"Seulement Zizou"
Zinedine Zidane
Real first name: Yazid (!)
DOB and POB: 23.6.72, Marseille. (I think)...and yes, as has been written 30 zillion times, he's the son of Algerian immigrants and his name means "beauty of the faith" in Berber, a language of northern Africa.
height and weight: 185 cm (about 6'1"), 80 kg (about 176 lb).
family: married Véronique* Fernandez, 29.5.94 (I think), two children, Enzo, aged 3, and Luca, born 13.5.98.
club team: Juventus of Turin, Italian Serie A.
position: midfielder.
Random information:
- His parents' names are Smail and Malika, and he is the youngest of five children, if my French serves me correctly. His siblings (I think two brothers and two sisters, not in that order as far as I know) are named Djamel, Favid, Nourredine (maybe the incorrect spelling) and Lila.**
- His son Enzo is named after his favorite soccer player, the Uruguayan Enzo Francescoli.
- According to the Mexican magazine "Tiro de Esquina," he sometimes wears a Francescoli jersey to bed. "Soccer Jr." wrote that Zizou got this jersey after his Juventus team played Francescoli's River Plate team in the Intercontinental Cup in December 1996.
- One of the bracelets he wears was made by his son.
- Before the World Cup final, he said he wasn't good with his head.
- When the players' heads were beamed onto the Arc de Triomph after the French victory, his face was up the longest.
- Son meilleur ami de l'Equipe de France est Christophe Dugarry.
- He made his professional debut at the age of 16 for Cannes.
- True to his roots, he prays towards Mecca at the appropriate times.
- France Football, Onze Mondial, and World Soccer readers named him player of the year.
Links:
My general shrine to balding French soccer players.
The main WrightGirl page
*= Since I read many Archie comics as a child, I hate the name Veronica, so I refuse to call Mme. Zidane by the English translation of her name.
**= I think knowing that counts as obsession, n'est ce pas?