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Dream Team

Zinedine Zidane


Zinedine Zidane grew up as Yazid Zidane in the port of Marseille, a city shaped by migration. Ethnic variety has moulded the cultural face of the city and its football. Eric Di Meco, himself of Italian descent and the former president of Olympique Marseille, the first winners of the UEFA Champions League in 1993, once said: "There is a very strong feeling of identity between the inhabitants of Marseille and their club".

This is reflected not just in the anti-racist activities of the fans of different backgrounds, but also in the fact that Pape Diouf is as yet the first and only African president of a professional football club in Europe. The legendary Ahmed Ben Bella is another example, a man who played for OM in the French Cup Final in 1940 and 20 years later became the president of Algeria.

Amateur clubs such as AS Tunisiens or CS Algériens sprang up on arrival of immigrants from southern Italy in the 1930s and North African in the 1950s. Zidane became a symbolic figure for the latter, the Beurs. The city's multicultural identity also had a decisive influence on the cosmopolitan Zidane. As he never tires of stressing: "First and foremost I'm from Marseille, from La Castellane", the tough, concrete district where everything began for him as the son of Muslim Algerian immigrants. His surroundings made him ambitious, the basis for his success. If you are going to attract attention, do it through your performance: "Simplicity is the height of intelligence", says Zidane, the man who captained France to the World Cup title in 1998.

It took a while before he was able to control his pronounced feeling of injustice on the pitch. And in 2002, when the right-wing radical Le Pen stood for the presidency, he publicly opposed the candidacy. Zidane has never played for OM. But perhaps he will return to Marseille at the end of his active career.