BASEL, Switzerland, 16 December 2003 — Real Madrid’s silky-skilled French midfield star Zinedine Zidane has once again won the vote of the world’s international coaches for the title of best player in the world.
World soccer’s governing body FIFA quizzed the 142 national team bosses and the 31-year-old outscored his French compatriot Thierry Henry by a very comfortable margin.
His Real Madrid teammate Ronaldo, another three-time winner, finished third.
Juventus’ Czech Republic midfielder Pavel Nedved was fourth followed by Real Madrid’s Brazilian wing back Roberto Carlos.
Manchester United’s Dutch striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy was sixth and Real Madrid’s England captain David Beckham seventh.
Zidane was voted best player by 35 coaches against 21 for Henry and 26 for Ronaldo.
The midfield hub of both Real and France, he combines a prodigious work-rate with an enormous talent for providing goals for his teammates. Former Real great Alfredo di Stefano has already acknowledged him as one of the world’s greatest — alongside Pele and Diego Maradona.
He won the World Player of the Year award in 1998 and 2000 when he was instrumental in France’s triumphs in the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. He missed all but one of France’s three group games in the 2002 World Cup through injury as France limped out without scoring a single goal but he has been back to his sublime best this year, guiding Real to their 28th Spanish title.
He joined Real Madrid for a world record 75 million euros ($90 million) from Juventus in 2001 and he proved his worth by scoring the winning goal in the 2002 Champions League final for Madrid to become the champions of Europe for a record ninth time.
The softly-spoken and introverted Zidane comes from an Algerian family, born in a poor district of the Mediterranean port of Marseille who, amazingly, failed to spot him as a youngster.
Instead he joined nearby Cannes as a 16-year-old in 1988 before moving to then champions Bordeaux in 1992.
Juventus bought him for four million dollars in 1996 after he had inspired Bordeaux to a UEFA Cup win over the Italian giants.
Zidane won the European Super Cup, the Intercontinental Cup and two Italian Championships with Juventus but missed out on the Champions League.
He has scored 23 goals in 86 international appearances since making his debut against the Czech Republic in 1994.
But perhaps his most important were the two headers he scored against Brazil in the 1998 World Cup final.
He inspired France to the 2000 European Championship but was injured for the first two matches in the 2002 World Cup and only half-fit when he came back as France lost 2-0 to Denmark to bow out meekly.
Ittihad, Ahli Gain Fine Victories
Jeddah Clubs Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli easily won in the Prince Faisal ibn Fahd Cup for under-23 teams, writes Mahmoud Ahmad. Ittihad defeated Al-Shola 3-1 in Kharj while Ahli overcame Riyadh 4-2 in Riyadh.
Simba (2) and Adnan Falatah were Ittihad scorers, while Shola got on the scoreboard when Hamad El-Esa scored an own goal.
Ahli dominated the proceedings against Riyadh, who were good on the counters. Waleed Al-Jizani (2), Ali Al-Abdali and Al-Shihri were the scorers for Ahli while Saeed Al-Qahtani scored a brace for Riyadh.
Al-Nasr won against Al-Khaleej 2-0 in Dammam, while Al-Wehda and Al-Qadisiya played out a 1-1 draw.
