One of the greatest players to ever play the game has been banned from coaching for three-months for not having the correct coaching qualifications.
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For now, Zinedine Zidane is out of a job.
The former Bordeaux, Juventus and Real Madrid legend has been coaching Castilla B, Real Madrid’s reserve team, this season but has been handed a suspension after not holding the required coaching badges.
Zidane, 42, is one of the finest players to walk the planet. He’s a World Cup winner with France (scoring twice in the final in 1998 and again in ’06 when they were runners up and he captained the side) and has won the UEFA Champions League with Real (also scoring a memorable goal in the final) among his many other achievements in the game.
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Last season Zidane was Carlo Ancelotti’s assistant for Real’s first team as they won the UEFA Champions League, but dropped down to manage the B team this year although his assistant Santiago Sanchez was actually named as the head coach. But following a complaint with the Spanish football federation, Segunda Division B judge Francisco Rubio has banned Zidane and Sanchez from coaching until the end of January 2015.
A three-time World Player of the Year, Zidane currently has a UEFA A Licence from his native France which is equivalent to a Level 2 qualification. He has been let off of a six-month ban on the proviso that he obtains the third level of his coaching qualification in his homeland by April 2015.
Is is just me, or does it seem slightly absurd that one of the greatest players in the game has to go through the rigors and stress of getting a coaching badge?
Yes, Zidane should be guided through and learn certain aspects of the game and take his education as a coach as seriously as he took his education as a player, but let’s cut out some of the red tape here for one of the all-time greats.
Rules are rules, I guess.