Zinedine Zidane reportedly had a rare clause written into his Real Madrid contract that just three others were given.
Zidane and Real Madrid will be forever connected, given the Frenchman’s success as both a player and a manager during his various spells in the Spanish capital.
In 2001, Los Blancos signed the 1998 World Cup winner from Serie A giants Juventus for a then-world record fee of €77.5 million (or approximately £46.2 million).
And in his five seasons with Real, ‘Zizou’ helped the club win six major trophies – one Champions League, one Intercontinental Cup, one UEFA Super Cup, one La Liga title, and two Spanish Super Cups – before hanging up his boots in 2006.
The central midfielder was part of the team dubbed ‘The Galacticos’, which was built during Florentino Perez’s first term as president between 2000 and 2006.
At the time, The Guardian reported that Zidane was to receive around £3.5m per season after tax, which equates to around £67,307 per week.
Zinedine Zidane in action for Real Madrid in 2001 (Credit:Getty)
A year earlier, Luis Figo infamously transferred from Barcelona to Real Madrid in one of the most controversial switches in football history.
By 2002, two-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo Nazario – otherwise known as R9 – traded life at Inter for a new challenge at Madrid before David Beckham did the same when he arrived from Manchester United in 2003.
And according to a report from Marca, relayed by The Guardian, all four of the aforementioned players had a rare clause written into their contracts.
The clause related to the players’ image rights, with all four getting 40 percent of any advertising deal, while the club received 60 percent.
Image rights are a commercial agreement designed to protect a player’s individual proprietary rights to their personality and the right to control, licence, exploit and prevent unauthorised third parties from making use of attributes related to their image, according to Brabners.
Image rights may include names, squad numbers, images, voice recordings, autographs and social media handles.
Zinedine Zidane has coached and played for Real Madrid (Credit:Getty)
During the ‘Galacticos’ era, Real won two La Liga titles and one Champions League crown but were arguably bettered by the 2009-2015 side, which included Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos and Co.
Still, the original ‘Galacticos’ and Zidane in particular will forever be remembered for years to come.
The Frenchman also enjoyed two stints as Real head coach – from 2016 to 2018 and 2019 to 2021 – during which he guided the side to 11 trophies – two La Liga titles, three Champions Leagues, two UEFA Super Cups, and two FIFA Club World Cups.
He is currently without a managerial role but has been heavily linked with the France national team job with Didier Deschamps due to step down after the 2026 World Cup.
