1972 - Born June 23, Marseille, France.

1988 - Joins AS Cannes. Scores 6 goals in 61 league appearances for the club.

1992 - Joins Girondins Bordeaux. Scores 28 goals in 139 league appearances for the club during four seasons.

1994 - August 17, makes French international debut versus Czech Republic. Scores two goals in 17 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute.

1995-96 - UEFA Cup runner-up with Bordeaux.

1996 - Moves to Juventus. Helps the club to win two Serie A titles in his first two full seasons.

1996 - Wins the European Super Cup and the World Club Cup with Juventus.

1997 - May 28, plays for Juventus in 3-1 defeat by Borussia Dortmund in final of Champions League in Munich.

1998 - May 20, plays for Juventus in 1-0 defeat by Real Madrid in final of Champions League in Amsterdam.

1998 - June 1, sent off after 70 minutes of France's 4-0 first-round victory over Saudi Arabia. Misses France's next two matches.

1998 - July 12, heads two first-half goals to help France win their first World Cup with a 3-0 victory over Brazil.

1998 - December 21, wins the Reuters 1998 Sports Personality of the Year poll.

1998 - December 21, wins the 1998 European Player of the Year award -- the Balon d'Or.

1999 - February 1, wins FIFA 1998 World Player of the Year award.

2000 - June, named player of the tournament as he helps to lead France to victory in Euro 2000.

2000 - September, extends his contract with Juventus to 2005.

2000 - October, receives five-match ban from UEFA after being sent off for headbutting Jochen Kientz of Hamburg SV. It is Zidane's second successive sending off in Champions League matches.

2000 - December, wins FIFA World Player of the Year for the second time.

2001 - Juventus finish second in Serie A, two points behind champions Roma. Zidane plays what turns out to be his last match for Juventus in a 2-1 victory over Atalanta. Scored 28 goals in a total of 191 matches in five seasons at Juventus.

2001 - June, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez expresses interest in signing Zidane as part of his desire to construct a "superteam" to mark the centenary of the club in 2002.

2001 - July 9, becomes the world's most expensive player as he makes a move from Juventus to Real Madrid worth up to $66 million.

2002 - May 15, helps Real Madrid to win the Champions League with a majestic winner in the 2-1 final victory over Bayer Leverkusen.

2002 - May 27, a thigh injury picked up in a warm-up match against South Korea forces Zidane out of the first two matches of the World Cup finals.

He returns for the final group match against Denmark but has no impact as France lose 2-0 and head out of the tournament without scoring a goal.

2002 - August 29, named the most valuable player in the Champions League by UEFA.

2002 - August 30, part of Real side that wins the European Super Cup with 3-1 victory against Feyenoord in Monaco.

2002 - December 3, wins second World Club Cup as Real beat South American champions Olimpia 2-0 in Yokohama.

2003 - Wins Spanish League title with Real Madrid, leads France into Euro 2004 finals with perfect record of eight wins from eight matches.

December 15 - Named FIFA World Player of the Year for the third time.