Z DE TOI: Special 🎂 50 years

Zinedine Zidane celebrated his 50th birthday this week. The opportunity was so good to pay tribute to the eternal number 10 of the France team with a compilation of the best memories he left us, and as many gifts from our national Zizou for you. Happy birthday again Yazid and thank you for everything! Of course, these items can be found now on our boutique.so . And just for you, subscribers to the newsletter, they benefit from a -15% promotion for one week with the code SOYAZID. Photos We start with the icing on the enormous cake that represents Zinédine's career: the 98 World Cup. We had to wait until the final at the Stade de France, at home, against Brazil, for number 10 to finally become free .

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We can say that he knew how to wait for the best moment with this double, his two headers (and not the last unfortunately...) for eternity . This second goal, this moment which makes it part of the history of French football, has been immortalized in every way and we offer you its best version.

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How do you return to daily training at Juve when you have become the national savior ? As he admitted in his interview with L'Equipe, the start of the 1998-1999 season was undoubtedly the most complicated. Very average performance and legs that can't keep up.

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This will not prevent him from lifting his Ballon d'Or in December and officially becoming the best player in the world . This consecration that he was waiting for revives him and allows him to prepare for one of the best periods of his career...

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Euro 2000 arguably represents the pinnacle of Z in terms of quality of play and leadership . Even the main person concerned, who is rarely the first to put himself forward, admits it: he flies over the debates and wears the Blues . The path to success, however, resembles an obstacle course with behemoths to face for the reigning world champions . In the knockout stages alone, Spain, Portugal and Italy must be eliminated in the final . Zidane found himself decisive in the quarter and half . A magical free kick against Canizares + a penalty worth a golden goal (which Abel Xavier still disputes). France dominates world football like never before, and everyone knows that the technical leader of this team is none other than the midfielder, the only one to wear the emerging baldness perfectly...

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The last major trophy missing for the Marseillais by birth , the Champions League . In 2001, after 5 years at Juve and two failures in the final, he decided to try his luck at the biggest club in the world: Real Madrid . Amount of transfer: approximately 75 million . A record at the time, broken by CR7 in 2009. We will have to wait a season for this and a class gesture . Even he admits to having never managed to reproduce it. In the final, against Bayer Leverkussen , the number 5 entered the legend with one of the greatest achievements in the history of the competition . 1-1 between the two teams, a bell-shaped cross from Roberto Carlos (which looks more like a candle than a real cross), and there it all ends. The left leg, always . And there you have it, a left foot volley into the top corner . Simple.

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Speaking of these inexplicable moments, here is one truly timeless. For the first match of this Euro 2004 in Portugal , the France team faces England . The English quickly lead the score, France and their new captain, Zinédine Zidane, are heading towards a first defeat . But number 10 knows how to change these kinds of encounters in an instant. 91st minute : goal from a free kick . 93rd minute : penalty converted . 2-1 victory for the Blues. This will not be enough to avoid an early exit against the surprise team of Greece . But the biggest drama will take place a few weeks later, when a exhausted Zidane announces his international retirement. He will finally reconsider his decision with Makélélé as reinforcement for a final mission: to qualify the Blues for the 2006 World Cup and win a second star.

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Here we are. The last dance of one of the greatest players in history and all the pressure that comes with it. This aging French team is not one of the favorites, and the first group matches confirm this. Two draws against Switzerland and South Korea , a tough victory against Togo to qualify. The knockout phase promises to be complicated with Spain in eighth . Particularly mocking opponent of our captain Zizou, his press thinks they can send him into retirement . And despite the opening score of La Roja , it is the fresh element of the group which will restart everything, Franck Ribéry, (well motivated by the famous “ Go on my little one ” by Thierry Gilardi) by eliminating Casillas. 1-1. The final blow will come from our old guys with a helmet hit from Vieira and a hook worthy of the best bullfighters to avoid the Puyol bull signed by the star Zinédine Zidane .

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The best is yet to come. A quarter-final against the Brazil of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka and all the others. Finally, it is a number 10 dressed all in white who will offer a benchmark match and make the football world bow to his talent. Casters, leg loops, hooks and sombrero . Even his friend Ronaldo goes there. Above all, a decisive pass for Thierry Henry , the first between the two!

The Blues beat Portugal in the half on a Zizou penalty and book a World Cup final against Italy . The opponent is big and above all knows our double Z by heart. So when Malouda gets a penalty, he must innovate to defeat Buffon . New magical moment, time that stops. A panenka in a retractable bar . The Italian equalizer will bring the match to a maximum level of tension. And as we said, this opponent knows Zidane well. A provocation from the one whose name must not be pronounced and that’s tragedy. “ Not today, not now, not after everything you’ve done .” Red card for a headbutt on the double M. The last image of Zidane on the pitch will therefore be this one . Life is cruel.

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The safe Graceful, discreet, simple, fiery, extraterrestrial, shy, violent, idolized, patriotic, brilliant, amorous, presidential, airy, humble, faithful, clannish, fascinating, apolitical, mutant, leader, mercantile, hardworking, paternal, strategist, prudent, endearing, generous, melancholic, leader, immortal… And legendary. Zinédine Zidane is all of this at the same time, but prefers to remain silent rather than define himself. Quite the opposite of this large and beautiful book So Foot which, through unpublished articles and collector's photographs, retraces like never before the journey of the son of an immigrant from the northern cities of Marseille who became the greatest player-coach in the history of football global . You will know everything about Zizou. (And you can even wear it on your feet).

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T-shirts T-shirt tribute - in a few key dates - to the career of the greatest French player and then coach: Zinédine Zidane. Street Fighter II style.

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T-shirt of a very young Zizou, photographed during a shoot at the very beginning of his career, with AS Cannes. The exact date: March 1, 1991. Time when he was still called Yazid.

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The posters There aren't just photos on the store. There are also screen-printed posters. And in particular this one, created by the in-house graphic designer Elyse Delahaie, on which we can clearly see the terrain torn apart by the Zs. Available in only 30 copies.

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There are not only screen prints, there are also posters of our covers on the store. And in particular that of the collector's magazine for the 10th anniversary of So Foot (published in July 2013) and devoted exclusively to issues 10. Only two different covers were printed. One with Platini. The other with...

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There aren't just So Foot blankets. There are also posters that we designed for the store. Notably this one, repeating Thierry Gilardi's cult comment on TF1 after Zinédine Zidane's header on Materazzi and the red card in the 2006 World Cup final.

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The mug We finish with some unpretentious but terribly effective little goodies. Namely a mug with a quote. In this case from Zinédine Zidane, taken from her interview in the magazine's 10th anniversary So Foot special: “I didn't ask for anything! I just wanted to be a delivery driver.” Except he didn't make the crusaders, fortunately for us.

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All these Zidane items are already available on boutique.so and benefit from a -15% reduction for 1 week with the code SOYAZID!