Happy birthday Zizou!

CAIRO – 23 June 2017: Former spectacular midfielder and current head coach for Real Madrid, Zinedine Zidane turned 45 years old on Friday. Born in Marseille, the French international has had a tremendous career.

Nicknamed “Zizou” the attacking midfielder played for Cannes, Bordeaux, the France national team, Juventus and Real Madrid during his 91 goals and 93 assists club career. From winning the title of player of the year for the French league (Ligue 1) in 1996, Zidane continued to obtain accolades.

During his 462 appearances in his club career he was the UEFA best player of Europe with Juventus in 1998, won the La Liga title and the UEFA Champions League title with Real Madrid, two Italian league championships with Juventus and three Ballon d’Or awards between both teams, according to TansferMarkt.

In addition to the two UEFA Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup awards won with Juventus and Real Madrid, Zidane was named FIFA World Player of the year three times, in 1998, 2000 and 2003.

Meanwhile at the international level he played in 108 games and scored 31 goals among all the French national teams from the under 17 years of age (U17) team through the first team, achieving the 1998 FIFA World Cup champion status after he scored two goals. The triumph of the World Cup in 1998 would lead to him receiving the Legion d’honneur the same year. He would also win the UEFA Euro with France against Italy in 2000.

After retirement Zizou made a shift to coaching with strong titles to match. He started as an assistant in 2013 to Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, which proved to be a successful year as the team won the UEFA Champions League.

Zidane would then move to become the coach of Real Madrid’s B team, R.M. Castilla until January 2016 when he transitioned into head coach of Real Madrid’s first team. Since taking the title as head coach, Madrid has collected two Champions League titles, one Spanish League (La Liga) title, the UEFA Super Cup and the 2016 FIFA World Cup.

Real Madrid celebrated with their coach by posting a video on the club’s official Twitter account.

🎂🎉🎁
¡¡Muchísimas FELICIDADES a Zizou, que hoy cumple 45 años!!#HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/6DA5Ymd0ZI

— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) June 23, 2017