“You have to believe in what you have, in what you do. I come from this neighborhood, I was often told that I was not going to get there, that it is not possible ”. Last February, Zinedine Zidane was once again back in the Castellane, the city in which he grew up in the northern districts of Marseille. He had mentioned his childhood to the influencer Edgar Barros Jr. He tried his first balloons on the square between the big buildings before starting in the clubs of his corner. It is a regional selection, at the Creps of Aix-en-Provence, which allowed it to be spotted by AS Cannes.
Number 10 Vedette of the 1998 French Champion of the World Champion and elected Ballon d'Or France Football a few months later, Zidane became a symbol in France and in particular a legend in Marseille. A photo of him with 10 children on the forecourt of the Castellane entered the legend. Photographer Pierre Boye recorded the cliché with the Gamma agency on April 23, 1998, a few weeks before the World Cup organized in France, but the immortalized moment hides several secrets.
Radio France was interested in the history of this photo taken in the middle of the city and found three of the children. “Zidane played in Bordeaux or Cannes. He had not yet pierced “Says Elarif. “Otherwise, there would be many more people in the photo!” »»has fun Alain, who dates from the photo shoot in 1994 or 1995. Girondins prodigy of Bordeaux at the time, elected Best Hope of D1 in 1994, the native of Marseille made a resounding beginnings in the French team in the summer of 1994 under the orders of Aimé Jacquet, registering a double for his first, in Chaban-Delmas in addition.
Zidane's childhood district
The investigation carried out by journalist Aladine Zaiane gives sacred life testimonies. Elarif says he almost sank “In the dark side of the force” (in reference to the saga
Star Wars But above all to an IAM tube, a legendary rap group of Marseille), before losing a friend in a settling of accounts and becoming an educator, “Specialized in mental health”as well as humorist in comedy clubs. Alain is the manager of a tobacco bar, which requires a virgin locker, he recalls
Only Moustapha, among the three witnesses found in this magnificent photo with Zinédine Zidane, still lives in the Castellane, a district which is not escapes the gang war that rages in the north of Marseille due to the drug trafficking. Elarif concludes on a positive note: “Come we see each other guys, we do something, we're going to have a drink, in any case, I have not forgotten you, I hope you are well and I wish you all the happiness in the world”. With Zidane?
