half-year deal.

In his first El Clásico as a coach, held on 2 April at the Camp Nou, Zidane led his club to a 2–1 win over Barcelona, ending Barça's 39-match unbeaten run.

[149] On 31 May, five days after the Champions League final, Zidane announced his resignation as Real Madrid coach, citing the club's "need for change" as his rationale for departing.

[150][151] Following some poor results for Real Madrid in the months following Zidane's departure – culminating in elimination from the Copa del Rey at home to Barcelona, a league loss to the same opponent at the same venue which opened up a 12-point gap between the clubs, and an unexpected home 4–1 defeat to Ajax in the Champions League which brought the long run of success in that competition to an end, all within the space of a week – his former teammate Santiago Solari (who himself had only been in the post for five months, after Julen Lopetegui's equally brief spell in charge) was dismissed and Zidane returned as the Real Madrid head coach on 11 March 2019, on a contract until summer 2022.

[152][153] The 2019–20 season seemed a promising one, as Madrid went on a spending spree in the summer of 2019, signing Eden Hazard, Luka Jović, Éder Militão, Ferland Mendy, Rodrygo, Reinier and other players for a total of more than €350 million.

[154] After a three-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020, La Liga was restarted in June and Madrid won ten games in a row to capture the team's 34th league title, collecting 87 points in total.

[207][208][209][210] Zidane's tactical style, characterized by its formation flexibility and attacking football, as well as his ability to unite the dressing room, have been positively compared to Carlo Ancelotti's coaching method.

[221] Regarding his coaching role at Real Madrid, Zidane commented in 2018: "When you work with high-quality players, they know how to manage those periods of games when you’re not playing well, and they get things back on track very quickly.

[231] In 2012, French-Algerian artist Adel Abdessemed unveiled a bronze sculpture depicting Zidane's headbutt of Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup Final.

[232] On 5 November 2006, Zidane appeared in the American animated sitcom Family Guy, seen headbutting an old lady in the episode "Saving Private Brian" as a parody of his headbutt on Materazzi.