Enzo Zidane, the Brazilian namesake who carried a family’s World Cup hope | OneFootball

In Brazil, football-inspired names are everywhere. Among those registered as Zidane is Enzo Zidane from Macapa by the Amazon, who once chased a professional career and, now a father to a daughter, has put it on hold.

L'Équipe notes that Brazil’s flexible registry has produced names from Michael Jackson to Deus, and IBGE data lists 2,443 Neymars, 363 Messis, 187 Ronaldinhos, 121 Kakas and 711 people called Zidane.

He turns 21 on 31 March. His father, Everton, a former pro now sporting director at Ypiranga, chose the name still stung by Zidane’s two goals in 1998, hoping his son might one day bring the World Cup back to Brazil.

Everton initially wanted Zinedine Everton Zidane, but his wife preferred Enzo, taken from a celebrity couple’s son. Only later did they realise it was also the name of Zidane’s eldest child.

At school he went by Enzo, on the pitch he was known as Zidane. He says no one mocked him, that the Frenchman is respected in Brazil despite 1998, and he likes carrying the name.

He copied where he could, wearing number 21 as at Juventus, favouring Adidas Predator boots and perfecting the roulette often dubbed a Zidane in Brazil after hundreds of YouTube clips.

Eight months at Goias’s academy were not enough to turn professional or leave Amapa. His father still believes and talks up the youngest son, Eric Van Basten, as richly gifted.

Source: L'Équipe