Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Official name	Barcelona
image shield	Escut de Barcelona.svg
nickname	Ciudad Condal, Ciutat Comtal (City of Counts), Barna, BCN
pushpin map	Spain
pushpin map caption	Location of Barcelona within Spain
pushpin map1	Spain Catalonia
pushpin map caption1	Location of Barcelona within Catalonia
coordinates type	type:city(1,582,738)_region:ES
coordinates display	inline, title
coordinates region	ES
subdivision type	Country
subdivision name	Spain
subdivision type1	Autonomous Community
subdivision name1	Catalonia
subdivision type2	Province
subdivision name2	Barcelona
subdivision type3	Comarca
subdivision name3	Barcelonès
parts type	Districts
parts style	para
p1	Ciutat Vella
p2	Eixample
p3	Gràcia
p4	Horta-Guinardó
p5	Les Corts
p6	Nou Barris
p7	Sant Andreu
p8	Sants–Montjuïc
p9	Sarrià-Sant Gervasi
p10	Sant Martí
government type	Mayor-council
governing body	Ajuntament de Barcelona
leader party	CiU
leader title	Mayor
leader name	Xavier Trias i Vidal de Llobatera
area total km2	101.9
Area urban km2	803
elevation footnotes	(AMSL)
elevation m	12
population total	16215373,218,071 (''Greater Barcelona'')
population urban	4210000
population blank1 title	Urban zone
population blank1	4,440,629
population blank2 title	Metropolitan
population blank2	5,083,000
population as of	2009
population density km2	15991
population demonym	Barcelonan''barceloní'', ''barcelonina''''barcelonés'', ''barcelonesa''
timezone1	CET
utc offset1	+1
timezone1 dst	CEST
utc offset1 dst	+2
postal code type	Postal code
postal code	08001–08080
area code type	Area code
area code	+34 (Spain) 93 (City)
website	www.bcn.cat
footnotes	}}

Barcelona (, ) is the capital and the most populous city of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, after Madrid, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Barcelona extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of between 4,200,000 and 4,500,000 on an area of , being the sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, London, Ruhr area, Madrid and Milan. About five million people live in the Barcelona metropolitan area. It is also Europe's largest metropolis on the Mediterranean coast. It is the main component of an administrative area of Greater Barcelona, with a population of 3,218,071 in an area of 636 km² (density 5,060 hab/km²). It is located on the Mediterranean coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs and is bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola ridge ().

Barcelona is today one of the world's leading tourist, economic, trade fair/exhibitions and cultural-sports centres, and its influences in commerce, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. Indeed, it is a major economic centre and a growing financial centre (Diagonal Mar area and Gran Via); one of Europe's principal Mediterranean ports, can be found here as well as Barcelona international airport, which handles about 30 million passengers per year. It also boasts an extensive motorway network and is a hub of high-speed rail, particularly that which will link France with Spain. Barcelona is the 16th-most-visited city in the world and 4th most visited in Europe after Paris, London, and Rome, with several million tourists every year. Barcelona is the 16th most "livable city" in the world according to lifestyle magazine Monocle. Similarly, according to Innovation Analysts 2thinknow, Barcelona occupies 13th place in the world on ''Innovation Cities™ Global Index''. It is the 4th richest city by GDP in the European Union and 35th in the world with an output amounting to €177 billion, a figure nonetheless smaller than alternative estimates. Consequently, its GDP per capita output stands at €35,975 – some 44% higher than the European Union average. Similarly, the city of Barcelona stands in 29th place in a list of net personal earnings headed by Zurich. The city is Europe's 3rd and one of the world's most successful as a city brand, both in terms of reputation and assets. Barcelona is 7th most important fashion capital in the world. Also, the city is Europe's 4th best business city and fastest improving European city, with growing improved by 17% per year.

Founded as a Roman city, Barcelona became the capital of the Counts of Barcelona. After merging with the Kingdom of Aragon, it became one of the most important cities of the Crown of Aragon. Besieged several times during its history, Barcelona is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination and has a rich cultural heritage. Particularly renowned are architectural works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner that have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The city is well known in recent times for the 1992 Summer Olympics. The headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean is located in Barcelona.

As the capital of Catalonia, Barcelona houses the seat of the Catalan government, known as the Generalitat de Catalunya; of particular note are the executive branch, the parliament, and the Supreme Court of Catalonia. The city is also the capital of the Province of Barcelona and the Barcelonès comarca (shire).

Names

The name ''Barcelona'' comes from the ancient Iberian Phoenician ''Barkeno'', attested in an ancient coin inscription in Iberian script as 34px|Barkeno in Levantine Iberian script, in Ancient Greek sources as , ''Barkinṓn''; and in Latin as ''Barcino'', ''Barcilonum'' and ''Barceno''.

During the Middle Ages, the city was variously known as ''Barchinona, Barçalona, Barchelona'', and ''Barchenona''.

Some sources say that the city could have been named after the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca, who was supposed to have founded the city in the 3rd century BC.

History

The founding of Barcelona is the subject of two different legends. The first attributes the founding of the city to the mythological Hercules 400 years before the building of Rome. The second legend attributes the foundation of the city directly to the historical Carthaginian Hamilcar Barca, father of Hannibal, who named the city ''Barcino'' after his family in the 3rd century BC.

About 15 BC, the Romans redrew the town as a ''castrum'' (Roman military camp) centred on the "''Mons Taber''", a little hill near the contemporary city hall (Plaça de Sant Jaume). Under the Romans, it was a colony with the surname of ''Faventia'', or, in full, ''Colonia Faventia Julia Augusta Pia Barcino'' or ''Colonia Julia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino''. Mela mentions it among the small towns of the district, probably as it was eclipsed by its neighbour ''Tarraco'' (modern Tarragona), but it may be gathered from later writers that it gradually grew in wealth and consequence, favoured as it was with a beautiful situation and an excellent harbour. It enjoyed immunity from imperial burdens. The city minted its own coins; some from the era of Galba survive. Some important Roman ruins are exposed under the Plaça del Rei, entrance by the city museum (Museu d'Història de la Ciutat), and the typically Roman grid-planning is still visible today in the layout of the historical centre, the ''Barri Gòtic'' ("Gothic Quarter"). Some remaining fragments of the Roman walls have been incorporated into the cathedral. The cathedral, also known as basilica ''La Seu'', is said to have been founded in 343. The city was conquered by the Visigoths in the early 5th century, becoming for a few years the capital of the whole Hispania. After being conquered by the Arabs in the early 8th century, it was reconquered in 801 by Charlemagne's son Louis, who made Barcelona the seat of Carolingian "Spanish Marches" (''Marca Hispanica''), a buffer zone ruled by the Count of Barcelona.

The Counts of Barcelona became increasingly independent and expanded their territory to include all of Catalonia. In 1137, Aragon and the County of Barcelona merged by dynastic union by the marriage of Ramon Berenguer IV and Petronilla of Aragon, and their titles were finally borne by only one person when their son Alfonso II of Aragon ascended to the throne in 1162. His territories were later to be known as the Crown of Aragon, which conquered many overseas possessions, ruling the western Mediterranean Sea with outlying territories in Naples and Sicily and as far as Athens in the 13th century. The forging of a dynastic link between the Crowns of Aragon and Castile marked the beginning of Barcelona's decline.

The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile in 1469 united the two royal lines. The centre of political power became Madrid and the colonisation of the Americas reduced the financial importance (at least in relative terms) of Mediterranean trade. Barcelona was always the stronghold of Catalan separatism and was the center of the Catalan Revolt (1640–52) against Philip IV of Spain. The great plague of 1650–1654 halved the city's population. The Napoleonic wars left the province ravaged, but the postwar period saw the start of industrialization.

In the eighteenth century a fortress was built at Montjuïc that overlooked the harbour. In 1794, this fortress was used by the French astronomer Pierre François André Méchain for observations relating to a survey stretching to Dunkirk that provided the basis of the metre. The definitive metre bar, manufactured from platinum, was presented to the French legislative assembly on 22 June 1799.

The resistance of Barcelona to Franco's coup d'état was to have lasting effects after the defeat of the Republican government. The autonomous institutions of Catalonia were abolished, and the use of the Catalan language in public life was suppressed. Barcelona remained the second largest city in Spain, at the heart of a region which was relatively industrialised and prosperous, despite the devastation of the civil war. The result was a large-scale immigration from poorer regions of Spain (particularly Andalucia, Murcia and Galicia), which in turn led to rapid urbanisation. Barcelona hosted the Olympic Games in 1992, which helped revitalize the city.

Geography

Barcelona is located on the northeast coast of the Iberian Peninsula, facing the Mediterranean Sea, on a plateau approximately wide limited by the mountain range of Collserola, the Llobregat river to the southwest and the Besòs river to the north. This plateau has , of which 101 km² (38.9 sq mi) are occupied by the city itself. It is 120 km (75 mi) south of the Pyrenees and the Catalonian border with France.

Tibidabo, high, offers striking views over the city and is topped by the Torre de Collserola, a telecommunications tower that is visible from most of the city. Barcelona is peppered with small hills, most of them urbanized and that gave their name to the neighbourhoods built upon them, such as Carmel (267 m), Putxet (181 m) and Rovira (261 m). The escarpment of Montjuïc (173 m), situated to the southeast, overlooks the harbour and is topped by Montjuïc castle, a fortress built in the 17–18th centuries to control the city as a replacement for the Ciutadella. Today, the fortress is a museum and Montjuïc is home to several sporting and cultural venues, as well as Barcelona's biggest park and gardens.

The city borders are the municipalities of Santa Coloma de Gramenet and Sant Adrià de Besòs to the north; the Mediterranean Sea to the east; El Prat de Llobregat and L'Hospitalet de Llobregat to the south; and Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Sant Just Desvern, Esplugues de Llobregat, Sant Cugat del Vallès, and Montcada i Reixac to the west.

Climate

Barcelona has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: ''Csa''), with mild, humid winters and warm, dry summers.

Its average annual temperature is during the day and at night. Average annual temperature of sea is about . In the coldest month – January, typically the temperature ranges from during the day, at night and the average sea temperature is . In the warmest month – August, the typically temperature ranges from during the day, about at night and the average sea temperature is . Generally – "summer's" / "holiday" season lasts about six months, from May to October. Two months – April and November – are transitional, sometimes temperature exceeds , with average temperature of during the day and at night. December, January and February are the coldest months, with average temperatures around during the day and at night. Large fluctuations in temperature are rare, particularly in summer months. Sunshine duration is 2,524 hours per year, from 138 (average 4.5 hours of sunshine at day) in December to 310 (average 10 hours of sunshine at day) in July.

Main sights

The ''Barri Gòtic'' ("Gothic Quarter" in Catalan) is the centre of the old city of Barcelona. Many of the buildings date from medieval times, some from as far back as the Roman settlement of Barcelona. Catalan ''modernisme'' architecture (often known as Art Nouveau in the rest of Europe), developed between 1885 and 1950 and left an important legacy in Barcelona. A great number of these buildings are World Heritage Sites. Especially remarkable is the work of architect Antoni Gaudí, which can be seen throughout the city. His best known work is the immense but still unfinished church of the Sagrada Família, which has been under construction since 1882, and is still financed by private donations. As of 2007, completion is planned for 2026.

Barcelona was also home to Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion. Designed in 1929 for the International Exposition for Germany, it is an iconic building that came to symbolize modern architecture as the embodiment of van der Rohe's aphorisms "less is more" and "God is in the details." The Barcelona pavilion was intended as a temporary structure, and was torn down in 1930 less than a year after it was constructed. A modern re-creation by Spanish architects now stands in Barcelona, however, constructed in 1986.

Barcelona won the 1999 RIBA Royal Gold Medal for its architecture, the first (and as of 2009, only) time that the winner has been a city, and not an individual architect.

Historic buildings and monuments

Sagrada Família, the international symbol of Barcelona

Palau de la Música Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau, designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, included in the UNESCO Heritage List list in 1997.

Works by Antoni Gaudí, including Park Güell, Palau Güell, Casa Milà (La Pedrera), Casa Vicens, Sagrada Família (Nativity façade and crypt), Casa Batlló, Crypt in Colonia Güell. The first three works were inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1984. The other four were added as extensions to the site in 2005.

The Cathedral of St. Eulalia

Church of Santa Maria del Mar (Gothic)

Gothic church of Santa Maria del Pi

Church of Sant Pau del Camp

Palau Reial Major, medieval residence of the counts of Barcelona and the Kings of Aragon

The Columbus Monument

Forum Building, an example of contemporary architecture

The Arc de Triomf, a triumphal arch built in 1888

Medieval church of Sant Pau del Camp

Museums

Barcelona has a great number of museums, which cover different areas and eras. The National Museum of Art of Catalonia possesses a well-known collection of Romanesque art while the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art focuses on post-1945 Catalan and Spanish art. The Fundació Joan Miró, Picasso Museum and Fundació Antoni Tàpies hold important collections of these world-renowned artists.

Several museums cover the fields of history and archeology, like the City History Museum, the Museum of the History of Catalonia, the Archeology Museum of Catalonia, the Barcelona Maritime Museum and the private-owned Egyptian Museum. The Erotic museum of Barcelona is among the most peculiar ones, while Cosmocaixa is a science museum that received the European Museum of the Year Award in 2006.

Parks

Barcelona contains 68 municipal parks, divided into 12 historic parks, 5 thematic (botanical) parks, 45 urban parks and 6 forest parks. They range from vest-pocket parks to large recreation areas. The urban parks alone cover 10% of the city (). The total park surface grows about per year, with a proportion of of park area per inhabitant.

Of Barcelona's parks, Montjuïc is the largest, with 203 ha located on the mountain of the same name. It is followed by Parc de la Ciutadella (situated in the place of the old military citadel and which houses the Parliament building, the Barcelona Zoo and several museums; including the zoo), the Guinardó Park (), Park Güell (designed by Antoni Gaudí; ), Oreneta Castle Park (also ), Diagonal Mar Park (, inaugurated in 2002), Nou Barris Central Park (), Can Dragó Sports Park and Poblenou Park (both ) and the Labyrinth Park (), named after the garden maze it contains. A part of the Collserolla Park is also within the city limits.

Beaches

Beach in Barcelona gained status as the best urban beach in the World according to ''National Geographic'' and ''Discovery Channel'', with total third best beach in the World. Barcelona contains seven beaches, totalling 4.5 km (2.8 mi) of coastline. Sant Sebastià and Barceloneta beaches, both in length, are the largest, oldest and the most frequented beaches in Barcelona. The Olympic Port separates them from the other city beaches: Nova Icària, Bogatell, Mar Bella, Nova Mar Bella and Llevant. These beaches (ranging from 400 to 640 m/1,300 to 2,100 ft) were opened as a result of the city restructuring to host the 1992 Summer Olympics, when a great number of industrial buildings were demolished. At present, the beach sand is replenished from quarries given that storms regularly remove large quantities of material. The 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures left the city a large concrete bathing zone on the eastmost part of the city's coastline.

Other

The area around the Plaça Catalunya makes up the city's historical centre and, alongside the upper half of Avinguda Diagonal, is the main commercial area of the city. Barcelona has several commercial complexes, like L'Illa in the higher part of the Diagonal avenue and Diagonal Mar in the lowest, La Maquinista, Glòries in the place of the same name and the Maremagnum by the port.

Barcelona has several skyscrapers, the tallest being the Hotel Arts and its twin the Torre Mapfre, both high, followed by the, Torre Agbar and the newest W Barcelona Hotel. Barcelona is situated 125 km from the ski resorts of the Pyrenées. The skyline of the city is decorated in winter by the summit ( high) of the Montseny massif, normally covered by snow.

Demographics

According to Barcelona's City Council, Barcelona's population as of 1 June 2006 was 1,673,075 people, while the population of the urban area was 4,210,000. It is the central nucleus of the Barcelona metropolitan area, which relies on a population of 5,083,000.

The population density of Barcelona was , with Eixample being the most populated district. 62% of the inhabitants were born in Catalonia, with a 23.5% coming from the rest of Spain. Of the 13.9% from other countries, a proportion which has more than tripled since 2001 when it was 3.9%, the majority come from (in order) Ecuador, Peru, Morocco, Colombia, Argentina, Pakistan and China.

As the national language, Spanish is understood almost universally in Barcelona. 95% of the population understand Catalonia's native Catalan language, while 74.6% can speak it, 75% can read it, and 47.1% can write it, thanks to the linguistic immersion educational system. While most of the population state they are Roman Catholic (208 churches), there are also a number of other groups, including Evangelical (71 locations, mostly professed by Roma), Jehovah's Witnesses (21 Kingdom Halls) and Buddhists (13 locations), and a number of Muslims due to immigration. In 1900, Barcelona had a population of 533,000 people, which grew steadily but slowly until 1950, when it started absorbing a high number of people from other less-industrialized parts of Spain. Barcelona's population peaked in 1979 with 1,906,998 people, and fell throughout the 1980s and 1990s as more people sought a higher quality of life in outlying cities in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. After bottoming out in 2000 with 1,496,266 people, the city's population began to rise again as younger people started to return, causing a great increase in housing prices.

Population density

Note: ''This text is entirely based on the municipal statistical database provided by the city council.''

Barcelona is one of the most densely populated cities in Europe. For the year 2008 the city council calculated the population to 1,628,090 living in the 102.2 km² sized municipality, giving the city an average population density of 15,926 inhabitants per square kilometre.

In the case of Barcelona though, the land distribution is extremely uneven. Half of the municipality or 50.2 km², all of it located on the municipal edge is made up of the ten least densely populated neighbourhoods containing less than 10% of the city's population, the uninhabited Zona Franca industrial area and Montjuïc forest park. Leaving the remaining 90% or slightly below 1.5 million inhabitants living on the remaining 52 square kilometres at an average density close to 28,500 inhabitants per square kilometre.

Of the 73 neighbourhoods in the city, 45 had a population density above 20,000 inhabitants per square kilometre with a combined population of 1,313,424 inhabitants living on 38.6 km² at an average density of 33,987 inhabitants per square km. The 30 most densely populated neighbourhoods accounted for 57.5% of the city population occupying only 22,7% of the municipality, or in other words, 936,406 people living at an average density of 40,322 inhabitants per square kilometre. The city's highest density is found at and around the neighbourhood of la Sagrada Família where four of the city's most densely populated neighbourhoods are located side by side, all with a population density above 50,000 inhabitants per square kilometre.

Economy

The Barcelona metropolitan area comprises over 66% of the people in one of the richest regions in Southern Europe – Catalonia, with a GDP PPP per capita amounting to €30,700 European Union's GDP PPP per capita). Furthermore, the Barcelona metropolitan area has a GDP amounting €177 billion what is equivalent to €35,975 in per capita terms.

Barcelona has a long-standing mercantile tradition. Less well known is that the region was one of the earliest to begin industrialization in continental Europe, beginning with textile related works from the mid 1780s but really gathering momentum in the mid 19th century, when it became a major centre for the production of textiles and machinery. Since then, manufacturing has played a large role in its history. The traditional importance in textiles is reflected in Barcelona's repeated attempts to become a major fashion centre. In summer 2000, the city became a host for the prestigious Bread & Butter urban fashion fair until 2009 when it was announced that it would be held again on Berlin. This was a hard blow for the city as the fair brought €100 m to the city in just three days. There have been many attempts to launch Barcelona as a fashion capital, notably ''Gaudi Home''. ''The Brandery'', an urban fashion show, is held in Barcelona twice a year.

As in other modern cities, the manufacturing sector has long since been overtaken by the services sector, though it remains very important. The region's leading industries today are textiles, chemical, pharmaceutical, motor, electronic, printing, logistics, publishing, telecommunications and information technology services.

Drawing upon its tradition of creative art and craftsmanship, Barcelona is nowadays also known for its award-winning industrial design. It also has several congress halls, notably Fira de Barcelona (Trade Fair) - second largest trade fair and exhibition centres in Europe, that host a quickly growing number of national and international events each year, which had also meant the opening of new hotels each year. However, the economic crisis and deep cuts in business travel are affecting the Council's positioning of the city as a convention centre.

An important business centre in Barcelona, the World Trade Center Barcelona, is located in Barcelona's harbour Port Vell.

Government and administrative divisions

Barcelona is governed by a city council formed by 41 city councilors, elected for a four-year term by universal suffrage. As one of the two biggest cities in Spain, Barcelona is subject to a special law articulated through the ''Carta Municipal'' (Municipal Law). A first version of this law was passed in 1960 and amended later, but the current version was approved in March 2006. According to this law, Barcelona's city council is organized in two levels: a political one, with elected city councilors, and one executive, which administrates the programs and executes the decisions taken on the political level. This law also gives the local government a special relationship with the central government and it also gives the mayor wider prerogatives by the means of municipal executive commissions. It expands the powers of the city council in areas like telecommunications, city traffic, road safety and public safety. It also gives a special economic regime to the city's treasury and it gives the council a veto in matters that will be decided by the central government, but that will need a favourable report from the council. The plenary, formed by the 41 city councilors, has advisory, planning, regulatory, and fiscal executive functions. The six ''Commissions del Consell Municipal'' (City council commissions) have executive and controlling functions in the field of their jurisdiction. They are composed by a number of councilors proportional to thethumb|left|Gotic Gallery into the Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya. number of councilors each political party has in the plenary. The city council has jurisdiction in the fields of city planning, transportation, municipal taxes, public highways security through the ''Guàrdia Urbana'' (the municipal police), city maintenance, gardens, parks and environment, facilities (like schools, nurseries, sports centres, libraries, and so on.), culture, sports, youth and social welfare. Some of these competencies are not exclusive, but shared with the Generalitat de Catalunya or the central Spanish government.

The executive branch is led by a Chief Municipal Executive Officer which answers to the Mayor. It is made up of departments which are legally part of the city council and by separate legal entities of two tipes: autonomous public departments and public enterprises.

The seat of the city council is on the Plaça de Sant Jaume, opposite the seat of Generalitat de Catalunya. Since the coming of the Spanish democracy, Barcelona had been governed by the PSC, first with an absolute majority and later in coalition with ERC and ICV. After the May 2007 election, the ERC did not renew the coalition agreement and the PSC governed in a minority coalition with ICV as the junior partner.

After 32 years, on 22 May 2011, CiU gained a plurality of seats at the municipal election, gaining 15 seats to the PSC's 11. The PP hold 8 seats, ICV 5 and ERC 2.

Districts

Since 1987, the city has been divided into 10 administrative districts (''districtes'' in Catalan, ''distritos'' in Spanish), each one with its own council led by a city councillor. The composition of each district council depends on the number of votes each political party had in that district, so a district can be led by a councillor from a different party than the executive council.

The districts are based mostly on historical divisions. Several of the city's districts are former towns annexed by the city of Barcelona in the 18th and 19th centuries that still maintain their own distinct character. The official names of these districts are in the Catalan language.

Education

Barcelona has a well-developed higher education system of public universities. Most prominent among these is the University of Barcelona, a world-renowned research and teaching institution with campuses around the city. Barcelona is also home to the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, and the newer Pompeu Fabra University,and, in the private sector the IESE Business School, as well as the largest private educational institution, the Ramon Llull University, which encompasses internationally-prestigious schools and institutes such as the ESADE Business School. The Autonomous University of Barcelona, another public university, is located in Bellaterra, a town in the Metropolitan Area. The Open University of Catalonia, a private Internet-centered open university, is also based in Barcelona.

The city has a network of public schools, from nurseries to high schools, under the responsibility of a consortium led by city council (though the curriculum is the responsibility of the Generalitat de Catalunya). There are also many private schools, some of them Roman Catholic. Most such schools receive a public subsidy on a per-student basis, are subject to inspection by the public authorities, and are required to follow the same curricular guidelines as public schools, though they charge tuition. Known as ''escoles concertades'', they are distinct from schools whose funding is entirely private (''escoles privades'').

The language of instruction at public schools and ''escoles concertades'' is Catalan, as stipulated by the 2009 Catalan Education Act. Spanish may be used as a language of instruction by teachers of Spanish literature or language, and foreign languages by teachers of those languages. An experimental partial immersion programme adopted by some schools allows for the teaching of a foreign language (English, generally) across the curriculum, though this is limited to a maximum of 30% of the school day. No public school or ''escola concertada'' in Barcelona may offer 50% or full immersion programmes in a foreign language, nor does any public school or ''escola concertada'' offer International Baccalaureate programmes.

Culture

Barcelona's cultural roots go back 2000 years. To a greater extent than the rest of Catalonia, where Catalonia's native Catalan is more dominant, Barcelona is a bilingual city: Catalan and Spanish are both official languages and widely spoken. The Catalan spoken in Barcelona, Central Catalan, is the one closest to standard Catalan. Since the arrival of democracy, the Catalan culture (very much repressed during the dictatorship of Franco) has been promoted, both by recovering works from the past and by stimulating the creation of new works. Barcelona is designated as a world-class city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network.

Entertainment and performing arts

Barcelona has many venues for live music and theatre, including the world-renowned Gran Teatre del Liceu opera theatre, the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, the Teatre Lliure and the Palau de la Música Catalana concert hall. Barcelona also is home to the Barcelona and Catalonia National Symphonic Orchestra (Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, usually known as OBC), the largest symphonic orchestra in Catalonia. In 1999, the OBC inaugurated its new venue in the brand-new Auditorium (''l'Auditori''). It performs around 75 concerts per season and its current director is Eiji Oue. Yearly two major pop music festivals take place in the city, the Sónar Festival and the Primavera Sound Festival. The city also has a thriving alternative music scene, with groups such as The Pinker Tones receiving international attention.

Media

''El Periódico de Catalunya'' and ''La Vanguardia'' are Barcelona's two major daily newspapers (both with Catalan and Spanish editions) while ''Sport'' and ''El Mundo Deportivo'' (both in Spanish) are the city's two major sports daily newspapers, published by the same companies. The city is also served by a number of smaller publications such as ''Ara'', ''Avui'' and ''El Punt'' (in Catalan), by nation-wide newspapers with special Barcelona editions like ''El Pais'' and ''El Mundo'' (both in Spanish), and by several free newspapers like ''20 minutos'', ''ADN'' and ''Què'' (all bilingual).

Several major FM stations include Catalunya Ràdio, RAC 1, RAC 105 and Cadena SER. Barcelona also has several local TV stations, among them BTV (owned by city council) and 8TV (owned by the Godó group, that also owns ''La Vanguardia''). The headquarters of Televisió de Catalunya, Catalonia's public network, are located in Sant Joan Despí, in Barcelona's metropolitan area.

Sports

Barcelona has a long sporting tradition and hosted the highly successful 1992 Summer Olympics as well as several matches during the 1982 FIFA World Cup (on the two stadiums). It has also hosted, among others, the final of European Champions League (1989, 1999), Eurobasket (1973, 1997), Euroleague (1969, 1998, 2003, 2011), 2003 EuroHockey Nations Championship and the 1951, 1954, 1957, 1979 European Roller Hockey Championship, 1958 European Judo Championships, 1970 European Water Polo Championship, 1970 European Aquatics Championships, 1976 European Taekwondo Championships, 1980 European Karate Championships, 1987 European Wushu Championships, 1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships, 2002 Euro Beach Soccer Cup, 2003 World Aquatics Championships, 2007 European Baseball Championship, 2010 European Athletics Championships and some other. Also, the city aspires to organize the 2022 Winter Olympics. The opening, closing, medal ceremonies and indoor sports would be held in Barcelona, while outdoor sports would be held in ski resorts in the Pyrenees, maintly La Molina. FC Barcelona is a sports club best known worldwide for its football team, one of the largest in Europe, four-time winner (last one in 2011) of the UEFA Champions League and the only men's club in the world to accomplish a sextuple. FC Barcelona also has teams in the Spanish basketball ACB league (Regal FC Barcelona), the handball ASOBAL league (FC Barcelona Handbol), and the roller hockey league (FC Barcelona Hoquei), all of them winners of the highest European competitions. The club's museum is the second most visited in Catalonia. Twice a season, FC Barcelona and cross-town rivals RCD Espanyol contest in the local derby in La Liga, while its basketball section has its own local derby in Liga ACB with nearby Joventut Badalona. Barcelona also has other clubs in lower categories, like CE Europa and UE Sant Andreu.

Barcelona has two UEFA elite stadiums (12px12px12px12px12px): FC Barcelona's Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe with a capacity of 100,000 and the publicly owned Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, with a capacity of 55,000; used for the 1992 Olympics. Also, the city has several smaller stadiums such as Mini Estadi, Estadio Narcís Sala with a capacity of 15,000 and Nou Sardenya with a capacity of 7,000. In the suburbs of Barcelona there is a third UEFA elite stadium (12px12px12px12px) - Estadi Cornellà-El Prat, with a capacity of 40,000.

Several major road running competitions are organized year-round in Barcelona: the Barcelona Marathon every March with a participants of over 10,000 in 2010, the Cursa de Bombers in April, the Cursa de El Corte Inglés in May (with about 60,000 participants each year), the Cursa de la Mercè, the Cursa Jean Bouin, the Milla Sagrada Família and the San Silvestre.

The Open Seat Godó, a 50-year-old ATP World Tour 500 Series tennis tournament, is held annually in the facilities of the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona (Barcelona Royal Tennis Club). Also, each Christmas, a swimming race across the port is organized. Near Barcelona, in Montmeló, the 131,000 capacity Circuit de Catalunya / Circuit de Barcelona racetrack hosts the Formula One World Championship, Formula One Spanish Grand Prix, Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix, Spanish GT Championship and GP2 Series. In Barcelona very popular is skateboarding and bicycling. In the city and the metropolitan area is tens of kilometers of bicycle paths.

Top sport clubs in Barcelona:

Club	Primary league	Sport	Venue	Established	Capacity
FC Barcelona	La Liga		Camp Nou	1899	100,000
RCD Espanyol	La Liga		Estadi Cornellà-El Prat	1900	40,500
FC Barcelona Bàsquet		Basketball	Palau Blaugrana	1926	7,585
FC Barcelona Handbol		Handball	Palau Blaugrana	1942	7,585
FC Barcelona Ice Hockey		Ice hockey	Palau de Gel	1972	1,256
FC Barcelona Hoquei	OK Liga	Roller hockey	Palau Blaugrana	1942	7,585
FC Barcelona Futsal	Primera División de Futsal	Futsal	Palau Blaugrana	1986	7,585
FC Barcelona Rugby	División de Honor de Rugby	Rugby union	! scope="row" style="font-weight: normal; text-align: center;"	1924	no data
Barcelona Dragons		American football	Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys	1991 (withheld)	56,000
Barcelona Búfals	LNFA	American football	Estadio Narcís Sala	1987	15,000

Transport

Airports

Barcelona is served by Barcelona El Prat Airport, about from the centre of Barcelona. It is the second-largest airport in Spain, and the largest on the Mediterranean coast. It is a main hub for Vueling Airlines, and also a focus for Iberia, Spanair and Air Europa. The airport mainly serves domestic and European destinations, but some airlines offer destinations in Latin America, Asia and the United States. The airport is connected to the city by highway, commuter train (Barcelona Airport railway station) and scheduled bus service. A new terminal (T1) has been built, and entered service on 17 June 2009.

Sabadell Airport is a smaller airport in the nearby town of Sabadell, devoted to pilot training, aerotaxi and private flights. Some low-cost airlines, such as Transavia.com and Ryanair, prefer to use Girona-Costa Brava Airport, situated about to the north of Barcelona and the Reus Airport, situated to the south, though they offer some flights from Barcelona El Prat Airport

Seaport

The Port of Barcelona has a 2000-year old history and a great contemporary commercial importance. It is Europe's ninth largest container port, with a trade volume of 2.57 million TEU's in 2008. The port is managed by the Port Authority of Barcelona. Its are divided into three zones: Port Vell (the Old Port), the commercial port and the logistics port (Barcelona Free Port). The port is undergoing an enlargement that will double its size thanks to diverting the mouth of the Llobregat river 2 km (1¼ mi) to the south.

The Port Vell area also houses the Maremagnum (a commercial mall), a multiplex cinema, the IMAX Port Vell and Europe's largest aquarium - Aquarium Barcelona, containing 8,000 fish and 11 sharks contained in 22 basins filled with 6 million litres of sea water. The Maremagnum, due to being situated a designated tourist zone, is the only commercial mall in the city that can open on Sundays and public holidays.

Public transport

Barcelona is served by a comprehensive local public transport network that includes a metro, a bus network, two separate modern tram networks, a separate historic tram line, and several funiculars and aerial cable cars. The Barcelona Metro network comprises eleven lines, identified by an "L" followed by the line number as well as by individual colours. Most of the network (nine lines) is operated by the Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), but three lines are FGC commuter lines that run through the city. When finished, the L9 will be the second longest underground metro line in Europe with 42.6 km; only shorter than London's 76 km Central Line.

The Estació del Nord (Northern Station), a former railway station that was renovated for the 1992 Olympic Games, now serves as the terminus for long-distance and regional bus services. Another company, TRAMMET, operates the city's two modern tram networks, known as Trambaix and Trambesòs. The historic tram line, the Tramvia Blau, connects the metro to the Funicular del Tibidabo (both operated by TMB). The Funicular de Tibidabo climbs the Tibidabo hill, as does the Funicular de Vallvidrera (FGC). The Funicular de Montjuïc (TMB) climbs the Montjuïc hill. The city has two aerial cable cars: one to the Montjuïc castle and Port Vell Aerial Tramway that runs via Torre Jaume I and Torre Sant Sebastià over the port.

Barcelona has a metered taxi fleet governed by the Institut Metropolità del Taxi (Metropolitan Taxi Institute), composed of more than 10,000 cars. Most of the licences are in the hands of self-employed drivers. With their black and yellow livery, Barcelona's taxis are easily spotted.

On 22 March 2007, Barcelona's City Council started the Bicing service, a bicycle service understood as a public transport. Once the user has their user card, they can take a bicycle from any of the 100 stations spread around the city and use it anywhere the urban area of the city, and then leave it at another station. The service has been a success, with 50,000 subscribed users in three months.

Railway

Barcelona is a major hub for RENFE, the Spanish state railway network, and its main intercity train station is Barcelona-Sants station. The AVE high-speed rail system – designed for speeds of 300 km/h (186 mph) – was extended from Madrid to Barcelona (Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line) in 2008. Generally, Barcelona has high-speed rail links with major cities of Spain. A high-speed rail connecting Barcelona and France – LGV Perpignan–Figueres will be launched in 2012. Rodalies and the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) run Barcelona's widespread commuter train service.

Roads and highways

City cuts three international routes, including European route E15 (north-south), European route E90 (west-east) and European route E09. Also, Barcelona has a comprehensive network of motorways and highways throughout the city and metropolitan area, including A-2, A-7/AP-7, C-16, C-17, C-31, C-32, C-33, C-60. City is circled by three half ring roads or bypasses, Ronda de Dalt (on the mountain side), Ronda del Litoral (along the coast) and Ronda del Mig (separated into two parts: Travessera de Dalt in the north and the Gran Via de Carles III), two partially covered fast highways with several exits that bypass the city.

The city's main arteries include Diagonal Avenue, which crosses the city diagonally, Meridiana Avenue which leads to Glòries and connects with Diagonal Avenue and Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, which crosses the city from east to west, passing through the centre of the city.

International relations

Twin towns and sister cities

Barcelona is twinned with the following cities:^{(in chronological order)}

* Montpellier, France, 1963

* Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1972

* Monterrey, Mexico, 1977

* Boston, United States, 1983

* Busan, South Korea, 1983

* Cologne, Germany, 1984

* São Paulo, Brazil, 1985

* Montevideo, Uruguay, 1985

* Seville, Spain

* San Francisco, United States, 2010

Gdańsk, Poland, 1990

* Havana, Cuba, 1993

* Guayaquil, Ecuador

* Kobe, Japan, 1993

* Antwerp, Belgium, 1997

* Istanbul, Turkey, 1997

* Tel Aviv, Israel, 1998

* Gaza, Palestinian National Authority, 1998

* Dublin, Ireland, 1998

* Athens, Greece, 1999

* Isfahan, Iran, 2000

* Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2000

* Valparaíso, Chile, 2001

* Shanghai, People's Republic of China, 2001

* Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2006

* Cebu City, Philippines, 2009

* Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 2009-05-29.

Other forms of cooperation and city friendship similar to the twin city programmes exist to many cities worldwide.

Other sights

See also

Catalan people

Catalan cuisine

List of markets in Barcelona

List of tallest buildings and structures in Barcelona

1929 Barcelona International Exposition

Exposición Universal de Barcelona

Mossos d'Esquadra

Urban Region of Barcelona

References

Bibliography

Busquets, Joan. ''Barcelona: The Urban Evolution of a Compact City'' (Harvard UP, 2006) 468 pp.

McDonogh, Gary W. "Review Essay: Barcelona: Forms, Images, and Conflicts," ''Journal of Urban History'' (Jan. 2011) v37#1 pp 117–123 doi: 10.1177/0096144210384250

Marshall, Tim, ed. ''Transforming Barcelona'' (Routledge, 2004), 267 pp.

Ramon Resina, Joan. ''Barcelona's Vocation of Modernity: Rise and Decline of an Urban Image'' (Stanford UP, 2008). 272 pp.

Notes

External links

Official Website of Barcelona

Official Website Of Barcelona's Metropolitan Transports

Guide with Photos, Videos and Maps of Barcelona on BCN.travel

Category:10s BC establishments Category:Ancient mints Category:Host cities of the Summer Olympic Games Category:Municipalities in Barcelona Category:Phoenician colonies in Spain Category:Roman sites in Spain Category:Mediterranean port cities and towns in Spain Category:Recipients of the Royal Gold Medal Category:Populated places in Barcelona

af:Barcelona als:Barcelona ar:برشلونة an:Barcelona roa-rup:Barcelona frp:Barcelona ast:Barcelona ay:Barcelona az:Barselona bn:বার্সেলোনা zh-min-nan:Barcelona be:Горад Барселона be-x-old:Барсэлёна bi:Barcelona bo:བྷར་སེ་ལོ་ནཱ། bs:Barcelona br:Barcelona bg:Барселона ca:Barcelona cv:Барселона cs:Barcelona cbk-zam:Barcelona cy:Barcelona da:Barcelona de:Barcelona et:Barcelona el:Βαρκελώνη es:Barcelona eo:Barcelono ext:Barcelona eu:Bartzelona fa:بارسلون fo:Barcelona fr:Barcelone fy:Barselona (stêd) ga:Barcelona gd:Barcelona gl:Barcelona ko:바르셀로나 hy:Բարսելոնա hi:बार्सिलोना hr:Barcelona io:Barcelona ilo:Barcelona bpy:বার্সেলোনা id:Barcelona ia:Barcelona ie:Barcelona os:Барселонæ is:Barselóna it:Barcellona he:ברצלונה jv:Barcelona pam:Barcelona ka:ბარსელონა kk:Барселона (қала) kw:Barcelona sw:Barcelona kg:Barcelona ku:Barselona lad:Barselona la:Barcino lv:Barselona lb:Barcelona lt:Barselona lij:Barçellonn-a li:Barcelona hu:Barcelona mk:Барселона mg:Barselona ml:ബാര്‍സലോണ mt:Barċellona mr:बार्सिलोना arz:بارسلونا mzn:بارسلون ms:Barcelona my:ဘာစီလိုနာမြို့ nah:Barcelona nl:Barcelona (Spanje) ne:बार्सिलोना ja:バルセロナ no:Barcelona nn:Barcelona oc:Barcelona pnb:بارسیلونا nds:Barcelona pl:Barcelona pt:Barcelona ty:Barcelona ro:Barcelona qu:Barcelona ru:Барселона se:Barcelona sc:Barcellona sco:Barcelona tn:Barcelona sq:Barcelona scn:Barcillona (Spagna) simple:Barcelona sk:Barcelona sl:Barcelona szl:Barcelůna ckb:بارسەلۆنا sr:Барселона sh:Barcelona fi:Barcelona sv:Barcelona tl:Lungsod ng Barcelona ta:பார்செலோனா th:บาร์เซโลนา ve:Barcelona tr:Barselona uk:Барселона ur:بارسلونا ug:Barsélona vec:Barcełona vi:Barcelona vo:Barcelona (Spanyän) war:Barcelona yi:בארצעלאנע zh-yue:巴薩隆拿 bat-smg:Barseluona zh:巴塞罗那

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
playername	Cesc Fàbregas
fullname	Francesc Fàbregas i Soler
dateofbirth	May 04, 1987
cityofbirth	Vilassar de Mar
countryofbirth	Spain
height
position	Midfielder
currentclub	Barcelona
clubnumber	4
youthyears1	1995–1997
youthyears2	1997–2003
youthyears3	2003
youthclubs1	Mataró
youthclubs2	Barcelona
youthclubs3	Arsenal
years1	2003–2011
years2	2011-present
clubs1	Arsenal
clubs2	Barcelona
caps1	212
goals1	35
years2	2011–
clubs2	Barcelona
caps2	1
goals2	1
nationalyears1	2002–2003
nationalyears2	2003–2004
nationalyears3	2005
nationalyears4	2004–2005
nationalyears5	2006–
nationalyears6	2004
nationalteam1	Spain U16
nationalteam2	Spain U17
nationalteam3	Spain U20
nationalteam4	Spain U21
nationalteam5	Spain
nationalteam6	Catalonia
nationalcaps1	8
nationalgoals1	0
nationalcaps2	14
nationalgoals2	7
nationalcaps3	5
nationalgoals3	0
nationalcaps4	11
nationalgoals4	2
nationalcaps5	58
nationalgoals5	6
nationalcaps6	1
nationalgoals6	1
pcupdate	21:50, 29 August, 2011 (UTC)
ntupdate	03:13, 14 August 2011 (UTC) }}

Francesc "Cesc" Fàbregas i Soler (; born 4 May 1987) is a Spanish footballer who plays as a central midfielder for La Liga club FC Barcelona.

Fàbregas started his career as a trainee with Barcelona but was signed by Premier League side Arsenal in September 2003 at the age of 16. Following injuries to key midfielders in the 2004–05 season, he went on to establish himself as Arsenal's starting central midfielder, playmaker, and captain. He broke several of the club's records in the process, earning a reputation as one of the best young players for his position. In 2011, he returned to Barcelona for an initial fee of £29m (€34m) with a further £4m (€5m) in variables.

In international football, the Spaniard's national career began when he represented the Under-17 side at the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Finland. As a result of his club performances, he was called up to the senior squad in 2006. He has played in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2008 and 2010 FIFA World Cup, helping Spain to become eventual winners in the two most recent tournaments.

Early years

Fàbregas was born in Vilassar de Mar, Barcelona, Catalonia to Francesc Fàbregas, Sr., who runs a property company, and Núria Soler, the owner of a pastry company. Fàbregas has supported FC Barcelona since childhood and went to his first match when he was nine months old with his grandfather. He began his club football career with CE Mataró, before being signed for Barcelona's La Masia youth academy aged 10 in 1997. His first coach, Señor Blai, reportedly did not select Fabregas for matches against Barcelona in an attempt to hide him from their scouts. This tactic, however, was unable to withstand Barcelona for long, and Mataró gave in and allowed Fàbregas to train with Barcelona one day per week. Eventually Fàbregas joined Barcelona's academy full time. His initial training was as a defensive midfielder playing alongside notable names such as Gerard Piqué and Lionel Messi. Although he was a prolific scorer, sometimes scoring even more than 30 goals in a season for the club's youth teams, he did not manage to play a first team game at the Camp Nou. During his time at Barcelona's youth academy, Fàbregas idolised Barcelona's then-captain and number four Josep Guardiola, who would later give Fàbregas his shirt as consolation when Fàbregas' parents divorced.

Club career

Arsenal

Adapting to England

Sensing that he would have limited opportunities at Barcelona, he joined Arsenal in their Academy, signing for the London club on 11 September 2003. Initially, he found life difficult in England's capital but soon struck a friendship with Spanish-speaking team-mate Philippe Senderos, who helped him settle down. As a 16-year-old, Fàbregas did not contemplate breaking into the first team immediately but looked up to senior players like Patrick Vieira and Gilberto Silva, while concentrating on training and learning the English language. He nevertheless made his debut for Arsenal not long after, on 23 October 2003, in a League Cup tie at home to Rotherham United. In doing so he became Arsenal's youngest ever first team player, aged 16 years and 177 days. He then became the youngest goalscorer in Arsenal's history in a later round of the League Cup, scoring in a 5–1 victory against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Although Arsenal went on to win the league unbeaten in the 2003–04 season, Fàbregas was not awarded a winner's medal because he did not play a single league game.

It was not until the start of the 2004–05 season that the Spaniard started making first team appearances in matches outside the League Cup. His first match of the season was against Manchester United in the FA Community Shield. Following an injury to Vieira, Fàbregas stepped in and made four consecutive Premier League starts. He was praised for his performances in those games, even claiming a goal against Blackburn Rovers in a 3–0 victory, and becoming Arsenal's youngest ever goalscorer in a league game. With further injuries to Edu and Gilberto Silva, he received more playing time in all competitions. He signed his first professional contract with Arsenal in September 2004, which committed his long-term future to the club. In the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League, he became the second-youngest goalscorer in the competition's history after scoring the third goal against Rosenborg in a 5–1 win. He concluded his season by winning his first honours with Arsenal when he was in the starting eleven that defeated Manchester United on penalties in the 2005 FA Cup Final.

Making the starting eleven

After the departure of Vieira to Juventus, Fàbregas was given the Frenchman's number 4 shirt and featured regularly in the Arsenal central midfield alongside Gilberto Silva. He made 49 appearances in all competitions during the 2005–06 season. Despite his young age, his performances came under greater scrutiny due to his increased involvement in the first team. Further, as Fàbregas possessed a smaller frame and played with less aggression than Vieira, there were initially doubts over his ability to fill in the void left by the Frenchman. Nevertheless, Fàbregas asserted his own style of play and impressed pundits in the Champions League against Real Madrid and Juventus. In the latter, he scored Arsenal's first goal and set up Thierry Henry for the second, at the same time proving that he could compete against tough, hard-tackling midfielders like Vieira. He then played in the Final against his former club Barcelona, but Arsenal were defeated 2–1, completing a trophyless 2005–06 campaign for Arsenal.

Fàbregas' increase in exposure drew transfer speculation during the summer; Real Madrid expressed a desire to sign the Spaniard despite his long-term contract with Arsenal, but Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger stated that Arsenal would not listen to any offers. In September 2006, with six years left on his deal, Arsenal offered a new five-year deal (with an option to extend by a further three years) to the midfielder, which he signed on 19 October 2006. While the contract was unusually long, Fàbregas cited Arsenal's playing style and Wenger as reasons for his long-term commitment to the club.

The 2006–07 season was a learning experience for the young Arsenal squad and Fàbregas. The club again failed to secure any major honours and were defeated by city rivals Chelsea in the League Cup Final. However, Fàbregas emerged as one of the key creative players for the team, playing in every single league game. He kickstarted Arsenal's 2006–07 UEFA Champions League campaign when he scored a brace in a 3–0 win over Dinamo Zagreb in a qualifier match. In the Premier League, he notched up 13 assists, which was the second-highest total in the league. He ended the season with several individual honours, including the Golden Boy award, presented by the Italian paper ''TuttoSport'', based on a poll of leading writers across Europe. He was also named in the 2006 UEFA Team of the Year, and named FA Premier League Player of the Month for January 2007. Additionally, he was nominated for both PFA Players' Player of the Year and PFA Young Player of the Year, although both awards went to Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo. In June 2007, he was named Arsenal's Player of the Season, taking in 60% of the votes.

The 2007–08 season began with much uncertainty for Arsenal. First, David Dein, the club's vice-chairman, left amidst allegations of internal strife, followed by the departure of the club's all-time top goalscorer and captain, Thierry Henry, who signed for Barcelona. There was also speculation over Wenger's future with the club. Fàbregas knew that he would become the most important player for Arsenal, but stated he was ready for the challenge. He started the season well, chalking up goals and assists, and website soccernet attributed the early success of Arsenal to the young Spaniard. His start to the season also earned him the O₂ Player of the Month award from Arsenal fans for August, September and October, as well as the Premier League Player of the Month for September. With Arsenal leading the league table until March, Fàbregas was equally instrumental in the club's 2007–08 Champions League campaign; in the return leg against Milan, the midfielder scored late in the game to send Arsenal into the quarter-finals. Though Arsenal ended the season trophyless, Fàbregas amassed several personal awards. On 11 April 2008, Fàbregas was nominated for the PFA Player of the Year and PFA Young Player of the Year awards for the second year running; he was later crowned the winner of the latter, and named in the PFA Team of the Year. He was also named the 2007–08 Arsenal.com Player of the Season.

Captaincy

On 24 November 2008, 14 league games into the 2008–09 season, Fàbregas was named as the successor to William Gallas as club captain. However, just as Arsenal were getting back into the title race after a poor start to the season, the Spaniard was ruled out for four months after sustaining a knee injury against Liverpool. The Gunners eventually finished the season without any silverware, coming in fourth in the league and being knocked out at the semi-finals of the 2008–09 Champions League campaign. In tandem with Arsenal's policy to groom its young players, the team that Fàbregas led into the new season consisted mostly of the same young nucleus as before, with the likes of Nicklas Bendtner, Gaël Clichy, Abou Diaby, Denílson, Samir Nasri, Alexandre Song, and Theo Walcott in tow.

In the opening league game of 2009–10 season, Fàbregas scored a brace and managed two assists in Arsenal's 6–1 away win against Everton. Arsenal went on to secure qualification for the 2009–10 Champions League campaign by beating Celtic over two legs, but their early momentum to the season was disrupted by consecutive league game losses to Manchester United and Manchester City. The team bounced back strongly after this setback, and with Fàbregas being prolific in scoring and setting up his teammates, it went unbeaten in the next 13 games. Despite suffering four league losses even before mid-season approached, Arsenal managed to lead the league standings after 22 games. On 31 March 2010, in the Champions League first leg of the quarter-final against Barcelona, Fàbregas suffered a leg fracture before scoring the equalising goal in the game which ended 2–2. Arsenal, who were four points behind league leaders Manchester United, were deprived of their captain for the remaining six league games of the season; they were subsequently eliminated by Barcelona in the Champions League, and fell out of the league title race. Fàbregas was later named to the PFA Team of the Year.

Before the start of the 2010–11 season, there was once again intense media speculation about the Spaniard's future, and in June 2010, a €35 million bid from Barcelona was rejected. The 2010–11 season turned out to be an extremely competitive one in the Premier League; even though Arsenal had lost five games before mid-season, they were jostling for pole position with Manchester United and Manchester City. Going into late February, Arsenal were still in contention for the quadruple, but within a span of two weeks they lost in the League Cup final, were eliminated by Barcelona in the Round of 16 of the Champions League, and defeated in the FA Cup quarter-final. Although Fàbregas did not play in the League Cup Final, it was his misplaced backheel pass during the second leg of the Champions League game against Barcelona that allowed them to level the aggregate score. Arsenal remained in contention for the league title until a series of draws in the final third of the season caused them to fall too far behind league leaders Manchester United; they ended the season fourth. The following season was once again marked by uncertainty. Barcelona made several bids for Fàbregas, while Nasri, Arsenal's star performer the previous campaign, was courted by Manchester City.

Barcelona

On 15 August 2011, Barcelona signed Fàbregas for for an initial fee of £29 million (€34 million) with a further £4 million (€5 million) in variables, ending one of the most protracted transfer sagas in recent times. Fàbregas made his debut in the second leg of the Supercopa de España, coming on as a substitute against Real Madrid. Barcelona won the tie 3–2 and 5–4 on aggregate. He scored his first goal in a 2–0 win against Porto as Barcelona won the 2011 UEFA Super Cup, and his first league goal on his league debut against Villarreal.

International career

Youth team

Although he features regularly for the Spain national football team, Fàbregas' international career began at youth level. At the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship held in Finland, he finished as top scorer of the tournament despite playing in midfield, and was voted Player of the Tournament. Spain finished runners-up in the tournament to Brazil. Fàbregas was next involved in the 2004 UEFA U-17 European Championship, where Spain also finished runners-up. He was named the Golden Player of the tournament.

Senior team

After emerging as one of Arsenal's key players in only his second season at the club, it did not take long for Fàbregas to be called up to the senior squad. Noting his impressive performances in Arsenal's 2006 Champions League campaign, Spain coach Luis Aragonés named the teenager in the team for a friendly against Ivory Coast. In that game, Fàbregas became the youngest player capped for Spain in 70 years, beating Sergio Ramos' record. He received favourable reviews for his début, and was involved in the build-up to Spain's first goal in the 3–2 victory over the Ivorians.

2006 World Cup

On 15 May 2006, Fàbregas was selected for the Spanish 2006 FIFA World Cup squad. During the tournament, he came on as a second-half substitute in Spain's first two group matches, contributing an assist to striker Fernando Torres in their 3–1 victory against Tunisia. He then started alongside Spain's reserve players (including then-Arsenal teammate José Antonio Reyes) in Spain's third group match against Saudi Arabia. He earned a starting role in Spain's first knockout-stage match against France, in place of Marcos Senna, but Spain lost 3–1. Fàbregas also became the youngest player in Spanish football history to participate in a World Cup when he came on as a substitute for Luis García after 77 minutes in the 4–0 victory against Ukraine on 13 June 2006; he was then 19 years and 41 days old. He was later nominated for the Gillette Young Player of the World Cup, but Germany's Lukas Podolski won the award.

UEFA Euro 2008

In UEFA Euro 2008, Fàbregas was issued with squad number 10, rather than 18 which he had previously held. Despite featuring mostly as a substitute, the midfielder made a considerable impact in Spain's campaign. He scored his first international goal in that competition in Spain's 4–1 win over Russia and also had an assist in that game. Spain won all three of their group games and met Italy in the quarter-finals. In that match, Fàbregas scored the winning penalty in the penalty shoot-out after the teams remained deadlocked 0–0 after extra time. In the semi-finals, Spain defeated Russia 3–0 with Fàbregas providing two assists. The midfielder made the starting eleven in the Final against Germany where Spain prevailed 1–0; this was Spain's first major title since 1964. For his efforts, Fàbregas was named in the Team of the Tournament, a 23-man squad selected by the UEFA Technical Team.

Confederations Cup 2009

After missing out for several months due to his injury, Fàbregas regained his place as a regular in Vicente del Bosque's squad. In June, he was named in the team for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. He scored his second international goal in a 5–0 win against New Zealand in the competition's group stage. In the semi-finals against the United States (which Fàbregas started), Spain suffered a shock 2–0 loss, and its 15-game winning streak came to an end.

2010 World Cup

Fàbregas was selected as a part of del Bosque's 23-man squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. With del Bosque preferring a starting midfield of Sergio Busquets, Xabi Alonso, Xavi and Andrés Iniesta, Fàbregas did not start in any of Spain's games in the competition. He featured as a substitute in four of their seven matches, in which Spain lost their opening game before winning the next six en route to the final. In the Final itself, Fàbregas set up the extra-time winner for Iniesta to win Spain the World Cup for the first time in their history.

International goals

:''Scores and results list. Spain's goal tally first.'' Tivoli Neu, Innsbruck, Austria 14 June 2009 9 September 2009 10 October 2009 18 November 2009 8 June 2010

# !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
1.	10 June 2008	|		4–1	4–1	UEFA Euro 2008 Group D>UEFA Euro 2008
2.	|	Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg, South Africa		4–0	5–0	2009 FIFA Confederations Cup
3.	|	Estadio Romano, Mérida, Spain>Mérida, Spain		1–0	3–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
4.	|	Hanrapetakan Stadium, Yerevan, Armenia		1–0	2–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
5.	|	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria		1–1	5–1	Friendly
6.	|	Nueva Condomina, Murcia, Spain		4–0	6–0	Friendly

Style of play

Originally brought to Arsenal as a youth to slowly develop via the League Cup, Fàbregas was unexpectedly deployed as Arsenal's starting central midfielder following injuries to fellow midfielders Patrick Vieira, Gilberto Silva and Edu during the 2004–05 season. While Vieira served as his role model and mentor, he styled his game after his childhood hero and compatriot Josep Guardiola. Because he was of a different mould from his Arsenal predecessors who played in the same position, this led to criticisms of his lightweight frame and less aggressive style of play, with former teammate Ashley Cole criticising the Spaniard as "an unproven featherweight" in his autobiography.

However, it did not take long for Fàbregas to become one of the most coveted and celebrated young talents in the game. Functioning mostly as a playmaker and renowned for his passing range, he was described as the kernel of Arsenal's first team, bringing vision, creativity, and an innate understanding of timing and space to Arsenal's intricate passing game, displaying maturity that belied his age. He was the main creative force when he was at Arsenal, as exemplified by his 16 assists in all competitions in the 2006–07 season. Between 2006–07 and 2010–11, Fàbregas created the most chances in the top-division leagues of England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France.

At Arsenal, Fàbregas also often assumed responsibility for set pieces, taking corners, free kicks and penalties. By his own admission, scoring was a weaker part of his game in his first few seasons at Arsenal; wasteful finishing also being symptomatic of the larger problem surrounding Arsenal in the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons. This changed initially in the 2007–08 season when he scored 11 goals in his first 16 games, and Arsenal manager Wenger claimed that the Spaniard's previous inability to score was down to a mental state, and even compared the Spaniard to Michel Platini, a French midfielder renowned for scoring. There were also concerns raised over the large number of games Fàbregas was playing for club and country at such a young age, but while he initially avoided long spells on the sidelines, he played significantly less games due to injury in his last three seasons with Arsenal.

Statistics

''Statistics accurate as of 29 August 2011''

0 2 3 2 7 3 15 3 1

Club	Season	League	Cup	!colspan="3"	Total
!Apps	!Goals	!Assists	!Apps	!Goals	!Assists	!Apps	!Goals	!Assists	!Apps	!Goals	!Assists
rowspan="8" valign="center"	Arsenal		0	|	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	3	1	0
2004–05 Arsenal F.C. season	2004–05	33	|	4	8	0	0	5	1	0	46	3	4
2005–06 Arsenal F.C. season	2005–06	35	|	5	2	1	0	13	1	2	50	5	7
2006–07 Arsenal F.C. season	2006–07	38	|	13	6	0	2	10	2	1	54	4	16
2007–08 Arsenal F.C. season	2007–08	32	|	19	3	0	1	10	6	2	45	13	22
2008–09 Arsenal F.C. season	2008–09	22	|	10	1	0	0	10	0	5	33	3	15
2009–10 Arsenal F.C. season	2009–10	27	|	15	1	0	1	8	4	3	36	19	19
2010–11 Arsenal F.C. season	2010–11	25	|	14	6	3	1	5	3	2	35	9	17
Total	!212!!35!!80!!30!!5!!5!!61!!17!!15!!303!!57!!100
rowspan="1" valign="center"	Barcelona		1	|	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	3	2	0
Total	!1!!1!!0!!1!!0!!0!!1!!1!!0!!3!!2!!0
Career total		! 213 !! 36 !! 80 !! 31 !! 5 !! 5 !! 62 !! 18 !! 15 !! 306 !! 59 !! 100

|- |2006||14||0 |- |2007||8||0 |- |2008||15||1 |- |2009||10||4 |- |2010||11||1 |- !Total||58||6 |}

Career highlights

Arsenal

Winner

FA Cup: 2004–05

FA Community Shield: 2004

Runner-up

UEFA Champions League: 2005–06

Football League Cup: 2006–07, 2010–11

FA Community Shield: 2005

Barcelona

Winner

Supercopa de España: 2011

UEFA Super Cup: 2011

International

Winner

FIFA World Cup: 2010

UEFA European Championship: 2008

Runner-up

FIFA U-17 World Championship: 2003

UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship: 2004

Individual

FIFA U-17 World Championship Golden Shoe: 2003

FIFA U-17 World Championship Golden Ball: 2003

UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship Golden Player: 2004

Bravo Award: 2006

UEFA Team of the Year: 2006, 2008

Premier League Player of the Month: January 2007, September 2007

ESM Team of the Year: 2007–08, 2009–10

PFA Young Player of the Year: 2007–08

PFA Team of the Year: 2007–08, 2009–10

UEFA Team of the Tournament: 2008

Golden Boy: 2006

Prince of Asturias Awards: 2010

Other projects

Fàbregas starred in his own one-time only television programme, called ''"The Cesc Fàbregas Show: Nike Live"'', that aired on 19 May 2008. The programme was sponsored by Nike and was shown on Sky Sports. The show featured Fàbregas in several sketches with Arsenal teammates like Philippe Senderos and Nicklas Bendtner, as well as coach Arsène Wenger, Fàbregas' parents and ''Little Britain'' star Matt Lucas.

Fàbregas is also an Honorary Patron of the campaign against Racism in football and society; Show Racism the Red Card.

References

External links

FC Barcelona profile

BDFutbol profile

Transfermarkt profile

National team data

2010 FIFA World Cup profile

Category:1987 births Category:Living people Category:People from Barcelona Category:Spanish footballers Category:Catalan footballers Category:Association football midfielders Category:Premier League players Category:Arsenal F.C. players Category:La Liga footballers Category:FC Barcelona footballers Category:Spain youth international footballers Category:Spain under-21 international footballers Category:Spain international footballers Category:2006 FIFA World Cup players Category:UEFA Euro 2008 players Category:2009 FIFA Confederations Cup players Category:2010 FIFA World Cup players Category:UEFA European Football Championship-winning players Category:FIFA World Cup-winning players Category:Spanish expatriate footballers Category:Expatriate footballers in England

ar:سيسك فابريغاس az:Sesk Fabreqas bn:সেস্‌ ফ্যাব্রিগাস be:Сеск Фабрэгас be-x-old:Франсэск Фабрэгас bg:Сеск Фабрегас ca:Francesc Fàbregas i Soler cs:Francesc Fàbregas da:Cesc Fàbregas de:Cesc Fàbregas et:Cesc Fàbregas el:Σεσκ Φάμπρεγας es:Cesc Fàbregas eo:Cesc Fàbregas eu:Cesc Fàbregas fa:سسک فابرگاس fr:Francesc Fàbregas ga:Cesc Fàbregas gl:Cesc Fàbregas ko:세스크 파브레가스 hy:Սեսկ Ֆաբրեգաս hr:Cesc Fàbregas id:Cesc Fàbregas is:Cesc Fabregas it:Cesc Fàbregas he:ססק פברגאס jv:Cesc Fàbregas ka:ფრანსესკ ფაბრეგასი la:Franciscus Fàbregas lv:Sesks Fabregass lb:Cesc Fàbregas lt:Cesc Fàbregas hu:Cesc Fàbregas mk:Францеск Фабрегас mr:सेस्क फाब्रेगास ms:Cesc Fàbregas mn:Цеск Фабрегас nl:Cesc Fàbregas ja:フランセスク・ファブレガス no:Cesc Fàbregas nn:Cesc Fàbregas uz:Cesc Fàbregas pl:Cesc Fàbregas pt:Cesc Fàbregas ro:Cesc Fàbregas ru:Фабрегас, Сеск sq:Francesc Fabregas simple:Cesc Fàbregas sk:Francesc Fàbregas sl:Cesc Fàbregas sr:Сеск Фабрегас fi:Cesc Fàbregas sv:Cesc Fàbregas th:เซสก์ ฟาเบรกัส tr:Cesc Fàbregas uk:Сеск Фабрегас vi:Cesc Fàbregas wuu:Francesc Fàbregas zh-yue:法比加斯 zh:塞斯克·法比加斯

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
name	Alexis Sánchez
fullname	Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez
birth date	December 19, 1988
position	Forward / Winger
currentclub	Barcelona
clubnumber	9
youthyears1	2003–2004 |youthclubs1 Cobreloa
years1	2005–2006 |clubs1 Cobreloa |caps1 47 |goals1 12
years2	2006–2011 |clubs2 Udinese |caps2 95 |goals2 20
years3	2006–2007 |clubs3 → Colo-Colo (loan) |caps3 32 |goals3 5
years4	2007–2008 |clubs4 → River Plate (loan) |caps4 23 |goals4 4
years5	2011– |clubs5 Barcelona |caps5 1 |goals5 1
nationalyears1	2007 |nationalteam1 Chile U20 |nationalcaps1 12 |nationalgoals1 3
nationalyears2	2006– |nationalteam2 Chile |nationalcaps2 41 |nationalgoals2 14
pcupdate	13:55, 13 July 2011 (UTC)
ntupdate	20:54, 15 August 2011 (UTC) }}

Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez (Spanish pronunciation: ; born 19 December 1988), is a Chilean footballer who plays as a forward for FC Barcelona and for the Chilean national team.

Sánchez began his career as a youth player for Cobreloa in 2003, aged 15, for then be promoted to the first adult team, two years later. His precocious talent caught the attention of Udinese, team of the Italian Serie A, and signed the 17-year-old for $3 million in May 2006, but was immediately loaned out to Colo-Colo, and then River Plate where he was able to mature in less physically demanding confines than the Italian first division.

He joined Udinese after becoming champion of the Argentina and Chilean leagues in June 2008. Sánchez made a steady progress in his first two seasons at Udinese, and in the 2010-11 season he established himself as one of the key player's that allowed Udinese to finish fourth in Serie A. On 27 February 2011, Sánchez scored four of seven goals as his team defeated Palermo 7-0, playing only the first 52 minutes of the game. This event meant he broke the record of goals scored by a Chilean player (in a single match) in the Italian Serie A, thus beating the records set by his historic countrymen Marcelo Salas and Ivan Zamorano.

Alexis made his international debut for his national team against Sweden in 2006 and scored his first goal against Switzerland in a 2–1 loss, being also the first goal of the Marcelo Bielsa era. During the period of Bielsa, he was the top-scorer of Chile with 14 goals surpassing to Humberto Suazo with 11 goals.

Early life

Born in Tocopilla, to a family of fishermen, Alexis quickly learned that his life would not be easy. His biological father abandoned Alexis and his family to go work in a mine, leaving Alexis to help his family out financially from an early age.

Acording to his relatives and his closest friends, Alexis was an extroverted boy at school. Alexis washed cars in a graveyard to earn some money, but clearly the dream of Alexis was to be a footballer. His fanaticism for football was shared with all his family, especially with José Delaigue, his uncle-in law and adoptive father. Being a former amateur footballer, Delaigue saw great potential in the young Alexis.

At the age of 15 while playing football with his friends in the neighborhood, he impressed the mayor of Tocopilla, who awarded him his first football boots. The mayor's decision was a worthwhile one, while playing for Tocopilla in a regional tournament, Sánchez dominated, in one particular match he scored 8 goals.

Club career

Early career

Alexis joined Cobreloa in 2004 and eventually made his first-team debut one year later at the age of 16 on 12 February 2005 in a 5–4 win against Deportes Temuco. In his second professional game, he set a Copa Libertadores record by becoming the youngest player to debut in the South American Club Championship. In the next season, Sánchez concentrated on his goal scoring for the Torneo Apertura 2006, netting six goals in 12 appearances. On 21 July, Cobreloa sold Sánchez to the Italian side Udinese for $3 million.

In July 2006, he was loaned to one of Chile's biggest teams, Colo-Colo on a season-long deal. His loan was due to a maturation project that Udinese implemented with youth players. After a notable season in the Cacique, and winning two league titles, it was assumed that Sánchez would return to Italy. He was loaned out again, however, this time to Argentina's River Plate.

Early seasons at Italy

After a successful season in Argentina, in July 2008, Sánchez left South America to officially join Udinese, where he would suit up with Chilean compatriot Mauricio Isla. Sánchez made his non-competitive debut in a 3–0 win over Bassano and was named the man of match. On 14 September, he played his first game in Serie A in a 1–0 loss with Juventus and four days later, he made his Europe debut against Borussia Dortmund. On 19 October 2008, Sánchez scored his first league goal against Lecce. After this first goal, Sánchez got into a minor slump, in which he took much criticism. The criticism ended after scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute against Bologna in a 1–0 win, being named the man of match.

In the following season, Sánchez played an important role for Udinese at Coppa Italia 2009–10, being a key player in the team that eliminated AC Milan, assisting Gökhan Inler for the winning goal. In the semi-final second leg, Sánchez was the man of match after playing a successful game against Roma, including scoring his first Coppa Italia goal in the 81st minute. It was not enough, however, as the aggregate score was 2–1 in favor of Roma. By the end of this year, Sánchez scored a total of five goals (four at the end of tournament) in 32 appearances.

Udinese

After participating for Chile in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Sánchez began to live an intense process of adaptation that consecrated him in Udinese with very good performances for the club, because of this, Sánchez has also attracted the interest from clubs such as Manchester United, Zenit St. Petersburg, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Juventus, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Chelsea,

On 27 February 2011, Sánchez scored four of seven goals as his team defeated Palermo 7-0, playing only the first 52 minutes of the game. This event meant he broke the record of goals scored by a Chilean player (in a single match) in the Italian Serie A, thus beating the records set by his historic countrymen Marcelo Salas and Ivan Zamorano.

During his successful season at Udinese Calcio, Sánchez and Italian striker Antonio Di Natale became one of the best scoring duos in Serie A tallying 39 goals between then, two goals short of the Del Piero–Trezeguet duo that completed 41 goals in the 2007–08 season. In recognition of his achievements he has been named the world's most promising youngster of the 2011 season, by the viewer of ''FIFA.com'', which the viewer had to choose between Sánchez, Gareth Bale, Javier Pastore and Ganso in that poll. Sánchez ranked 56th in May 2011 edition of Castrol Performance Index and 24th among the forwards.

Barcelona

On 20 July 2011, FC Barcelona confirmed they had agreed a €26m fee (plus certain bonuses) with Udinese for the transfer of Sánchez,thus becoming the first Chilean to ever play for the club. "Sánchez is very young," said manager Josep Guardiola. "He can play in all three attacking positions, he shows intense defensive skills, he's direct and from what I've been told, he's a very nice kid." The transfer was finalised five days later when he passed a medical and signed a five-year contract. "I want to learn from players like Messi and Xavi - and I want to help the club win more titles," said Sánchez.He made his debut against arch rivals Real Madrid. After the game he got positive comments from his team mates. He made his first goal in his first match in La Liga versus Villarreal C.F., the final result was 5-0.

International career

Alexis made his international debut for his national team against New Zealand on 27 April 2006. He was called up by the coach José Sulantay for play with his country in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup celebrated in Canada, achieving an historic performance, finishing in third place of the tournament.

After his participation in the youth championship, he scored his first goal in the Marcelo Bielsa era in a 2–1 loss against Switzerland on 7 September 2007. Due to the three-months injury that he suffered playing for River Plate, Sánchez missed the first four games of the FIFA World Cup qualification. Fully recovered now, he led to Chile to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, becoming the team's star player. His best game during the qualifiers was in a 4–0 win over Bolivia, scoring two goals of the victory. However, in the maximum global competition, he had a regular performance, but Alexis continued to be the favorite of the fans.

Prior to the 2011 Copa América, Sánchez has scored 2 goals in 4 games, those goals were scored against Uruguay and Estonia. On 29 June 2011, he was selected in the 23-man squad that will represent to Chile in the Copa América celebrated in Argentina.

International goals

Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria 4 June 2008 4 June 2008 11 February 2009 28 March 2009 10 June 2009 10 June 2009 12 August 2009 26 May 2010 26 May 2010 30 May 2010 17 November 2010 19 June 2011 8 July 2011

Sánchez – goals for Chile
# !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
align="center"	1.	7 September 2007	|		1–1	2–1	Exhibition_game#Association_football>Friendly match
align="center"	2.	|	Estadio El Teniente, Rancagua, Chile		1–0	2–0	Friendly match
align="center"	3.	|	Estadio El Teniente, Rancagua, Chile	Guatemala	2–0	2–0	Friendly match
align="center"	4.	|	Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane, South Africa		0–2	0–2	Friendly match
align="center"	5.	|	Estadio Monumental "U", Lima, Peru		0–1	1–3	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)>2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification
align="center"	6.	|	Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago de Chile>Santiago, Chile		3–0	4–0	2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification
align="center"	7.	|	Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago, Chile	Bolivia	4–0	4–0	2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification
align="center"	8.	|	Brøndby Stadium, Brøndby, Denmark		1–2	1–2	Friendly match
align="center"	9.	|	Estadio Municipal de Calama, Calama, Chile>Calama, Chile		1–0	3–0	Friendly match
align="center"	10.	|	Estadio Municipal de Calama, Calama, Chile	Zambia	2–0	3–0	Friendly match
align="center"	11.	|	Estadio Municipal de Concepción, Concepción, Chile>Concepción, Chile		2–0	3–0	Friendly match
align="center"	12.	|	Estadio Monumental David Arellano, Santiago, Chile		1–0	2–0	Friendly match
align="center"	13.	| Estadio Monumental, Santiago, Chile ||		4–0	4–0	Exhibition game>Friendly match
align="center"	14.	|	Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza, Argentina>Mendoza, Argentina		1–1	1–1	2011 Copa América

Career statistics

Club

3 9 4 1 4 3 5 12 1

Club	Season	League	Cup	!colspan="2"	!colspan="2"	Total
!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
rowspan="3"	Cobreloa		35	|	–		3	0	–		38	3
Chilean Primera División	2006	12	|	–		–		–		12	9
!Total	!47!!12!!colspan="2"
rowspan="3"	Colo-Colo		18	|	–		9	1	–		27	5
2007 Chilean Primera División season	2007	14	|	–		7	3	–		21	4
!Total	!32!!5!!colspan="2"
rowspan="2"	River Plate		23	|	–		8	0	–		31	4
!Total	!23!!4!!colspan="2"
rowspan="4"	Udinese		32	|	2	0	9	0	–		43	3
2009–10 Serie A	2009–10	32	|	4	1	–		–		36	6
2010–11 Serie A	2010–11	31	|	2	0	–		–		33	12
!Total	–!!112!!21
rowspan="2"	Barcelona		1	|	0	0	0	0	2	0	3	1
!Total	!1!!1!!0!!0!!0!!0!!2!!0!!3!!1
Career total	!198!!42!!8!!1!!36!!4!!2!!0!!244!!47

¹Includes continental competitive competitions, including the Copa Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana and UEFA Champions League. ²Includes other competitive competitions, including the FIFA Club World Cup, Supercopa de España and UEFA Super Cup.

''Statistics accurate as of match played 14 August 2011''

National team

|- |2006||5||0 |- |2007||4||1 |- |2008||9||2 |- |2009||9||5 |- |2010||7||4 |- |2011||8||2 |- !Total||42||14 |}

Honours

Club

; Colo-Colo

Chilean Primera División (2): 2006 Clausura, 2007 Apertura

Copa Sudamericana (1): Runner-up 2006

; River Plate

Primera División de Argentina (1): 2008 Clausura

; Barcelona

Supercopa de España (1): 2011

UEFA Super Cup (1): 2011

International

FIFA U-20 World Cup (1): Third place 2007

Individual

Serie A Player of the Month (1): February 2011

Serie A Footballer of the Year (1): 2010–11

Personal life

The adoptive father of Alexis, José Delaigue, died of a heart attack in June 2011 at age 75 when Sánchez was 22. On 19 June of that year, in Chile's 4-0 win over Estonia, on his team's last goal that Alexis scored he removed his jersey during his celebration to reveal a photo on his undershirt of his adoptive father, in tribute of the late man.

References

External links

FC Barcelona profile

Transfermarkt profile

2010 FIFA World Cup profile

Category:1989 births Category:Living people Category:People from Tocopilla Category:Chilean footballers Category:Association football forwards Category:Chilean Primera División players Category:Cobreloa footballers Category:CSD Colo-Colo players Category:Serie A footballers Category:Udinese Calcio players Category:Primera División Argentina players Category:River Plate footballers Category:La Liga footballers Category:FC Barcelona footballers Category:Chile international footballers Category:2010 FIFA World Cup players Category:2011 Copa América players Category:Chilean expatriate footballers Category:Expatriate footballers in Italy Category:Expatriate footballers in Argentina Category:Expatriate footballers in Spain

ar:أليكسيس سانشيز ca:Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez da:Alexis Sánchez de:Alexis Sánchez es:Alexis Sánchez fa:الکسیس سانچز fr:Alexis Sánchez ko:알렉시스 산체스 id:Alexis Sánchez it:Alexis Sánchez he:אלכסיס סאנצ'ס la:Alexis Sánchez lv:Aleksiss Sančess lt:Alexis Sánchez hu:Alexis Sánchez mr:एलेक्सिस सांचेझ nl:Alexis Sánchez ja:アレクシス・サンチェス no:Alexis Sánchez (fotballspiller) nn:Alexis Sánchez pl:Alexis Sánchez pt:Alexis Sánchez ro:Alexis Sánchez ru:Санчес, Алексис fi:Alexis Sánchez sv:Alexis Sánchez th:อาเลกซิส ซานเชซ tr:Alexis Sánchez uk:Алексіс Санчес vi:Alexis Sánchez zh:阿莱克西斯·桑切斯

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
playername	Zinedine Zidane
fullname	Zinedine Yazid Zidane
dateofbirth	June 23, 1972
cityofbirth	Marseille
countryofbirth	France
height
position	Midfielder
youthyears1	1982–1983
youthyears2	1983–1986
youthyears3	1986–1988
youthclubs1	US Saint-Henri
youthclubs2	SO Septèmes-les-Vallons
youthclubs3	Cannes
years1	1988–1992
years2	1992–1996
years3	1996–2001
years4	2001–2006
clubs1	Cannes
clubs2	Bordeaux
clubs3	Juventus
clubs4	Real Madrid
caps1	61
goals1	6
caps2	139
goals2	28
caps3	151
goals3	24
caps4	155
goals4	37
totalcaps	506
totalgoals	95
nationalyears1	1991–1994
nationalteam1	France U-21
nationalcaps1	18
nationalgoals1	3
nationalyears2	1994–2006
nationalteam2	France
nationalcaps2	108
nationalgoals2	31 }}

Zinedine Zidane () (born 23 June 1972) is a retired French footballer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. Zidane was the iconic figure of a generation of French players that won the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship. After a brief international retirement, he returned to the national team in 2005 and captained France to the 2006 World Cup Final where he won the Golden Ball as the tournament's most outstanding player.

At club level Zidane won the La Liga and the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid, two Serie A league championships with Juventus, an Intercontinental Cup, and a UEFA Super Cup each with both aforementioned sides. He is, alongside Brazilian striker Ronaldo, the only three-time FIFA World Player of the Year winner; he also won the Ballon d'Or in 1998. He retired from professional football after the 2006 World Cup.

He currently holds the post of Real Madrid Director of Football, filling the spot previously held by Jorge Valdano.

Early life

Childhood

Zidane is of Kabyle Berber descent. His parents, Smaïl and Malika, emigrated to Paris from the village of Aguemone in the Berber-speaking region of Kabylia in eastern Algeria, in 1953 before the start of the Algerian War. The family, which had settled in the city's tough northern districts of Barbès and Saint-Denis, found little work in the region. So in the mid-1960s, they moved to the northern Marseille suburb of La Castellane where, on 23 June 1972, Zidane was born as the youngest of five siblings. Zidane's father Smaïl worked as a warehouseman at a department store, often on the night shift, while his mother was a housewife. The family lived in so small a tower-block apartment in the housing complex that he, his parents, three brothers and one sister had to sit down to eat in shifts. Yet, due to his father's steady job, the family lived a reasonably comfortable life by the standards of the neighbourhood, which was notorious throughout Marseille for its high crime and unemployment rates.

It was at La Castellane that Zidane had his earliest introduction to football, joining in at the age of five, in football games that the neighbourhood's children played on the Place Tartane, an 80-by-12-yard plaza that served as the main square of the housing complex. Thus, even after he joined school, while he did practise Judo attaining a green belt and indulge in skateboarding and bicycling, football remained his greatest passion.

Youth Clubs

This passion was turned into a career when at the age of ten, Zidane got his first player's license after joining the junior team of a local club from La Castellane by the name of US Saint-Henri. After spending a year and a half at US Saint-Henri, Zidane joined SO Septèmes Valons when the Septèmes coach Robert Centenero convinced the club's Director to get Zidane.

Zidane stayed with Septèmes till the age of fourteen, at which time he was selected to attend a three-day training camp at the CREPS (Regional Centre for Sports and Physical Education) in Aix-en-Provence, one of several such footballing institutes run by the French Football Federation. It was here that Zidane was spotted by AS Cannes scout Jean Varraud who recommended him to the training center director of the club, Gilles Rampillon.

In July 2011, Zidane named Blaž Slišković, Enzo Francescoli and Jean-Pierre Papin as his idols while growing up.

Club career

Cannes

Zidane went to Cannes for a six-week stay, but ended up remaining at the club for four years to play at the professional level. Having left his family at the age of fourteen to join Cannes, the youngster was invited by Cannes director Jean-Claude Elineau, to leave the dormitory he shared with 20 other trainees and to come and stay with him and his family. Zidane later said that it was in living with the Elineaus that he found equilibrium.

Zidane made his professional debut with Cannes on 18 May 1989 at the age of seventeen in a Ligue 1 match against Nantes. He scored his first goal for the club on 8 February 1991 also against Nantes in a 2–1 win. After the match during a party for all the Cannes players, Zidane was gifted a car by Cannes chairman Alain Pedretti, who had promised him one the day he scored his first goal for the club. In his first full season with Cannes, the club secured its first ever European football berth by qualifying for the UEFA Cup after finishing 4th in the league. This remains the club's highest finish in the top flight since getting relegated for the first time from the first division in the 1948–49 season.

Bordeaux

Zidane was transferred to Girondins de Bordeaux in the 1992–93 season, winning the 1995 Intertoto Cup and finishing runner-up in the 1995–96 UEFA Cup in four years with the club. He played a set of midfield combinations with Bixente Lizarazu and Christophe Dugarry, which would become the trademark of both Bordeaux and the 1998 French national team. In 1995, Blackburn Rovers coach Ray Harford had expressed interest in signing both Zidane and Dugarry, to which team owner Jack Walker reportedly replied, ''"Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?"''

Juventus

In 1996, Zidane moved to UEFA Champions League winners Juventus for a fee of £3.2 million and won the 1996–97 Serie A and the 1996 Intercontinental Cup, but lost the 1997 UEFA Champions League Final 3–1 to Borussia Dortmund. The following season, Zidane netted 7 goals in 32 matches in the league to help Juventus win the 1997–98 Serie A and thus retain the Scudetto. In Europe, Juventus made their third consecutive UEFA Champions League Final appearance, but lost the game 1–0 to Real Madrid, a club Zidane would later join. Juventus finished second in the 2000–01 Serie A, but were eliminated in the group stage of the Champions League after Zidane was banned for headbutting Hamburger SV player Jochen Kientz. However Zidane was named Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year for the second time.

Real Madrid

In 2001, Zidane joined Real Madrid for a then world record fee of 150 billion Italian lire (about €75 million) and signed a four-year contract. He scored a famous match-winning goal, a volley hit with his weaker foot, in Madrid's 2–1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final completing his personal quadruple. The next season, Zidane helped Real Madrid to win the 2002–03 La Liga and was named the FIFA World Player of the Year for the third time. In 2004, fans voted him as the best European footballer of the previous 50 years in UEFA's fiftieth-anniversary Golden Jubilee Poll.

While Zidane's final season of club football ended trophyless, he enjoyed success on a personal note recording the maiden hat-trick of his career, scoring thrice against Sevilla FC in a 4–2 win in January 2006. He ended the season for Real Madrid as their second highest goal scorer and assists provider behind teammates Ronaldo and Beckham respectively, with 9 goals and 10 assists in 28 games. On 7 May 2006, Zidane, who had announced his plans to retire after the 2006 World Cup, played his last home match and scored in a 3–3 draw with Villarreal CF. The squad wore commemorative shirts with ''ZIDANE 2001–2006'' below the club logo.

International career

Both France and Algeria consider Zidane a citizen, but he was ineligible to play for the Algerian national team. There was a rumour that coach Abdelhamid Kermali denied Zidane a position for the Algerian squad because he felt the young midfielder was not fast enough. However, Zidane dismissed the rumor in a 2005 interview, saying that he would have been ineligible to play for Algeria because he had already played for France.

He earned his first cap with France as a substitute in a friendly against the Czech Republic on 17 August 1994, which ended in a 2–2 draw after Zidane scored twice to help France erase a 2–0 deficit. After Éric Cantona was handed a year-long suspension in January 1995 for assaulting a fan, Zidane took over the playmaker position. France were eliminated in the Euro 96 semi-finals in a penalty shootout by the Czech Republic after the match ended 0–0 in extra time.

The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the first World Cup that Zidane participated in. It was held in his home country France. The French team won all three games in the group stage but Zidane was sent off in the second match against Saudi Arabia for a stamp on Fuad Anwar, becoming the first French player to receive a red card in a World Cup finals. Without their suspended playmaker France proceeded to win 1–0 in the last sixteen game against Paraguay and, on his return to the side, defeated Italy 4–3 on penalties after a goalless draw in the quarter finals. France then defeated Croatia 2–1 in the semi final. Zidane played a major role in the team's accomplishment, though he had yet to score a goal at the World Cup.

Zidane and France went on to play against defending champions and favourites Brazil at the Stade de France in the 1998 FIFA World Cup Final. France dominated Brazil from the kick-off, with Zidane scoring two identical goals, both headers from corner kicks taken by Emmanuel Petit and Youri Djorkaeff. Courtesy of Zidane's brace, France went into the break 2–0 up at half-time with one hand already on the World Cup trophy. Emmanuel Petit added a third goal deep in stoppage time to seal the 3–0 win and France's first ever World Cup. Zidane became an instant national hero and his image was projected onto the Arc de Triomphe.

Two years later France won Euro 2000, becoming the first team to hold both the World Cup and the European Championship since West Germany in 1974. Zidane finished with two goals, a memorable free kick against Spain in the quarter final and the golden goal in the semi final against Portugal, and was named player of the tournament by UEFA.

As reigning world and European champions, France entered the 2002 World Cup as favourites but a thigh injury prevented Zidane from playing in France's first two matches and without their talisman the French team failed to score in either match. He was rushed back prematurely for the third game despite not being fully fit, but could not prevent France from being ignominiously eliminated in the group stage without scoring a single goal; the worst performance by a defending champion in the history of the competition.

France again performed below expectations at Euro 2004 were knocked out by eventual champions Greece in the quarter finals. Zidane, however, had one of the most notable games of his career in the opening match against England, scoring two goals in stoppage time (a free kick and a penalty, respectively) to turn what would have been a 1–0 defeat into a 2–1 victory for the French. After France's elimination Zidane announced his retirement from international football.

With the mass retirement of veteran key players such as Bixente Lizarazu, Marcel Desailly, Claude Makélélé and Lilian Thuram, France struggled to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. At the urging of coach Raymond Domenech, Zidane came out of retirement and was immediately reinstated as team captain. Zidane, along with Thuram and Makélélé, made his competitive return for France in a 3–0 win over the Faroe Islands on 3 September 2005. The trio managed to turn back the clock to France's winning days of the late 1990s and early 2000s as a rejuvenated France went on to win their qualifying group. On 27 May 2006, Zidane earned his hundredth cap for France in a 1–0 friendly win over Mexico, in what would also be his last match at the Stade de France. Zidane became France's fourth player to reach 100 caps, after Desailly, Thuram and Didier Deschamps.

Zidane had a slow start to the 2006 World Cup and, after being suspended for the final match of the group stage, returned to set up a goal for Patrick Vieira and score one himself in the second round match against Spain. In the quarter final France held Brazil to just one shot on goal in the rematch of the 1998 final. Zidane assisted Thierry Henry's deciding goal and he was named Man of the Match by FIFA. France faced Portugal in the semi final and, as in Brussels six years earlier, Zidane's penalty kick decided the contest and sent France to another major final.

Before the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final in Berlin, Zidane was awarded the Golden Ball as the best player of the competition. Having already announced he was to retire after the expiration of his Real Madrid contract at the end of the 2005–06 season, the world of football already knew Zidane's second World Cup final was to be the last match of his career. Seven minutes into the match Zidane put France ahead with a penalty kick and became only the fourth player in World Cup history to score in two different finals, along with Pelé, Paul Breitner, and Vavá, in addition to being tied for first place with Vavá, Pelé and Geoff Hurst with three World Cup final goals apiece. He almost scored a second goal during the first period of extra time but his header was saved by Italy's goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Zidane was then sent off in the 110th minute of the game after headbutting Marco Materazzi (who had just insulted his sister) in the chest, so he did not participate in the penalty shootout which Italy won 5–3 courtesy of David Trezeguet's shot rattling the crossbar. Neither Fabien Barthez nor Gianluigi Buffon made a single save in the penalty shootout. In 2010, Zidane said that he "would rather die" than apologize to Materazzi for the headbutt in the final, but also admitted that he “could never have lived with himself” had he been allowed to remain on the pitch and help France win the match.

Following his red card in the final, Zidane retired from professional football, and confirmed that he would not go back on his decision. He was sentenced by FIFA to a three game suspension for his red card, but since he had retired from professional football, he agreed to complete three days of community service with children as part of FIFA’s humanitarian projects.

Post-retirement

Since his retirement, Zidane regularly plays for the Real Madrid Veterans team. He has also made several futsal appearances.

In an interview in June 2008, Zidane stated that he wanted to return to football, but that he had no imminent plans to do so.

On 1 June 2009, Zidane was announced as the Advisor to the President after Florentino Perez was named President of Real Madrid for the second time. He along with Jorge Valdano, General Director, and Miguel Pardeza, Sporting Director, were to be the key decision makers on the sporting side of the club.

After France's dismal campaign in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Zidane said that he did not plan to move into coaching anytime soon.

Qatar's 2022 World Cup bid committee announced in September 2010 that Zidane had been appointed as an ambassador for Qatar's attempt to host the 2022 World Cup. After FIFA announced on 2 December 2010 that Qatar had won the bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Zidane stated that he was "very pleased" with the outcome.

In November 2010, Zidane was appointed as a special adviser to Real Madrid's first team in response to an appeal made by Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho for the former Real midfielder to work more closely with the team. In his new role, Zidane is expected to participate in Champions League events and functions. He is also to travel with the first team on a regular basis and participate in pre-match gatherings, training sessions and meetings with the head coach. In July 2011 it was announced that he would become Real Madrid's new sporting director.

Charity activities

On 24 February 2007, before a crowd of 10,000 fans at a match in northern Thailand for the Keuydaroon children's AIDS charity, Zidane scored the first goal and set up the second for a Malaysian teammate as the match ended 2–2. The event raised ฿260,000 ($7,750). This money paid for the building of two schools and 16 three-bedroom houses.

On 19 November 2008, Zidane took part in the fifth annual Match Against Poverty in Málaga, Spain, which also ended in a 2–2 draw; he went scoreless but set up his team’s second goal. He and Ronaldo, who collaborated in conceiving the yearly event to benefit the United Nations Development Programme, regularly captain their respective teams consisting of active footballers, other professional athletes and celebrities. Zidane, a UN goodwill ambassador since 2001, stated before the game that ''"everyone can do something to make the world a better place"''

In June and July 2009, Zidane toured across Canada with stops in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Although billed as Zidane and "Friends", the likes of which included Fabien Barthez and Samuel Eto'o, the exhibition matches featured local players. Tournament organisers cited lack of sponsorship and support from the Canadian Soccer Association for the disorganized rosters. Some proceeds were given to Unicef.

On 6 June 2010, Zidane took part in the bi-annual charity event Soccer Aid. He played for the Rest Of The World Team, managed by Liverpool and Celtic hero Kenny Dalglish against England alongside former Real Madrid teammate Luis Figo, and Celtic legend Henrik Larsson. He played against former players such as Teddy Sheringham, David Seaman and Alan Shearer, as well as celebrities such as Robbie Williams. He played well, and his skill and control were still apparent to the fans in the stadium. He passed well and dribbled around the English team, and kicked the ball between the legs of English celebrity midfielder Damian Lewis. The Match took place at Old Trafford in Manchester and was won by The Rest of the World for the first time, by penalties after a 2–2 draw.

Tributes and legacy

In 2004, ''Forbes'' magazine named him the 42nd-highest paid athlete in the world, with earnings of US$15.8 million a year. In November 2006, Zidane toured Bangladesh as the guest of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. He also visited the Algerian birthplace of his parents, and met personally with Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who gave him an official reception.

Filmmakers Philippe Parreno and Douglas Gordon filmed a documentary ''Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait'', which follows Zidane during an entire match, filmed with 17 cameras. The documentary was part of the 2009 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.

Many experts have testified to Zidane's skills and impact as an all-time great, such as Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira who has labelled Zidane "a monster" for his performance and playing skills. French footballer Michel Platini states Zidane is one of the most skillful players the game has ever known: "Technically, I think he is the king of what's fundamental in the game – control and passing. I don't think anyone can match him when it comes to controlling or receiving the ball."

German coach Franz Beckenbauer stated: "Zidane is one of the greatest players in history, a truly magnificent player." Pelé, a World Cup winner three times with Brazil, hailed Zidane after seeing Brazil losing to France: "Zidane was the magician in the game." Italy's manager Marcello Lippi, who has also coached Zidane, opined "I think Zidane is the greatest talent we've known in football these last 20 years, yet he never played the prima donna. I am honoured to have been his manager." Among his peers, David Beckham has described Zidane as "the greatest of all time", FC Barcelona star Xavi has stated in a 2010 interview that Zidane was "the '90s and early 2000's best player" while Brazilian defender Roberto Carlos has said of Zidane that, "he is the best player I've seen", in a 2010 interview with French newspaper L'equipe. At the 1998 World Cup, Cesare Maldini, the manager of the Italian team, said: "I would give up five players to have Zizou in my squad."

Sponsorships

Zidane has had endorsements with many companies, including: Adidas, Lego, France Telecom, Orange, Audi, Volvic and Christian Dior. These sponsorship deals earned him €8.6 million on top of his €61.4 million Real Madrid salary in his final season, making him the sixth-highest paid footballer. As of May 2010, he is appearing in ads for Louis Vuitton, alongside fellow legends Pelé and Diego Maradona.

Personal life

Zidane met his wife, Véronique Fernandéz, while playing for Cannes in the 1988–89 season. They have four sons: Enzo Zidane Fernandez (b. 24 March 1995), Luca Zinedine Zidane Fernandez (b. 13 May 1998), Theo (b. 18 May 2002), and Elyaz Zidane Fernandez (b. 26 December 2006). Enzo, Luca and Theo are all members of the Real Madrid Academy. Enzo (Midfielder) is in Cadete A, Luca (Goalkeeper) is in Infantil B and Theo (Striker) is in Benjamin B.

Career statistics

Club statistics

|- |1988–89||rowspan="4"|Cannes||rowspan="4"|Division 1||2||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||2||0 |- |1989–90||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||0||0 |- |1990–91||28||1||3||0||colspan="2"|-||31||1 |- |1991–92||31||5||3||0||4||0||38||5 |- |1992–93||rowspan="4"|Girondins Bordeaux||rowspan="4"|Division 1||35||10||4||1||colspan="2"|-||39||11 |- |1993–94||34||6||3||0||6||2||43||8 |- |1994–95||37||6||4||1||4||1||45||8 |- |1995–96||33||6||1||0||15||9||49||15 |- |1996–97||rowspan="5"|Juventus||rowspan="5"|Serie A||29||5||2||0||10||2||41||7 |- |1997–98||32||7||5||1||11||3||48||11 |- |1998–99||25||2||5||0||10||0||40||2 |- |1999–00||32||4||3||1||6||0||41||5 |- |2000–01||33||6||2||0||4||0||39||6 |- |2001–02||rowspan="5"|Real Madrid||rowspan="5"|La Liga||31||7||9||2||9||3||49||12 |- |2002–03||33||9||1||0||14||3||48||12 |- |2003–04||33||6||7||1||10||3||50||10 |- |2004–05||29||6||1||0||10||0||40||6 |- |2005–06||29||9||5||0||4||0||38||9 200||34||18||2||29||12||247||48 151||24||17||2||41||5||209||31 155||37||23||3||47||9||225||49 506||95||58||7||117||26||681||128 |}

National Team statistics

}} {{Ig match | n = 1 | d=1994-08-17 | st=Stade Chaban-Delmas | ci=Bordeaux | co=France | o=Czech Republic | sc=1–2 | fr=2–2 | comp=Friendly Match}} {{Ig match | n = 2 | d=1994-08-17 | st=Stade Chaban-Delmas | ci=Bordeaux | co=France | o=Czech Republic | sc=2–2 | fr=2–2 | comp=Friendly Match}} {{Ig match | n = 3 | d=1995-09-06 | st=Stade Abbe Deschamps | ci=Auxerre | co=France | o=Azerbaijan | sc=7–0 | fr=10–0 | comp=1996 UEFA Euro Qualifying}} {{Ig match | n = 4 | d=1995-10-11 | st=Ghencea | ci=Bucharest | co=Romania | o=Romania | sc=1–3 | fr=1–3 | comp=1996 UEFA Euro Qualifying}} {{Ig match | n = 5 | d=1996-02-21 | st=Stade des Costières | ci=Nimes | co=France | o=Greece | sc=3–1 | fr=3–1 | comp=Friendly Match}} {{Ig match | n = 6 | d=1997-06-11 | st=Parc des Princes | ci=Paris | co=France | o=Italy | sc=1–0 | fr=2–2 | comp=Tournoi de France}} {{Ig match | n = 7 | d=1998-01-28 | st=Stade de France | ci=Saint-Denis | co=France | o=Spain | sc=1–0 | fr=1–0 | comp=Friendly Match}} {{Ig match | n =8 | d=1998-02-25 | st=Velodrome | ci=Marseille | co=France | o=Norway | sc=2–1 | fr=3–3 | comp=Friendly Match}} {{Ig match | n =9 | d=1998-05-27 | st=Stade Mohamed V | ci=Casablanca | co=Morocco | o=Belgium | sc=0–1 | fr=0–1 | comp=1998 Hassan II Trophy}} {{Ig match | n =10 | d=1998-07-12 | st=Stade de France | ci=Saint-Denis | co=France | o=Brazil | sc=1–0 | fr=3–0 | comp=Final, 1998 World Cup}} {{Ig match | n =11 | d=1998-07-12 | st=Stade de France | ci=Saint-Denis | co=France | o=Brazil | sc=2–0 | fr=3–0 | comp=Final, 1998 World Cup}} {{Ig match | n =12 | d=1999-09-08 | st=Hrazdan Stadium | ci=Yerevan | co=Armenia | o=Armenia | sc=1–2 | fr=2–3 | comp=2000 UEFA Euro Qualifying}} {{Ig match | n =13 | d=2000-02-23 | st=Stade de France | ci=Saint-Denis | co=France | o=Poland | sc=1–0 | fr=1–0 | comp=Friendly Match}} {{Ig match | n =14 | d=2000-06-04 | st=Stade Mohamed V | ci=Casablanca | co=Morocco | o=Japan | sc=1–1 | fr=2–2 | comp=2000 Hassan II Trophy}} {{Ig match | n =15 | d=2000-06-25 | st=Jan Breydel | ci=Bruges | co=Belgium | o=Spain | sc=0–1 | fr=1–2 | comp=Quarter-final, 2000 UEFA Euro}} {{Ig match | n =16 | d=2000-06-28 | st=King Baudouin Stadium | ci=Brussels | co=Belgium | o=Portugal | sc=1–2 | fr=1–2 | comp=Semi-final, 2000 UEFA Euro}} {{Ig match | n =17 | d=2001-02-27 | st=Stade de France | ci=Saint-Denis | co=France | o=Germany | sc=1–0 | fr=1–0 | comp=Friendly Match}} {{Ig match | n =18 | d=2001-03-24 | st=Stade de France | ci=Saint-Denis | co=France | o=Japan | sc=1–0 | fr=5–0 | comp=Friendly Match}} {{Ig match | n =19 | d=2002-03-27 | st=Stade de France | ci=Saint-Denis | co=France | o=Scotland | sc=1–0 | fr=5–0 | comp=Friendly Match}} {{Ig match | n =20 | d=2003-03-29 | st=Stade Félix-Bollaert | ci=Lens, Pas-de-Calais | co=France | o=Malta | sc=4–0 | fr=6–0 | comp=2004 UEFA Euro Qualifying}} {{Ig match | n =21 | d=2003-03-29 | st=Stade Félix-Bollaert | ci=Lens, Pas-de-Calais | co=France | o=Malta | sc=6–0 | fr=6–0 | comp=2004 UEFA Euro Qualifying}} {{Ig match | n =22 | d=2003-04-02 | st=Renzo Barbera | ci=Palermo | co=Italy | o=Israel | sc=0–2 | fr=1–2 | comp=2004 UEFA Euro Qualifying}} {{Ig match | n =23 | d=2004-06-06 | st=Stade de France | ci=Saint-Denis | co=France | o=Ukraine | sc=1–0 | fr=1–0 | comp=Friendly Match}} {{Ig match | n =24 | d=2004-06-13 | st=Estádio da Luz | ci=Lisbon | co=Portugal | o=England | sc=1–1 | fr=2–1 | comp=Group Stage, 2004 UEFA Euro}} {{Ig match | n =25 | d=2004-06-13 | st=Estádio da Luz | ci=Lisbon | co=Portugal | o=England | sc=2–1 | fr=2–1 | comp=Group Stage, 2004 UEFA Euro}} {{Ig match | n =26 | d=2004-06-21 | st=Estádio Cidade de Coimbra | ci=Coimbra | co=Portugal | o=Switzerland | sc=0–1 | fr=1–3 | comp=Group Stage, 2004 UEFA Euro}} {{Ig match | n =27 | d=2005-08-17 | st=Stade de la Mosson | ci=Montpellier | co=France | o=Ivory Coast | sc=2–0 | fr=3–0 | comp=Friendly Match}} {{Ig match | n =28 | d=2005-10-12 | st=Stade de France | ci=Saint-Denis | co=France | o=Cyprus | sc=1–0 | fr=4–0 | comp=2006 FIFA World Cup Qualifying}} {{Ig match | n =29 | d=2006-06-27 | st=Niedersachsenstadion | ci=Hannover | co=Germany | o=Spain | sc=1–3 | fr=1–3 | comp=Round of 16, 2006 FIFA World Cup}} {{Ig match | n =30 | d=2006-07-05 | st=Allianz Arena | ci=Munich | co=Germany | o=Portugal | sc=0–1 | fr=0–1 | comp=Semi-final, 2006 FIFA World Cup}} {{Ig match | n =31 | d=2006-07-09 | st=Olympic Stadium | ci=Berlin | co=Germany | o=Italy | sc=0–1 | fr=1–1 | comp=Final, 2006 FIFA World Cup}} 6 12 8 15 6 13 8 9 7 7 5 10 108

National Team!!Year!!Apps!!Goals !! Assists
rowspan="13"	France	1994	2	2
1995	|	2	3
1996	|	2	4
1997	|	1	0
1998	|	5	3
1999	|	1	1
2000	|	4	4
2001	|	2	0
2002	|	1	2
2003	|	3	3
2004	|	4	1
2005	|	2	1
2006	|	3	1
colspan=2	Total	|	31	23

Awards and honors

Club

Girondins Bordeaux

*UEFA Intertoto Cup:

**Winner: 1995

*UEFA Cup:

**Runner-up: 1995–96

Juventus

*Serie A:

**Winner: 1996–97, 1997–98

**Runner-up: 1999–00, 2000–01

*Supercoppa Italiana:

**Winner: 1997

**Runner-up: 1998

*UEFA Champions League:

**Runner-up: 1996–97, 1997–98

*UEFA Super Cup:

**Winner: 1996

*Intercontinental Cup:

**Winner: 1996

*UEFA Intertoto Cup:

**Winner: 1999

Real Madrid

*La Liga:

**Winner: 2002–03

**Runner-up: 2004–05, 2005–06

*Supercopa de España:

**Winner: 2001, 2003

*Copa del Rey:

**Runner-up: 2001–02, 2003–04

*UEFA Champions League:

**Winner: 2001–02

*UEFA Super Cup:

**Winner: 2002

*Intercontinental Cup:

**Winner: 2002

Country

France

*FIFA World Cup:

**Winner: 1998

**Runner-up: 2006

*UEFA European Football Championship:

**Winner: 2000

**Third Place: 1996

*King Hassan II International Cup Tournament:

**Winner: 1998 , 2000

*Tournoi de France:

**Third Place:1997

Individual

Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year – 1994

Ligue 1 Player of the Year – 1996

Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year – 1997, 2001

UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year – 1998

FIFA World Cup Final Man of the Match – 1998

World Soccer Awards Player of the Year – 1998

Ballon D'or – 1998

L'Équipe Champion of Champions – 1998

French Player of the Year – 1998, 2002

Onze d'Or – 1998, 2000, 2001

FIFA World Player of the Year – 1998, 2000, 2003

FIFA World Cup All-Star Team – 1998, 2006

ESM Season XI: 1997–98, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04

World Soccer 100 Greatest Players of the 20th Century – 1999

UEFA Euro Player of the Tournament – 2000

UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament – 2000, 2004

Serie A Footballer of the Year – 2001

UEFA Team of the Year – 2001, 2002, 2003

UEFA Champions League Final Man of the Match – 2002

La Liga Best Foreign Player – 2002

UEFA Club Footballer of the Year – 2002

FIFA World Cup Dream Team – 2002

FIFA 100 Greatest Living Footballers – 2004

UEFA Best European Player of the Past 50 Years – 2004

FIFPro World XI All-Star Team – 2005, 2006

IFFHS World's Best Playmaker – 2006

FIFA World Cup Golden Ball – 2006

UNFP Honorary Award – 2007

Marca Leyenda Award – 2008

Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award – 2011

Order

''Chevalier'' (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur in 1998, promoted to ''Officier'' (Officer) in 2009

See also

''Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait''

Notes and references

External links

/ Official website

European Champions Cup/UEFA Champions League Winning Squads

}}

Category:1972 births Category:Living people Category:1998 FIFA World Cup players Category:2002 FIFA World Cup players Category:2006 FIFA World Cup players Category:AS Cannes players Category:European Footballer of the Year winners Category:FC Girondins de Bordeaux players Category:FIFA 100 Category:FIFA Century Club Category:FIFA World Cup-winning players Category:FIFA World Player of the Year winners Category:Association football midfielders Category:France international footballers Category:Expatriate footballers in Italy Category:Expatriate footballers in Spain Category:French expatriate footballers Category:French people of Algerian descent Category:Internet memes Category:Juventus F.C. players Category:Kabyle people Category:La Liga footballers Category:Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Category:Ligue 1 players Category:People from Marseille Category:Real Madrid C.F. players Category:Serie A footballers Category:UEFA Euro 1996 players Category:UEFA Euro 2000 players Category:UEFA Euro 2004 players Category:UEFA European Football Championship-winning players Category:World Soccer Magazine World Player of the Year winners

af:Zinedine Zidane ar:زين الدين زيدان az:Zinəddin Zidan bn:জিনেদিন জিদান zh-min-nan:Zinedine Zidane be:Зінэдзін Зідан bs:Zinedine Zidane br:Zinedine Zidane bg:Зинедин Зидан ca:Zinédine Zidane cs:Zinedine Zidane cy:Zinedine Zidane da:Zinedine Zidane de:Zinédine Zidane et:Zinédine Zidane el:Ζινεντίν Ζιντάν es:Zinedine Zidane eo:Zinedine Zidane eu:Zinedine Zidane fa:زین‌الدین زیدان fo:Zinedine Zidane fr:Zinedine Zidane ga:Zinedine Zidane gl:Zinedine Zidane ko:지네딘 지단 hy:Զինեդին Զիդան hi:ज़िनेदिन जिदेन hr:Zinédine Zidane id:Zinédine Zidane it:Zinédine Zidane he:זינדין זידאן jv:Zinédine Zidane kn:ಜಿನೆಡೈನ್ ಜಿಡಾನೆ ka:ზინედინ ზიდანი kk:Зинедин Зидан rw:Zinedine Zidane ku:Zinedine Zidane la:Zinedine Zidane lv:Zinedins Zidāns lt:Zinédine Zidane hu:Zinédine Zidane mk:Зинедин Зидан mr:झिनेदिन झिदान xmf:ზინედინ ზიდანი arz:زين الدين زيدان ms:Zinedine Zidane mn:Зинедин Зидан nl:Zinédine Zidane ja:ジネディーヌ・ジダン no:Zinedine Zidane nn:Zinedine Zidane oc:Zinedin Zidan uz:Zinedine Zidane pl:Zinedine Zidane pt:Zinédine Zidane ro:Zinedine Zidane qu:Zinedine Zidane ru:Зидан, Зинедин sq:Zinedine Zidane simple:Zinedine Zidane sk:Zinedine Zidane sl:Zinedine Zidane ckb:زینەدین زێدان sr:Зинедин Зидан sh:Zinedine Zidane fi:Zinédine Zidane sv:Zinedine Zidane ta:ஜீனடின் ஜிதேன் kab:Zineddin Lyazid Zidan th:ซีเนดีน ซีดาน tr:Zinedine Zidane uk:Зінедін Зідан ur:زین الدین یزید زیدان vi:Zinédine Zidane zh-yue:施丹 bat-smg:Zinedine Zidane zh:齐内丁·齐达内