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Luke Healey writes that within the globalized image economy that circulates around soccer in the 21^st century, a number of individuals are singularly visible; one of these is the former French national captain Zidane. As a highly prominent and successful working-class French Maghrebian from the banlieue of Marseille, Zidane occupies a delicate position within French cultural discourse, and his importance with regard to France’s sporting, colonial and cultural history has occasioned appearances in numerous artistic depictions. This essay focuses in particular on Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno’s film, Zidane, un portrait du 21e siècle; Jean-Philippe Toussaint’s short literary essay, La Mélancolie de Zidane; and Anne Delbée’s novella, La 107e Minute. In addition, it considers Adel Abdessemed’s monumental bronze sculpture Coup de Tête. Each of these projects, Healey argues, attempts to negotiate the skeins of discourse that accompany ‘Zizou’ wherever he goes, in order to offer a perspective of their subject that differs substantially from the on-dit. In presenting this argument, Healey engages with Pierre Bourdieu’s conception of the aesthetic regime of high culture advanced in La Distinction, thus illustrating the diverse ways in which these four works enact this rejection in terms of cultural politics.

In the waning moments of the 2006 World Cup final in Berlin, between France and Italy, Zindine Zidane, the French captain, headbutted – the famed coup de boule – an Italian player who had insulted him. To this day, Zidane has never revealed what it is the Italian, Marco Materazzi, said to him, producing the most enduring secret in football history. This chapter explores xenophobia, the anti-Islamic politics that have obtained, especially since 9//, in Europe, the politics of immigrant, the myth of equality (especially for immigrants) in republican France, and the special status of Zidane as a voyou.

Christa Jones analyses the ideological relationship between soccer, national identity and Islamism in post-riot 1988 Algeria by examining representations of soccer culture and fandom in Francophone literature from North Africa, where sports and politics continue to be intricately linked. After Algeria obtained independence from France, sport clubs were institutionalized and athletic activities (including soccer but also basketball, boxing, handball, track and field, gymnastics, swimming, ping pong and weightlifting) were closely monitored by the F.L.N. (Front de Libération Nationale) until 1989, in accordance with Chadli Bendjedid’s democratization efforts (Fatès 2009). This essay considers representations of soccer, commonly referred to as Kourat el Kadem (ball at foot), in short stories by Yahia Belaskri (‘Blanc et noir’), Anouar Benmalek (‘Le penalty’), and novels by Aziz Chouaki (L’étoile d’Alger) and Rachid Boudjedra (La vie à l’endroit). In these texts, which illustrate how soccer galvanizes crowds, soccer players such as Zidane embody a strong masculinity and essentially positive values such as strength, wealth, success, and a relentless determination to win. In particular, the works analysed by Jones stress soccer’s strong oneiric potential, as an activity that captivates idle or disillusioned youth who are often limited by socio-political conditions that impede their personal and professional development.

In January, 1995, Eric Cantona, after enduring a torrid time on the pitch in an English Premier League game, takes exception to the taunts of a xenophobic fan. After being sent off, Cantona launches himself at the fan, executing the most famous kung-fu kick in football lore. The Cantona event is read through Gilles Deleuze’s work on the cinema.

Ron Artest commits a flagrant foul in an NBA game between the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons; after this incident, Artest chooses to lie supine on the scorer’s table, “provoking” (mainly white) fans to hurl invectives and beer cups in his direction; in response to this, Artest and some of his teammates go into the stands to attack the offending fans. Artest is suspended for a record number of games and fined a record amount by the NBA. Using Alain Badiou’s work on the event, this chapter demonstrates the ways in which the event of Artest extends beyond him, drawing in other figures, most notably, Rosa Parkes, Jackie Robinson and Emmett Till.