How many World Cups did Zinedine Zidane win? France icon’s record explored

07/09/2022 07:00 PM

Zinedine Zidane was one of Football’s greatest-ever midfielders and helped France win the World Cup, but what tournaments did he play in and how many did he win with Les Bleus?

The Marseille-born maestro excelled at making the sublime look ordinary across a 17 year playing career, before becoming a majorly successful manager. Zidane mastered the basics of his role like no one else, and had the discipline to double attacking duties with defence.

Simply put, Zizou did it all with fluidity and ease to his game as the Cannes product scored, created, beat opponents, won possession and led his sides. His once in a generation talent allowed the 1998 Ballon d’Or winner to caress the ball and ping passes in beautiful fashion.

Zidane’s astounding skill also saw Fifa name him their World Player of the Year three times in 1998, 2000 and 2003. Only Brazil great Ronaldo Nazario won the award given from 1991 to 2009 as often. Fifa have also since hailed Zidane as the Men’s Coach of the Year in 2017.

The iconic creator merited individual honours for his efforts at multiple sides in his playing and coaching careers. As a player, he won two Serie A titles for Juventus, before lifting one La Liga and a Champions League with Real Madrid. He also helped France win Euro 2000.

And since stepping across the touchline for a seat in the dugout, Zidane has been a hugely successful coach. The 50-year-old led Real Madrid to Champions League glory in 2016, ‘17 and ‘18 along with La Liga titles in ‘17 and 2020 after returning for a second spell in charge.

Such was Zidane’s success with Los Blancos that Paris Saint-Germain sought to hire him as Mauricio Pochettino’s successor in 2022. But RMC Sport note Zizou snubbed the offer for every chance of replacing Didier Deschamps as France boss after the 2022 World Cup.

Les Bleus will arrive in Qatar for the tournament as the defending champions after winning at Russia 2018. It marked their second World Cup title and first since Zidane fired France to global glory in 1998 – so which other editions did the legendary one-time winner play in?

Zinedine Zidane played in first World Cup as France secured 1998 title win

Zidane played in his first World Cup as France went on to win the 1998 edition they hosted after two tournaments away. Les Bleus had failed to qualify for the 1990 and 1994 editions in Italy and the USA, despite recording their previous joint-best finish with third during ‘86.

Zizou started his tournament in fine form by assisting Christophe Dugarry with a corner to open the scoring against South Africa. But in his second appearance, Referee Arturo Brizio Carter showed Zidane a straight red card for violent conduct in a 4-0 rout of Saudi Arabia.

The suspension kept him from Les Bleus’ final group stage win against Denmark and last 16 victory over Paraguay. Zidane then returned and played all 210 minutes in the quarter- and semi-finals with Italy and Croatia, before scoring twice in the final to help beat Brazil 3-0.

Zidane headed each of his goals past Claudio Taffarel at the Stade de France to give France a two-goal lead. He first broke the deadlock by meeting Emmanuel Petit’s corner delivery after 27 minutes, before later meeting Youri Djorkaeff’s corner on the stroke of half-time.

Zinedine Zidane unable to help France avoid defending World Cup horrors

Winning the World Cup in 1998 awarded Zidane and France immediate entry into the 2002 edition South Korea and Japan joint-hosted. But the midfielder could not help his country avoid the horrors of exiting a competition in the group stage as the defending champions.

Les Bleus lost two of their three games with Senegal and Denmark taking all three points in their meetings. Zidane only played in France’s 2-0 defeat to Denmark, whilst also watching a goalless draw with Uruguay on the bench as an unused substitute under Roger Lemerre.

Zinedine Zidane endured World Cup heartache in final edition he played in

France would produce an unbeaten qualifying campaign to head to the 2006 World Cup in Germany for what would be the last edition Zidane played in. Les Bleus did not lose during regular-time at the tournament, either, but they suffered heartache in the final against Italy.

Zidane captained France at the 2006 World Cup in search of a second win, but marked his first two appearances in draws with Switzerland and South Korea with yellow cards. They ruled him out of a 2-0 win over Togo, which only saw Zizou return in spectacular fashion.

France had trudged their way through the group stage, but Zidane kicked their tournament into life against Spain. He was the bright spark in the last 16 and came up clutch to prevent extra-time, following Franck Ribery pulling their nation level following David Villa’s opener.

Zidane’s cross found Patrick Vieira to put France ahead in the 83rd-minute before beating Iker Casillas in the 90th-minute. He preyed on Spain breaking forward in search of a winner and then desperation for a late equaliser with a superb solo goal to inspire his teammates.

It was again on Zidane’s shoulders to send France to the World Cup final in a 1-0 win over Portugal in the semi-final. This time, he struck from the penalty spot, and would again put his name on the scoresheet in the final from 12-yards out to break the deadlock in Berlin.

But heartache would follow for France and Zidane. Marco Materazzi drew the Azzurri level 12 minutes on from the midfielder’s opener and no further goals forced extra-time. There, chaos ensued as Zidane saw red for headbutting Materazzi, before Italy won on penalties.

“I wasn’t expecting it, but frankly that was what saved me,” Materazzi said of the incident, later in 2020, via Football Italia. “If I’d seen it coming, we both would’ve ended up in the dressing room early. I was marking him closely, I kept apologising when he’d react badly.

“The third time, I let go. He said to me: ‘If you want, you can have my shirt afterwards.’ I told him I’d prefer his sister.”

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