Zinédine Zidane revisits eight decades of sport and reflects on a life shaped by others | OneFootball

Zinédine Zidane has helped mark an 80th anniversary by revisiting eight decades of sport through a vast photo archive. The 1998 World Cup winner, now 53, reflected on his life, career and childhood memories.

According to L'Équipe, he visited the newspaper’s headquarters in December and headed to an area where a replica France Football Ballon d’Or lights the entrance. He lifted it, noting his own felt lighter, then said the World Cup eclipsed everything.

The original idea was to appoint him guest editor for the milestone. He declined, saying he was not yet looking to run a newsroom.

Instead he became the project’s principal witness, curating a Hall of Fame from more than 13 million images. He chose athletes, moments, friends and even journalists who inspired him, so many that extra pictures ran on a big screen.

He described himself as a visual person who needs to see and absorb pictures, and said the images endure. Taking the collection as a whole, the boy from La Castellane felt lucky and proud, but credited educators, coaches, team-mates, presidents and friends across more than 40 years.

He spent nearly two hours wandering the displays, revisiting childhood, adolescence and his playing days. A portrait of Thierry Gilardi left him red-eyed, the front page announcing Ayrton Senna’s death moved him, and a shot with Rafael Nadal and the Olympic flame rekindled Paris 2024’s magic.

Source: L'Équipe