Sawt Falasteen - Zidane's long road leads back to France helm

The on-field architect of France's first World Cup triumph takes over the reins from Didier Deschamps, who captained the side in 1998 before coaching them to their second crown 20 years later.

The 54-year-old's appointment brings to an end the worst-kept secret in football -- that France wanted 'Zizou', as he's affectionately known in his homeland, and that the feeling was mutual.

"The France job was the only one I wanted," Zidane said after his unveiling in Paris.

"I've had offers over these four or five years to take charge of a club and I turned them all down for the French national team."

Born in 1972 to Algerian parents near the Mediterranean port of Marseille, few would have imagined the young boy known to his friends as Yazid, who spent his days kicking a ball around the rough La Castellane housing estate, would one day grow up to become the face of football in the country.

Yazid would come to be better known by his first name, Zinedine, and, after coming through the ranks at Cannes before joining Bordeaux, his impeccable close control, imperious vision and tenacity would attract the attention of then-France boss Aime Jacquet.

From that first international call-up aged 22 in August 1994, Zidane went on to write football history.

Just four years later, he had moved to Italian powerhouses Juventus and Jacquet handed him the No. 10 shirt for France as the country prepared to host the 1998 World Cup.

His two headers in the final at the Stade de France on July 12 ignited a new dawn in the country as the team dubbed 'Black-blanc-beur', in honour of the diverse ethnic make-up of its players, beat Brazil to win a first world title.

Euro 2000 glory and a then-world record transfer to Real Madrid, followed a year later by a stunning left-footed volley in the 2002 Champions League final which perfectly encapsulated the devastating beauty of Zidane's game, confirmed his status as one of the greats.

- 'Extraordinary' -

After announcing his retirement from international football in 2004, he returned to spearhead France's tilt at a second World Cup coronation in 2006, but it was not to be as he departed the field for the final time as a player following a red card for headbutting Italy's Marco Materazzi at that tournament's showpiece match.

But that defeat in Berlin did not mark the end of Zidane's footballing story.

Rarely loquacious during his days as a player, preferring to do his talking on the pitch, Zidane could have retired into a private bubble with his wife Veronique and four sons and kept his portfolio of various sponsorships ticking over as he enjoyed life from Madrid.

Instead, he decided to go back to school.

Zidane studied in Limoges, France, and obtained a diploma in sports management, before going on to qualify as a coach.

"I left school very early, so I had to prepare myself," he said.

Returning to Real Madrid, "the club of (his) life", he variously held the roles of advisor, sporting director, academy coach, assistant coach and eventually head coach.

At the helm of a Los Blancos side containing Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale, to name but a few of the stars at his disposal, Zidane guided the club to three consecutive Champions League titles between 2016 and 2018.

"You can't help but admire what he has done," Deschamps said after the 2018 final.

"Already as a player he was extraordinary. He's had a second life as a coach and he is now an extraordinary coach."

Zidane left Madrid on a high after the third European crown, only to return less than a year later. In his second stint in the Bernabeu hotseat, he would win a second Spanish league title before departing in 2021.

In the intervening years, the French public have yearned for Zidane to make another comeback for the national team.

And the man himself did little to dampen those hopes without ever fully committing, once coyly saying on French TV that whatever will happen in his future "will happen naturally", but nonetheless routinely refuting any rumours linking him to other coaching vacancies.

Now France fans have got their wish, with Zidane being given the keys to a team replete with dazzling attacking talents such as Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembele.

"I am not the best coach tactically, but I have other things," Zidane said of his approach in 2018. "I know very well how the dressing room and a player's head works, and that for me is very important."

S.Abdullah--SF-PST