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60 free Zinedine Zidane trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Zinedine Zidane scored two headers in a World Cup final, hit the greatest volley in Champions League history, ended his playing career with a headbutt, and then became the only coach ever to win three Champions Leagues in a row. This quiz covers all of it: his childhood in a tough Marseille estate, the years at Cannes, Bordeaux and Juventus, the world-record move to Real Madrid, France's triumphs at the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, the drama of Berlin 2006, and his second life on the touchline. It is written for football fans who grew up watching Zizou and younger fans who know him from the highlight reels. The first questions are ones any supporter should get; later ones dig into transfer fees, red cards, charity matches and the details of his coaching trophies. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's article on Zidane, and each question carries the sentence that supports it.
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Q 01By what nickname is Zinedine Zidane popularly known?
Zizou
Fans chanted it in the Place de la Concorde even after his 2006 red card.
Q 02In which French city was Zidane born?
Marseille
He grew up in La Castellane, a housing estate in the city's northern districts notorious for crime and unemployment.
Q 03Zidane's parents emigrated to France from which country?
Algeria
They came from the Berber-speaking region of Kabylia in 1953, before the start of the Algerian War.
Q 04At which club did Zidane make his professional debut in 1989?
Cannes
He went for a six-week stay and ended up spending four years there; the chairman gave him a car when he scored his first goal.
Q 05How was Zidane rewarded by his first club's chairman for scoring his first professional goal in 1991?
He was given a car
Alain Pedretti had promised him one the day he scored, and delivered at the players' party after the match.
Q 06Which English club reportedly turned Zidane down in 1996 for a modest fee, saying he was not good enough?
Newcastle United
Blackburn's owner had already asked Kenny Dalglish, "Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?"
Q 07Which Italian club did Zidane join in 1996?
Juventus
He won two Serie A titles there and lost consecutive Champions League finals in 1997 and 1998.
Q 08Which forward did Zidane play just behind as the playmaker in Turin?
Alessandro Del Piero
Del Piero later said Zidane "had a unique ability to be a great and to be a team player".
Q 09Who beat Zidane's Turin side 3-1 in the 1997 Champions League final?
Borussia Dortmund
A year later Juve lost the final again, 1-0 to Real Madrid.
Q 10What was the approximate world-record fee Real Madrid paid for Zidane in 2001?
€77.5 million
Paid in instalments as 150 billion lire, it stood as the record for eight years until Real bought Cristiano Ronaldo.
Q 11Zidane's famous 2002 Champions League final winner was a volley against which club?
Bayer Leverkusen
He struck it with his weaker left foot from the edge of the box in a 2-1 win at Hampden Park.
Q 12How did Zidane strike his 2002 Champions League final volley?
With his weaker left
One writer described it as "Bruce Lee in slow motion while kung-fu chaos reigned around".
Q 13How many times was Zidane named FIFA World Player of the Year?
Three
The awards came in 1998, 2000 and 2003, a feat matched only by Ronaldo, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Q 21Which France coach persuaded Zidane to come out of international retirement in 2005?
Raymond Domenech
He returned alongside Thuram and Makélélé and was immediately reinstated as captain.
Q 22How did Zidane score France's goal in the 2006 World Cup final?
A Panenka-style penalty
The chip struck the crossbar and bounced just over the line, making him only the fourth player to score in two World Cup finals.
Q 23Which Italian defender did Zidane headbutt in the 2006 World Cup final?
Marco Materazzi
It later emerged the defender had insulted Zidane's sister; Zidane said he would "rather die than apologize".
Q 14In which year did Zidane win the Ballon d'Or?
1998
It came the same year he won the World Cup on home soil and the Legion of Honour.
Q 15How many goals did Zidane score in the 1998 World Cup final against Brazil?
Two
Both were headers from corners, taken by Emmanuel Petit and Youri Djorkaeff; Petit added a third in stoppage time.
Q 16Zidane's 1998 World Cup red card, the first for a Frenchman at a finals, came against which team?
Saudi Arabia
The stamp on Fuad Anwar cost him the round-of-16 game; he returned to score the first penalty in the shoot-out against Italy.
Q 17How did Zidane score the golden goal that beat Portugal in the Euro 2000 semi-final?
A penalty
He also curled in a free kick against Spain in the quarter-final and was named Player of the Tournament.
Q 18After Euro 2000, France was the first team to hold both the World Cup and Euros since which side?
West Germany in 1974
Zidane himself believes the tournament was the peak of his career.
Q 19What kept Zidane out of France's first two matches at the 2002 World Cup?
A thigh injury
France went out in the group stage without scoring, the worst showing by a defending champion in the tournament's history.
Q 20Which team knocked France out of Euro 2004, prompting Zidane's first retirement?
Greece
The surprise 1-0 loss came against the eventual champions.
Q 24In which city was the 2006 World Cup final played?
Berlin
Italy won the shoot-out 5-3 after Zidane's 110th-minute dismissal.
Q 25What did Zidane win the day after the 2006 World Cup final, despite his red card?
The Golden Ball as player of the tournament
Pep Guardiola wrote that Zidane exerted so much influence that "France are never disorganised".
Q 26How many red cards did Zidane receive in his career, by his own count?
Fourteen
He said twelve were the result of provocation, adding, "my passion, temper and blood made me react".
Q 27What punishment did FIFA give the already-retired Zidane for the 2006 headbutt?
Three days of community service with children
A three-match suspension would have been meaningless, so he served the ban through one of FIFA's humanitarian projects.
Q 28Which Cameroonian is the only other player sent off at two separate World Cup tournaments?
Rigobert Song
Zidane also tied Cafu's record for most cards received in World Cup matches, with six.
Q 29How many caps did Zidane win for France?
108
He retired as the fourth-most capped Frenchman, reaching 100 against Mexico in May 2006.
Q 30Zidane scored twice on his France debut in 1994 to rescue a 2-2 draw against which team?
Czech Republic
He came on as a substitute with France 2-0 down; a Cantona suspension soon opened up the playmaker role for him.