French star of 1998 FIFA World Cup

The FIFA world cup 1998’s best player of the award was won by Zinedine Yazid Zidane scoring two goals againt Brazil, making it a 3-0 win for France in 1998 world cup final. It was the first world cup for the Zidane in which he participated, the tournament was held in his home country.

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There was something different that year, France won all the three matches in their respective group against South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Paraguay. Zidane played a supportive role in accomplishing the required goals against the rival squad. In the initial match with the South Africa, Zidane set up the ball for Christophe Dugarry from the corner and also helping out to the Thierry Henry’s opening goal in the second match against Saudi Arabia. In the second match, Zidane was sent off to the stands as he stamped on a Saudi player for which he was given the red card, making him the first French player to get red card in world cup finals match. However, without the support of Zidane France somehow managed to win by 1-0 against Paraguay. When Zidane returned to the side, Freance defeated Italy by 4-3 on penalties after a goalless draw between the two teams in the quarter- finals with zidane setting up the first spot kick in the shootout. Then, France defeated Croatia by 2-1 in the semi-finals. Despite, Zidane played a reassuring role for the squad, yet he hadn’t scored a goal till the semi-finals of the world cup 1998. Zidane and his squad went to play against the defending champions Brazil at Stade de France in the FIFA World Cup Final 1998.

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From the starting itself, France dominated Brazil with Zidane scoring similar goals twice, both headers set by Emmanuel Petit and Youri Djorkaeff respectively. France went into the half time break with 2-0 getting close to their golden trophy.

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Petit added a third goal to the one sided match towards the France squad sealing it to the 3-0 win and making the history for France’s first world cup. While everyone was celebrating the win of French men, Zidane become an instant national star and received the Legion of Honour later that year. Zidane was awarded as the player of the year in FIFA’s World Cup 1998. Later Zidane played tournaments in 2000-2006 for his squad and clubs. In September 2010, Qatar’s world cup 2022 bid committee announced Zidane as the ambassador for the 2022 World cup. Since Zidane retired, he has regularly played for the club Real Madrid Veterans team. In 2008, Zidane made a statement stated the he wants to return to the football but he has no immediate plans to it. On June 2009 after Florentino Perez was made the President second time of Real Madrid, Zidane was announced as the advisor. The advisor Zidane along with the general director Jorge Valdano and sporting director Miquel Pardeza were to be the key decision makers on the sporting side of the club. After the 2010 world cup, Zidane said that he hasn’t thought of going into coaching any time. In December 2010, when the announcement was made that Qatar will be hosting FIFA World Cup 2022, Zidane was happy with the decision. Zidane said “I was saying that football belonged to the whole world. I’m proud to have made my contribution to a new country getting the World Cup. Qatar and the entire Middle East as a whole deserves this event and that make me happy. It's a victory for the Arab world." Zidane has supported only two Olympic bids for Paris- the 2012 summer Olympics which was won by the London and later Paris bid for the summer Olympics 2024 and it will be hosting th 2024 summer Paralympics.

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Zidane has successfully established himself as one of the greatest coach of all time and in the history of his club Real Madrid. Some considered Zidane’s time in Real Madrid as the luck to him. Zidane’s tactical philosophy and flexibility both have been appreciated by many people. Zidane coaching method of forming flexibility and attacking football has been appreciated by many and compared to Carlo Ancelotti’s coaching method. Setting up the in game substitude by Zidane is fabulous which has led to many wins to the French squad. Such as Zidane introduced Marco Asensio and Lucas Vázquez in order to provide pace to the squad during the in game match against PSG in UEFA Champions League to turn over the match from a 1-0 defeat to 3-1 win against PSG. Similarly, Zidane introduced Gareth Bale was introduced in the UEFA Champions League Final 2018. It is noted that Zidane’s team focuses more on attacking by flanks. Zidane emphasised the importance of players' physical levels and preferred to choose impactful players over a defined system