Zinedine is not Zidane’s first name among his family and those close to him. In private, they call it differently…
“Zizou” is the best known, “ZZ” is also used regularly… We have all already called Zidane, the former legend of the French team and the Spanish club Real Madrid, by affectionate nicknames. The nicknames of great athletes are commonplace and often reinforce their popularity. But it happens that in the private circle, other pet names are used. And if many know Zidane under the first name of Zinedine, his family decided to use another first name, completely different.
Since he was very young, the number 10 of the France team has not been called Zinedine by members of his family, but rather by his middle name: Yazid. His childhood friends and some of his closest teammates like Christophe Dugarry, in the cult report “Les Yeux dans les Bleus”, also prefer to call him that way.
As we discover in the player’s biography, it was Zidane himself who asked his parents to call him Yazid instead of Zinedine when he grew up. Perhaps because of its meaning, because in Arabic, Yazid means “to grow”, “to increase”.
A documentary broadcast on L’Equipe a few years ago and retracing Zidane’s journey was also titled using this middle name that few in the general public know: “Zinedine Zidane, his name is Yazid. It is in this report that the world champion discusses this subject. We also learn that his wife Véronique uses a third first name in private: “At home, they call me Yazid, in football it’s Zizou, and with my wife it’s Yaz.”
Zinedine Zidane’s former coach, Roland Courbis, explained that the most talented footballer of the last 25 years did not like being called Zinedine and that it is thanks to him that everyone nicknames him Zizou. “On the sidelines, there was no question of me calling him Zi-né-di-ne. There was Yazid, but I didn’t like it very much… I prefer it when a nickname triggers a certain affection. Without doing it on purpose, I called him Zizou and it stuck. I am very proud of it and he is very happy with it.”he explained.
With the announcement of the departure of Didier Deschamps at the head of the France team, Zinédine Zidane returns to the heart of the news and debates to take over the head of the Blues in 2026, the date of the end of his former teammate’s contract .