title: Zinedine Zidane

text: His father worked as a warehouseman and nightwatchman at a department store, often on the night shift, while his mother was a housewife. 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. Zidane credits his strict upbringing and his father as the "guiding light" in his career.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: It was in Castellane where Zidane had his earliest introduction in 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. In July 2011, Zidane named former Marseille players Blaž Slišković, Enzo Francescoli and Jean-Pierre Papin as his idols while growing up. At the age of ten, Zidane got his first player's licence after joining the junior team of a local club from Castellane by the name of US Saint-Henri. After spending a year and a half at US Saint-Henri, Zidane joined SO Septèmes-les-Vallons when the Septèmes coach Robert Centenero convinced the club's Director to get Zidane. Zidane stayed with Septèmes until the age of 14, 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 and former player Jean Varraud, who recommended him to the training centre director of the club. As a 14-year-old watching the 1986 World Cup, the performance of Diego Maradona left an indelible mark on him, with Zidane stating Maradona "was on another level".


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: Zidane went to AS 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 to join Cannes, he 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 while living with the Elineaus he found equilibrium.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: It was at Cannes where Zidane's first coaches noticed that he was raw and sensitive, prone to attack spectators who insulted his race or family. His first coach, Jean Varraud, encouraged him to channel his anger and focus on his own game. Zidane spent his first weeks at Cannes mainly on cleaning duty as a punishment for punching an opponent who mocked his ghetto origins. The occasional violence that he would display throughout his career was shaped by an internal conflict of being an Algerian-Frenchman suspended between cultures, and surviving the tough streets of La Castellane where he grew up.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: Zidane made his professional debut with Cannes on 18 May 1989 in a French Division 1 match against Nantes. He scored his first goal for the club on 10 February 1991 also against Nantes in a 2–1 win. After the match during a party for all the Cannes players, Zidane was given a car by Cannes chairman Alain Pedretti, who had promised him one the day he scored his first goal for the club. On the pitch, Zidane displayed extraordinary technique on the ball, offering glimpses of the talent that would take him to the top of the world game. In his first full season with Cannes, the club secured its first ever European football berth by qualifying for the UEFA Cup after finishing fourth 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.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: Zidane was transferred to Girondins de Bordeaux in the 1992–93 season, winning the 1995 Intertoto Cup after beating Karlsruhe and finishing runner-up against Bayern Munich in the 1995–96 UEFA Cup during his 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 manager Kenny Dalglish had expressed interest in signing both Zidane and Dugarry, to which club owner Jack Walker reportedly replied, "Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?" Also towards the beginning of the 1996 season, according to football agent Barry Silkman, Zidane was offered to Newcastle United for £1.2 million, but the club turned down the offer after watching him, claiming that he was not good enough for the English First Division. In 1996, Zidane received the award for Ligue 1 Player of the Year.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: After a series of stand out performances for both Bordeaux and France, Zidane had offers to join Europe's top clubs in the spring of 1996, deciding on a move to UEFA Champions League winners Juventus during the close season. Zidane's impact in Italy was immediate, winning the 1996–97 Serie A title and the 1996 Intercontinental Cup. He was named Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year in his first season. Zidane's growing status in the sport saw him chosen in a European XI to face a World XI – featuring a forward line of Ronaldo and Gabriel Batistuta – in December 1997.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: As the playmaker at Juve, Zidane played just behind forward Alessandro Del Piero, with Del Piero recalling, "Zidane had an extraordinary talent, which contributed to his sole interest in helping the team. He was not a selfish player. He had a unique ability to be a great and to be a team player. I was lucky to play with him." He lost in the 1997 UEFA Champions League Final 3–1 to Borussia Dortmund when he was unable to make an impression against the close marking of Paul Lambert.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: The following season, Zidane scored seven 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. In 1998, Zidane was named FIFA World Player of the Year, and won the Ballon d'Or. 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 head-butting Hamburger SV player Jochen Kientz. In 2001, Zidane was named Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year for the second time.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: In 2001, Zidane joined Real Madrid for a world record fee of 150 billion Italian lire, (about €77.5 million by fixed exchange rate; a reported 12.8 billion pesetas) in instalments, and signed a four-year contract. The latest addition to the "Galácticos" era of global stars signed by Real Madrid every year, in his first season at the club Zidane scored a famous match-winning goal, a volley hit with his weaker left foot from the edge of the 18-yard box, in Madrid's 2–1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final. The goal has been cited as one of the greatest in Champions League history. The magnitude of the strike saw Zidane produce one of his most emotional goal celebrations as he ran towards the touchline with mouth wide open, screaming in delight.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: The next season, Zidane helped Real Madrid to win the 2002–03 La Liga, starring alongside Luís Figo in midfield, 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.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: While Zidane's final season of club football ended without a trophy, he enjoyed success on a personal note by scoring his first hat-trick, against Sevilla, in a 4–2 win in January 2006. He ended the season for Real Madrid as their second highest goalscorer and assists provider behind teammates Ronaldo and David Beckham respectively, with nine goals and ten assists in 28 games. On 7 May 2006, Zidane, who had announced his plans to retire after the 2006 World Cup, played his farewell match and scored in a 3–3 draw with Villarreal. The squad wore commemorative shirts with "ZIDANE 2001–2006" below the club logo. The 80,000 fans inside the Santiago Bernabéu held up a banner reading, "Thanks for the magic."


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: In 2012, Zidane featured for Madrid in an All Stars Match against Manchester United which resulted in a 3–2 win for Real. In April 2013, he was named by "Marca" as a member of the "Best foreign eleven in Real Madrid's history."


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: Both France and Algeria consider Zidane a citizen. It was rumoured 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 rumour in a 2005 interview, saying that he would have been ineligible to play for Algeria because he had already played for France.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: Zidane was a member of the French under-21 squad that won a bronze medal at the 1993 Mediterranean Games in Languedoc-Roussillon.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: 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 Eric Cantona was handed a year-long suspension in January 1995 for assaulting a fan, Zidane took over the playmaker position.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: Despite not being at his best during the tournament, France reached the last four. Zidane was not yet fully established in the French team and his level was quite average during the whole event, but he managed to score in the penalty shootout in both the quarter-final and semi-final. France was eliminated in the Euro 96 semi-finals in a penalty shootout against the Czech Republic.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the first World Cup that Zidane participated in; the tournament was held in his home country, France. The French team won all three games in the group stage, with Zidane setting up Christophe Dugarry's goal in the opening match against South Africa from a corner, and contributing to Thierry Henry's opening goal in the second match against Saudi Arabia; however, Zidane was sent off in the latter match for a stamp on Fuad Anwar, becoming the first French player to receive a red card in a World Cup Finals match. Without their playmaker, France proceeded to win 1–0 in the round of 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, with Zidane netting the first spot kick in the shoot-out. France then defeated Croatia 2–1 in the semi-final. Although Zidane had played a role in the team's accomplishments, he had yet to score a goal at the World Cup.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: 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 similar goals, both headers from corner kicks taken by Emmanuel Petit and Youri Djorkaeff. Courtesy of Zidane's two goals, France went into the half-time break 2–0 up with one hand on the World Cup trophy. Petit added a third goal deep in stoppage time to seal the 3–0 win and France's first World Cup. Named man of the match, Zidane became an instant national hero and would receive the Legion of Honour later that year. More than one million people lined the Champs-Élysées in Paris, with celebrations centred around the Arc de Triomphe.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: 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 bending free kick against Spain in the quarter-final and the golden goal in the semi-final against Portugal with a penalty. UEFA named Zidane Player of the Tournament.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: Zidane himself believes he was at his peak during the tournament, while the UEFA website states, "In Belgium and the Netherlands, Zidane dominated a major championship in a way no individual had managed since Diego Maradona in 1986. From the opening game against Denmark to the final against Italy, 'Zizou' shone brightly, casting a spell on his opponents with clever flicks, mesmerising stepovers, slaloming runs and masterful vision."


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: As reigning world and European champions, France entered the 2002 World Cup in Japan/Korea as favourites but a thigh injury sustained in a warm up match before the tournament 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.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: At Euro 2004, France topped their group with wins over England and Switzerland, before being knocked out in the quarter finals by eventual champions Greece in a surprise 1–0 loss. In the opening match against England, Zidane scored a free kick and penalty in stoppage time to turn impending defeat into a 2–1 victory. After France's elimination, Zidane announced his retirement from international football.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: 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 helped France rise from fourth place 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.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: France had a slow start to the 2006 Finals and, after being suspended for the third match of the group stage, Zidane 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 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.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: 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 2006 World Cup final in Berlin, Zidane put France ahead with a Panenka-style penalty kick which struck the crossbar and bounced just over the goal line to become 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 in the chest, so he did not participate in the penalty shootout which Italy won 5–3. This marked the 14th overall expulsion of Zidane's career, and joined him with Cameroon's Rigobert Song as the only players ever to be sent off during two separate World Cup tournaments. He also became the fourth player red-carded in a World Cup final, in addition to being the first sent off in extra time. Zidane's actions made headlines all over the world, while in France "Le Figaro" called his head-butt "odious", and the front page of "L'Équipe" asked, "What should we tell our children, for whom you have become an example for ever? ... How could that happen to a man like you?" Zidane had received plaudits for his performances during the tournament, with Pep Guardiola writing he exerts so much influence on the team that "France are never disorganised". The day after the final, Zidane was awarded the Golden Ball as the player of the tournament.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: Upon his return to France, the Place de la Concorde in Paris was filled with thousands of fans waving flags and rhythmically chanting "Zizou! Zizou!", and tributes were led by the French president Jacques Chirac. Chirac's words reflected the feeling of the French public, with polls done in the immediate wake of the incident showing support for Zidane: 61% of French people said they had already forgiven him for his actions while 52% said they understood them. According to French journalist Philippe Auclair, Zidane's performances in the knock-out rounds were "ranked among his finest in a blue shirt." As the player of the tournament, Zidane had given the team hope, with the French daily newspaper "Libération" stating, "For a month, France was dreaming with Zidane." Zidane remained an icon to the French public, and one French writer stated, "It's good for us to see our national hero is fallible." It was later revealed through interviews that Marco Materazzi had insulted Zidane's sister, which led to Zidane's heightened anger and reaction. 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. He later said, "If you look at the fourteen red cards I had in my career, twelve of them were a result of provocation. This isn't justification, this isn't an excuse, but my passion, temper and blood made me react."


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: 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-match suspension for the red card. He agreed to complete three days of community service with children in one of FIFA's humanitarian projects. Zidane ended up tying with Brazil's Cafu for the record for most cards given in World Cup matches, with six.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: Since his retirement, Zidane has regularly played for the Real Madrid Veterans team. He has also made several futsal appearances. In 2015 he played in a futsal tournament in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, during which an opposition player received a yellow card to much amusement for taking an in-match selfie with Zidane. In an interview in June 2008, Zidane stated that he wanted to return to football, but that he had no immediate plans to do so.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: On 1 June 2009, Zidane was announced as the advisor to the president after Florentino Pérez was named president of Real Madrid for the second time. He, along with general director Jorge Valdano and sporting director Miguel Pardeza, were to be the key decisionmakers on the sporting side of the club. After France's dismal campaign in the 2010 World Cup, Zidane said that he did not plan to move into coaching any time soon.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: 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 World Cup, Zidane stated that he was "very pleased" with the outcome. Zidane spoke of the message he was trying to convey in the campaign: "I was saying that football belonged to the whole world. I’m proud to have made my contribution to a new country getting the World Cup. Qatar and the entire Middle East as a whole deserves this event and that makes me happy. It's a victory for the Arab world." Zidane has supported two Olympic bids for Paris, including the 2012 Summer Olympics which was narrowly won by London and later Paris' successful bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Paris will also be hosting the 2024 Summer Paralympics.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: 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.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: 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."


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: 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. Some proceeds were given to UNICEF.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: On 6 June 2010, Zidane took part in the biennial charity event Soccer Aid. He played for the Rest of the World team, managed by former Liverpool and Celtic forward Kenny Dalglish against England alongside former Real Madrid teammate Luís Figo and Celtic legend Henrik Larsson. He played against former players such as Teddy Sheringham and Alan Shearer, as well as celebrities such as Hollywood actors Woody Harrelson, Mike Myers, Michael Sheen, chef Gordon Ramsay, actor Damian Lewis and singer Robbie Williams. The match took place at Old Trafford, Manchester and was won by the Rest of the World for the first time, the winning penalty scored by Harrelson after a 2–2 draw.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: On 2 June 2013, Zidane took part in a charity match played at Old Trafford as part of the Manchester United Legends vs. Real Madrid Legends reverse fixture. The first leg took place in Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. Part of a team that included the likes of Figo, Fernando Redondo and Manolo Sanchís, the fixture raised funds for the Manchester United Foundation. The 12th Match against Poverty took place in Saint-Étienne, France, on Monday 20 April 2015, where Ronaldo and Zidane teamed up with other football stars against past and present players of French Ligue 1 club AS Saint-Étienne. According to UNDP, "two-thirds of all proceeds will go towards helping the hardest-hit countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone build back better from the Ebola epidemic." In June 2018, Zidane reunited with his France 1998 World Cup winning teammates to play a charity game against an All-Star side which included Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. In a 3–2 win for France, Thierry Henry played a no-look one-two pass with Zidane before scoring, with Zidane then curling in a 25-yard free kick.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: In November 2010, Zidane was appointed as a special adviser to Real Madrid's first team in response to an appeal made by then-Real Madrid coach José Mourinho for the former Real midfielder to work more closely with the team. In his new role, Zidane was expected to participate in Champions League events and functions and was 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. In 2013, Zidane was appointed assistant coach to Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: In June 2014, Real Madrid announced that Zidane would be the coach of Real Madrid's B team, Real Madrid Castilla. On 29 August, the director of the Spanish National Football Coach Education Centre (CENAFE), Miguel Galán, reported Zidane for acting as Real Madrid Castilla's head coach without the necessary coaching badges. According to Galán, "No one who has anything to do with the football world can be unaware that Zidane is acting as Real Madrid Castilla's head coach this season. It is a fait accompli that has been widely accepted, as shown by media reports, and Real Madrid do not deny it." While the official match report for Castilla's opening game in the Segunda División B lists Santiago Sánchez as the "Los Blancos"' head coach and Zidane as his assistant, Galán states, "This hierarchy only exists on paper. The truth is the exact opposite: Zidane is acting as Real Madrid Castilla's head coach, while, with all due respect to him as a colleague, Mr Sánchez's role basically boils down to providing the badges."


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: On 4 January 2016, Real Madrid announced the dismissal of Rafael Benítez and on the same day Zidane was appointed the new head coach of the club on a two-and-a-half-year deal. His first match as the club's new manager took place five days later, when Real Madrid beat Deportivo La Coruña 5–0 in a La Liga match. In his first "El Clásico" as a coach, held on 2 April at the Camp Nou, Zidane led his club to a 2–1 win over Barcelona, ending Barça's 39-match unbeaten run. On 4 May, Zidane led Real Madrid to a place in the Champions League final by beating Manchester City 1–0 on aggregate. In La Liga, Madrid ended up finishing second, with 90 points and just one point behind champions Barcelona. On 28 May, Real Madrid's eleventh Champions League title was won after a 5–3 penalty shoot-out victory over Atlético Madrid, with the achievement being termed ""La Undécima"". Zidane became the seventh man to win the European Cup both as a player and a coach and the second man (after Miguel Muñoz) to achieve the feat with Real Madrid. He also became the first French coach, except the French-Argentinian Helenio Herrera, to win the trophy.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: Real Madrid began their 2016–17 campaign, which was to be Zidane's first full season in charge of the club, with a victory in the 2016 UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla. On 10 December 2016, Madrid played their 35th-straight match without a loss, which set a new club record. On 18 December 2016, the club defeated Japanese outfit Kashima Antlers 4–2 in the final of the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup. With a 3–3 draw at Sevilla in the second leg of the Copa del Rey round of 16 on 12 January 2017, Madrid progressed to the quarter-finals with a 6–3 aggregate victory and extended its unbeaten run to 40 matches, breaking Barcelona's Spanish record of 39 matches unbeaten in all competitions from the previous season. Their unbeaten streak ended after a 1–2 away loss against the same opposition in La Liga three days later. The team then was knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Celta Vigo 3–4 on aggregate. In May of that year, Madrid won the league title for a record 33rd time, their first title in five years, accumulating 93 points in the process. On 3 June 2017, the club's Champions League final win against Juventus resulted in Real Madrid being the first team to successfully defend their title in the UEFA Champions League era, and the first to win consecutive titles in the competition since Milan in 1989 and 1990, when the tournament was known as the European Cup. Real Madrid's title was its 12th, extending the record, and its third in four years. The achievement is also known as ""La Duodécima"". With Real's Champions League victory, Zidane became only the second manager to win the European Cup in his first two seasons in management, alongside fellow Real Madrid coach José Villalonga.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: Real kicked off the 2017–18 campaign by winning its second consecutive and fourth overall UEFA Super Cup in a 2–1 victory against Manchester United. Five days later, Real Madrid beat Barcelona at the Camp Nou 3–1 in the first leg of the 2017 Supercopa de España and then defeated Barça 2–0 in the return leg, ending their 24 consecutive match scoring record in "El Clásico" matches and winning the second trophy of the season. This title tied Zidane with Vicente del Bosque as the third most successful Real Madrid coach with seven titles, one short of Luis Molowny. This also meant that, at the time, Zidane had won as many titles in his coaching position in Real Madrid as games lost during his tenure. Zidane's success saw him named Best FIFA Men's Coach in 2017. On 16 December 2017, Zidane won his eighth trophy as coach as Real beat Brazilian club Grêmio 1–0 in the FIFA Club World Cup final and became the first team to retain the trophy. On 24 January 2018, Madrid was knocked out of the Copa del Rey at the quarter-final stage by Leganés on away goals. The team's league campaign was also a disappointment as Real collected only 76 points and finished third, 17 points behind champions Barcelona. Madrid fared far better in the Champions League, once again progressing to the final where they defeated Liverpool 3–1 to become the first club to win three straight titles in the Champions League era, as well as the first team to win three consecutive titles in the European Cup/Champions League since Bayern Munich in 1976. At that time, he became one of three managers, alongside Bob Paisley and Carlo Ancelotti, to win the European Cup three times, while also becoming the first coach to win the trophy in three consecutive seasons. On 31 May, five days after the Champions League final, Zidane announced his resignation as Real Madrid coach, citing the club's "need for change" as his rationale for departing.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: Following some poor results for Real Madrid in the months following Zidane's departure – culminating in elimination from the Copa del Rey at home to Barcelona, a league loss to the same opponent at the same venue which opened up a 12-point gap between the clubs, and an unexpected home 4–1 defeat to Ajax in the Champions League which brought the long run of success in that competition to an end, all within the space of a week – his former teammate Santiago Solari (who himself had only been in the post for five months, after Julen Lopetegui's equally brief spell in charge) was dismissed and Zidane returned as the Real Madrid head coach on 11 March 2019, on a contract until summer 2022.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: The 2019–20 season seemed a promising one, as Madrid went on a spending spree in the summer of 2019, signing Eden Hazard, Luka Jović, Éder Militão, Ferland Mendy, Rodrygo, Reinier and other players for a total of more than €350 million. On 12 January 2020, Zidane guided Madrid to their first trophy in his second spell, with the club defeating cross-city rivals Atlético Madrid in a penalty shootout in the Supercopa de España final. After a three-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020, La Liga was restarted in June and Madrid won ten games in a row to capture the team's 34th league title, collecting 87 points in total. It was Zidane's second league title in his coaching career. His collective mindset was hailed by international and Spanish media, as Real Madrid broke several records, including the number of scorers and maintaining their best league defensive record in 30 years, with 21 of his players managing to get on the scoresheet during the campaign. Zidane left a second time on 27 May 2021 after going trophyless that season.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: Many authoritative voices have acclaimed Zidane's skills and importance in the history of football, such as Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, who called Zidane "a monster" for his performance and abilities. German coach Franz Beckenbauer stated, "Zidane is one of the greatest players in history, a truly magnificent player." Italy manager Marcello Lippi, who also coached Zidane, opined, "I think Zidane is the greatest talent we've known in football these last twenty years." Former England manager Kevin Keegan said, "You look at Zidane and think 'I've never seen a player quite like that.' What sets Zidane apart is the way he manipulates a football, buying himself space that isn't there. Add his vision and it makes him very special." At the 1998 World Cup, Italian manager Cesare Maldini said, "I would give up five players to have Zidane in my squad."


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: Among his playing peers, Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimović commented, "Zidane was from another planet. When Zidane stepped onto the pitch, the ten other guys just got suddenly better. It is that simple." David Beckham has described Zidane as "the greatest of all time", Barcelona star Xavi has stated in a 2010 interview that Zidane was "best player in the '90s and early 2000s", while Brazilian defender and former Madrid teammate Roberto Carlos has said of Zidane, "He is the best player I've seen. Supporters arrived earlier at the Bernabéu just to see him warm-up." Brazilian playmaker Ronaldinho stated, "Zidane is one of the best footballers of all time, one of my idols. He had such elegance and grace, a wonderful touch and superb vision." Belgian playmaker Eden Hazard regards Zidane as "the best ever", and growing up he learned from his idol by "watching him on television and online for hours."


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: Displaying skills with an array of moves such as his signature "La Roulette" pirouette, step overs and close ball control, former Brazilian international Rivaldo stated, "His elegance of movement on the pitch and his skills are uncanny." Journalist Sid Lowe wrote, "Zidane was football's answer to the Bolshoi Ballet. Zidane was elegance above all else." In 2005, upon Zidane's return to the French national team, his teammate Thierry Henry stated, "In France, everybody realized that God exists, and that he is back in the French international team." Zidane has been lauded by sportsmen outside football; having witnessed Zidane's goal against Deportivo La Coruña in January 2002, where he dragged the ball right then left, turning the defender inside out, before scoring with a left foot finish, basketball player Magic Johnson stated, "One of the most inspiring nights of my life. Zidane is a phenomenon."


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: Labelled a "flawed genius" by ESPN, Zidane possessed an exceptional first touch, and was also known for his dribbling skills, use of feints, elegance on the ball, and creativity. He was capable of using either foot, despite being naturally right-footed. His technique and co-ordination enabled him to execute shots and volleys with extreme power and precision, in particular from outside the penalty area; he was also a free kick and penalty kick specialist. A world-class offensive playmaker, Zidane's natural position was in a free role as a classic number 10 behind the strikers. He was also capable of playing as a second striker, or in a more withdrawn role in midfield, either as a central midfielder or deep-lying playmaker, due to his ability to orchestrate his team's attacking plays from deep with his vision and passing. Thus, he was capable of both assisting and scoring goals, despite being neither the most prolific goalscorer nor the most productive creator throughout his career. While not known for his heading ability, his height and physical strength also allowed him to be effective in the air, and saw him score several crucial headers throughout his career. He also drew praise from his managers for his defensive work-rate. Despite not being the quickest player, he possessed good agility and acceleration, as well as exceptional balance and flair on the ball. He also had excellent positional sense and outstanding spatial awareness. Although he had a reserved and humble character, his former Juventus managers Lippi and Ancelotti also praised Zidane for being a team player, on whom his teammates could rely. Notwithstanding the acclaim that Zidane received from pundits over his playing ability, he also drew criticism in the media over his temperament and discipline, and for his occasional violent conduct on the pitch, which led to instances in which disciplinary action was taken against him; he was also accused by some in the sport of drifting in and out of games, and of lacking leadership qualities, although he was able to establish himself as a consistent and decisive player, who was also an influential captain at international level throughout his career.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: Zidane has been named FIFA World Player of the Year three times, a feat achieved only by Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. In 2002, ESPN described Zidane as "the greatest player in the world in the world's biggest game". In a 2002 FIFA poll, Zidane was selected in the FIFA World Cup Dream Team. In 2004, he was voted UEFA Best European Player of the Past 50 Years, and was named in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players. In a 2004 poll conducted by French newspaper "Journal du Dimanche", Zidane was voted as "the most popular Frenchman of all time". In 2014, in a poll carried out by French TV channel TF1, Zidane was voted as the best player in the history of the French league. In 2016, in a study led by French newspaper "Le Parisien", Zidane was named "best French player of all time".


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: Despite establishing himself as one of the most successful coaches of his era and in the history of Real Madrid, Zidane's time at Real Madrid was considered by some to be shadowed by a partial amount of luck. However, Zidane's tactical philosophy, particularly his tactical flexibility, has been praised by many. Zidane's tactical style, characterized by its formation flexibility and attacking football, as well as his ability to unite the dressing room, have been positively compared to Carlo Ancelotti's coaching method. His use of in-game substitutions was particularly praised, as many of his substitutes led to victories, such as introducing Marco Asensio and Lucas Vázquez in order to provide pace and width against Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League to overturn a 1–0 deficit into a 3–1 victory. His introduction of Gareth Bale for similar reasons in the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final also reaped similar rewards. It is also noted that his team focused on attacking through the flanks, while he is credited for repopularising the 4–4–2 diamond formation in contemporary football.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: On the other hand, some consider that Zidane's role was more focused in grinding out results and uniting the dressing room, rather than having a fixed tactical scheme. Zidane emphasised the importance of players' physical levels and preferred to choose impactful players over a defined system. During his time at Real Madrid, he used several formations, including the 4–3–3, the 4–2–3–1, the 4–4–2, and the 3–5–2, in order to find the system that best suited his players, and has been credited with using "simple systems", "...so that his players have the freedom needed to prove their superiority." As such, although he is not considered to be a tactical innovator, he has been praised for his balanced approach as a coach, and for having the leadership skills and personability to manage and motivate several world class players, create a good team environment, foster professional relationships, and a strong winning mentality; he has also demonstrated an ability to rotate players and get the best out his team, which has played a key role in his success. In 2019 he commented "You ask me about two players but what interests me is the group. Karim is important for the team, not just for his goals. Casemiro gives a lot of balance, but not only that. Everyone contributes something to the team in their own way on the field". Regarding his coaching role at Real Madrid, Zidane commented in 2018: "When you work with high-quality players, they know how to manage those periods of games when you’re not playing well, and they get things back on track very quickly. My job was to keep people calm!" Two of his main influences as a manager are his own former managers Marcello Lippi and Carlo Ancelotti.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: 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 €6.4 million Real Madrid salary in 2006, totalling €15 million ($20.4 million), which made him the sixth-highest paid footballer. In 2004, "Forbes" magazine listed his earnings of $15.8 million for the previous 12 months. In May 2010, Zidane appeared in a commercial for Louis Vuitton, indulging in a game of table football with Pelé and Diego Maradona. Zidane features as the cover star of the Ultimate Edition of the "FIFA" video game "FIFA 20".


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: In 2005, filmmakers Philippe Parreno and Douglas Gordon filmed a documentary "", which follows Zidane during an entire match, filmed with 17 cameras. Scottish post-rock band Mogwai provided the soundtrack. The documentary was part of the 2009 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: 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 with Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who gave him an official reception. In 2012, Algerian artist Adel Abdessemed unveiled a bronze sculpture depicting Zidane's headbutt of Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup Final.


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: On 5 November 2006, Zidane appeared in the American animated sitcom "Family Guy", seen headbutting an old lady in the episode "Saving Private Brian" as a parody of his headbutt on Materazzi. The infamous headbutt has also been the subject of a lyrical essay by the Belgian novelist Jean-Philippe Toussaint entitled "La Mélancolie de Zidane" (2006).


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: In 2010, footage of Zidane appeared in the "Waka Waka" music video by Shakira, which shows him celebrating France winning the 1998 World Cup. In 2014, Australian sports presenter Les Murray collaborated with the band Vaudeville Smash and performed a Zidane tribute song, the accompanying video featuring four footballers performing ball tricks in Zidane masks, one of whom ends up headbutting a nightwatchman. In 2016, Zidane was ranked one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre of Jordan, which noted: "[Zidane's] modest character has endeared him to the wider public."


title: Zinedine Zidane

text: At the age of 17, Zidane met his future wife, Véronique Fernández (born in Aveyron of Spanish descent), while playing for Cannes in the 1988–89 season. Married in 1994, they have four sons: Enzo Zidane Fernández (born 24 March 1995), Luca Zidane Fernández (born 13 May 1998), Theo Zidane Fernández (born 18 May 2002), and Elyaz Zidane Fernández (born 26 December 2005).


title: Kate Hudson

text: Kate Garry Hudson (born April 19, 1979) is an American actress and businesswoman. She has received numerous awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award and a Satellite Award, as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.


title: Kate Hudson

text: Hudson made her film debut in the 1998 drama "Desert Blue", which was followed by supporting roles in "200 Cigarettes" (1999), "Dr. T & the Women", and "Gossip" (both 2000). She rose to international prominence with her portrayal of Penny Lane in Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" (2000), for which she won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and received an Oscar nomination in the same category.


title: Kate Hudson

text: Throughout the 2000s, Hudson starred in a succession of romantic comedies, such as "Alex & Emma", "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" (both 2003), "You, Me and Dupree" (2006), "Fool's Gold", "My Best Friend's Girl" (both 2008), and "Bride Wars" (2009). Her other film credits include "The Four Feathers" (2002), "Raising Helen" (2004), "The Skeleton Key" (2005), "Nine" (both 2009), "The Killer Inside Me" (2010), "Something Borrowed" (2011), "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" (2013), "Rock the Kasbah" (2015), "Deepwater Horizon", "Mother's Day" (both 2016), "Marshall" (2017), "Music" (2021), and "" (2022). On television, she played the recurring role of Cassandra July on the hit series "Glee" (2012–13).


title: Kate Hudson

text: Hudson is the co-founder of the fitness brand and membership program Fabletics, operated by TechStyle Fashion Group. In 2016, Hudson released her first non-fiction book, "Pretty Happy: Healthy Ways to Love Your Body". This was followed in 2017 by "Pretty Fun: Creating and Celebrating a Lifetime of Tradition".


title: Kate Hudson

text: Hudson was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Academy Award-winning actress Goldie Hawn and Bill Hudson, an actor, comedian, and musician. Her parents divorced when she was 18 months old and she and her older brother, actor Oliver Hudson, were raised in Snowmass, Colorado, and Pacific Palisades, California by her mother and her mother's longtime boyfriend, actor Kurt Russell. Hudson's ancestry is Italian (from her paternal grandmother), Hungarian Jewish (from her maternal grandmother), and the remainder a mix of English and some German. She was raised Jewish; like her mother, she also practices Buddhism.


title: Kate Hudson

text: Hudson has stated that her biological father "doesn't know me from a hole in the wall", and she considers Russell her father. Hudson has described her mother as "the woman that I've learned the most from, and who I look up to, who has conducted her life in a way that I can look up to". She has four half-siblings: Emily and Zachary Hudson, from her biological father's later marriage to actress Cindy Williams; Lalania Hudson, from his relationship with another woman; and Wyatt Russell, from her mother's relationship with Kurt Russell.


title: Kate Hudson

text: In 1997, she graduated from Crossroads, a college preparatory school in Santa Monica. She was accepted to New York University, but chose to pursue an acting career instead of an undergraduate degree.


title: Kate Hudson

text: At age 11, Hudson performed on stage at the Santa Monica Playhouse. She made her film debut in the dramedy "Desert Blue" (1998), and subsequently appeared in the romantic comedy "200 Cigarettes" (1999). She took on the roles of a college student in the psychological thriller "Gossip", the lesbian daughter of the titular character in the dramedy "Dr. T & the Women" and one of the leading roles in the romantic comedy "About Adam", all of which were released throughout 2000.


title: Kate Hudson

text: Her breakthrough came with the role of a veteran groupie in Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical dramedy "Almost Famous" (2000). She "hung in and had turned down leads in other movies just to play the part" and soon obtained it "because of her loyalty", according to Crowe. For her performance, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. "Entertainment Weekly" put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "This power ballad of a movie also happens to be Crowe's greatest (and most personal) film thanks to the golden gods of Stillwater and their biggest fan, Kate Hudson's incomparable Penny Lane." She worked hard in avoiding association with her well-known parents, as she did not want to be perceived as someone who "rode on somebody's coattails".


title: Kate Hudson

text: In 2002, Hudson appeared in the remake of the historical romance "The Four Feathers", as the fiancée of a young British officer (played by Heath Ledger). The film was panned by critics and had a lukewarm box office response. In her next film, the romantic comedy "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" (2003), Hudson starred with Matthew McConaughey, as a writer for a women's magazine who, for an article, starts dating a guy and trying to drive him away using only the "classic mistakes women make" in relationships. The film was a box office success, grossing over US$100 million upon its release. She also starred opposite Naomi Watts in the Merchant-Ivory film "Le Divorce" (2003), portraying a woman who, with her sister, dispute the ownership of a painting by Georges de La Tour with the family of her former brother-in-law. "Entertainment Weekly" gave the film a "C" rating and wrote: "I'm disappointed to report that Hudson and Watts have no chemistry as sisters".


title: Kate Hudson

text: Her next romantic comedies, "Alex & Emma" (2003), in which she played a stubborn stenographer, and "Raising Helen" (2004), taking on the role of a young woman who becomes the guardian of her deceased sister's children, were released to varying degrees of success. In 2005, Hudson starred in the supernatural thriller "The Skeleton Key", as a young hospice nurse who acquires a job at a New Orleans plantation home, and becomes entangled in a supernatural mystery involving the house. In its review, "The Washington Post", describing her, wrote: "Hudson, who dials back her native, Goldie-given charm here to give Caroline a no-nonsense brusqueness, manages to convincingly convey a fearless bullheadedness rather than less sympathetic naivete". The film was a box office hit, grossing over US$91.9 million worldwide ($47.9 million in North America). Her next film, the comedy "You, Me and Dupree", in which she appeared with Owen Wilson and Matt Dillon as one half of a couple who allows an unemployed friend to move in, grossed US$21.5 million on its opening weekend of July 14, 2006. It eventually made US$130.4 million worldwide.


title: Kate Hudson

text: In 2007, Hudson directed the short film "Cutlass", one of "Glamour" magazine's "Reel Moments" based on readers' personal essays, which starred Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, Virginia Madsen, Chevy Chase and Kristen Stewart. In the romantic comedy "Fool's Gold" (2008), her second film with Matthew McConaughey, Hudson took on the role a divorced woman who returns with her former husband while searching for a lost treasure. She was certified in scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef for the underwater scenes. The film made US$111.2 million worldwide. In "My Best Friend's Girl", another romantic comedy released in 2008, Hudson played the colleague of an amiable guy (Jason Biggs). Despite negative reviews, it was a moderate commercial success.


title: Kate Hudson

text: Hudson starred in "Bride Wars" (2009), alongside Anne Hathaway, playing two best friends who become rivals after their weddings are scheduled on the same day. The film was named among the 10 worst chick flicks of all time by "Time" in 2010, but was successful financially, grossing US$114.6 million globally. Her next film was the musical "Nine", directed by Rob Marshall, in which she played a "Vogue" fashion journalist, alongside Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, and Judi Dench. The film was acclaimed by critics and Hudson garnered praise for her dancing skills, showcased in a 1960s-inspired original piece called "Cinema Italiano", which was written specifically for her character.


title: Kate Hudson

text: Hudson starred with Casey Affleck and Jessica Alba, as the wife of a West Texas serial killer, in the film adaptation "The Killer Inside Me", which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. In 2011, Hudson played a quickwitted, carefree ad executive in the romantic comedy film "A Little Bit of Heaven", and a party girl in another romantic comedy, "Something Borrowed", based on Emily Giffin's novel of the same name. In is review for the latter, "Detroit News" remarked: "Kate Hudson looks exhausted, as if she is as tired of wading through another one of her feckless duds as we are of watching them". While "A Little Bit of Heaven" found a limited release in theaters, "Something Borrowed" was a moderate commercial success.


title: Kate Hudson

text: In 2012, Hudson was cast on the Fox teen comedy series "Glee", in the recurring role of Cassandra July, a dance teacher at the fictitious New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts. In 2013, Hudson appeared in the political thriller "The Reluctant Fundamentalist", as a photographer and the girlfriend of a professor at the University of Lahore. In 2014, she starred in the comedy "Wish I Was Here", as the wife of a struggling actor, and the thriller "Good People", as one half of a couple who fall into severe debt while renovating their family's home. The aforementioned films received a limited release and mixed reviews from critics. In "Rock the Kasbah" (2015), Hudson played a top-hatted hooker with a heart of gold who befriends a has-been actor manager (Bill Murray) in Afghanistan. Despite a US$15 million budget, the film only made US$3 million at the North American box office.


title: Kate Hudson

text: Hudson voiced a crazy ribbon-dancing panda in the DreamWorks Animation film "Kung Fu Panda 3" (2016), which grossed US$521.1 million globally, and became her most widely seen film. She starred as a woman married to an Indian man and the sister of a lesbian woman, both of which had not told their conservative parents, in the romantic comedy "Mother's Day" (2016), directed by Garry Marshall and opposite Julia Roberts, Timothy Olyphant, and Jason Sudeikis. The film was panned by critics and a moderate commercial success. She next played the wife of a chief electronics technician (Mark Wahlberg) in the drama "Deepwater Horizon", based on the Deepwater Horizon explosion. While critical response was positive, the film was only slightly profitable, making US$121.8 million on a budget of around US$110 million.


title: Kate Hudson

text: In the 2017 film "Marshall", Hudson portrayed an employer accusing her black chauffeur of rape. It received positive reviews from critics but found a limited audience in theaters. In 2019, she is set to star in "Blood Moon", a fantasy-adventure film by writer-director Ana Lily Amirpour. In 2021, Hudson co-starred as Kazu Gamble in musical film "Music", co-written and directed by Sia. She received her second Golden Globe nomination for her work on the film. She will also star alongside Michael Shannon in "Shriver" directed by Michael Maren.


title: Kate Hudson

text: In 2013, Hudson, in a partnership with online fashion retailer TechStyle Fashion Group, launched her own line of workout clothes and active wear, Fabletics, which currently operates 25 stores in the United States. The venture became her focus, and in a 2018 interview, Hudson remarked: "I work more on Fabletics now than I do on movies."


title: Kate Hudson

text: In 2016, Hudson released her first book, "Pretty Happy: Healthy Ways to Love Your Body". In 2017, she released her second book, "Pretty Fun: Creating and Celebrating a Lifetime of Tradition".


title: Kate Hudson

text: In August 2018, Hudson and New York & Company announced their partnership, a multi-year deal, consisting on being the ambassador for its US$200 million Soho Jeans collection, and develop her own fashion line. In 2018, Hudson collaborated with her mother Goldie to create a capsule collection, with 50 percent of net proceeds will benefit MindUP, a program within the Goldie Hawn Foundation.


title: Kate Hudson

text: In November 2019, Hudson launched King St. Vodka, a vodka from California. A podcast, "Sibling Revelry", by Kate and her brother Oliver,<ref name="people/sibling-revelry-podcast"></ref> resulted in "playfully bickering" while promoting it on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in 2022.<ref name="upi/6501643377980"></ref>


title: Kate Hudson

text: In early 2006, Hudson sued the British version of the "National Enquirer" after it reported she had an eating disorder, describing her as "painfully thin". Hudson said the tabloid's statements were "a blatant lie" and she was concerned about the impact the false report could have on impressionable young women. The newspaper apologized and compensated her.


title: Kate Hudson

text: Hudson says that she does not enjoy seeing herself on screen, saying, "I get cold and I shake and I sweat" when watching her performances for the first time.


title: Kate Hudson

text: In 2016, Hudson said: "Meditation has been the most helpful and life-changing thing for me. You can feel the difference when you meditate on a regular basis. At least I can... I started practicing transcendental meditation a year and a half ago so I meditate 20 minutes in the morning and I try to do another 20 minutes in the afternoon."


title: Kate Hudson

text: Hudson married Chris Robinson, the frontman for the Black Crowes, on December 31, 2000, in Aspen, Colorado. Their son was born in January 2004. They traveled together during Hudson's film shoots and Robinson's music tours. On August 14, 2006, Hudson's publicist announced that she and Robinson had separated. On November 18, 2006, Robinson filed divorce papers, citing "irreconcilable differences". The divorce was finalized on October 22, 2007, with Hudson being granted joint custody.


title: Kate Hudson

text: In early 2010, Hudson began dating Muse frontman Matt Bellamy. They became engaged in April 2011 and their son was born in July 2011. On December 9, 2014, they announced they had ended their engagement. They are reported to be on good terms with one another and co-parenting their son.


title: Kate Hudson

text: In December 2016, Hudson had her first date with Danny Fujikawa, a musician, actor, and co-owner of a record company. They met when she was 23, through her best friends, Sara Foster and Erin Foster, who are his stepsisters. On April 6, 2018, Hudson announced she was expecting her first child with Fujikawa. On October 2, 2018, via Instagram, she announced the birth of their daughter Rani, whom they named after his grandfather, Ron Fujikawa. On September 13, 2021, they announced their engagement.


title: Kate Hudson

text: Hudson has received various awards and nominations throughout her career. In 2000, her role as Penny Lane in Cameron Crowe's drama film "Almost Famous" earned her worldwide recognition and critical plaudits, including nominations for an Academy Award (Oscar), a Golden Globe Award, a Satellite Award, a Critics' Choice Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress; winning the Golden Globe and Satellite Award. In 2012, her role in the film was recognized as the second-best performance by an actress in a supporting role of the 2000s decade by the Awards Circuit Community.


title: Kate Hudson

text: Hudson has also received recognition for her roles in the films: "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days", "Alex & Emma" (both 2003), "Raising Helen" (2004), "You, Me and Dupree" (2006), "Fool's Gold", "My Best Friend's Girl" (both 2008), "Bride Wars", "Nine" (both 2009), "Something Borrowed" (2011), "Wish I Was Here" (2014), "Mother's Day" (2016), and "Music" (2021); with the latter garnering controversy around its misinterpretation of the autism community and earned both Hudson and her co-star Maddie Ziegler Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Actress and Worst Supporting Actress, respectively. Simultaneously, Hudson garnered her second Golden Globe nomination for the same role. Her role in "Nine" earned Hudson and her co-stars the Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture and a SAG Award nomination in the same category.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American billionaire entrepreneur, television personality, and media proprietor whose net worth is an estimated $4.8 billion, according to "Forbes", and ranked No. 177 on the 2020 "Forbes" 400 list. He is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the co-owner of 2929 Entertainment. He is also one of the main "shark" investors on the ABC reality television series "Shark Tank".


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father, Norton Cuban, was an automobile upholsterer. Cuban described his mother, Shirley, as someone with "a different job or different career goal every other week."


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban is Jewish, and grew up in Mount Lebanon, a suburb of Pittsburgh, in a Jewish working-class family. His paternal grandfather changed the surname from "Chabenisky" to "Cuban" after his family emigrated from Russia through Ellis Island. His maternal grandparents were Romanian Jewish immigrants, according to Mark's brother Brian, though Mark has claimed their maternal grandmother was Lithuanian.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban first ventured into business at age 12. He sold garbage bags to pay for a pair of expensive basketball shoes. A few years later, he earned money by selling stamps and coins. At age 16, Cuban took advantage of a "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette" strike by running newspapers from Cleveland to Pittsburgh.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Instead of attending high school for his senior year, he enrolled as a full-time student at the University of Pittsburgh, where he joined the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. He is a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League. After one year at the University of Pittsburgh, Cuban transferred to Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where he graduated from the Kelley School of Business in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science degree in management. He chose Indiana's Kelley School of Business without even visiting the campus because it "had the least expensive tuition of all the business schools on the top 10 list". He had various business ventures during college, including a bar, disco lessons, and a chain letter.


title: Mark Cuban

text: After graduating, Cuban returned to Pittsburgh and took a job with Mellon Bank. He immersed himself in the study of machines and networking.


title: Mark Cuban

text: On July 7, 1982, Cuban moved to Dallas, Texas, where he first found a job as a bartender for a Greenville Avenue bar called Elan and then as a salesperson for Your Business Software, one of the earliest PC software retailers in Dallas. He was fired less than a year later after meeting with a client to procure new business instead of opening the store.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban started his own company, MicroSolutions, with help from his previous customers from Your Business Software. MicroSolutions was initially a system integrator and software reseller. The company was an early proponent of technologies such as Carbon Copy, Lotus Notes, and CompuServe. One of the company's largest clients was Perot Systems.


title: Mark Cuban

text: The company grew to more than $30 million in revenue, and in 1990, Cuban sold MicroSolutions to CompuServe—then a subsidiary of H&R Block—for $6 million. He made approximately $2 million after taxes on the deal.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In 1995, Cuban and fellow Indiana University alumnus Todd Wagner joined Audionet (founded in 1989 by Chris Jaeb, who retained 10% of the company), combining their mutual interest in Indiana Hoosier college basketball and webcasting. With a single server and an ISDN line, Audionet became Broadcast.com in 1998. By 1999, Broadcast.com had grown to 330 employees and $13.5 million in revenue for the second quarter. In 1999, Broadcast.com helped launch the first live-streamed Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. That year, during the dot com boom, Broadcast.com was acquired by Yahoo! for $5.7 billion in Yahoo! stock.


title: Mark Cuban

text: After the sale of Broadcast.com, Cuban hedged against the risk of a decline in the value of the Yahoo! shares he received in the deal. The "Guinness Book of Records" credits Cuban with the "largest single e-commerce transaction" after purchasing a Gulfstream V jet for $40 million over the internet in October 1999.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Yahoo!'s costly purchase of Broadcast.com is now regarded as one of the worst internet acquisitions of all time. Broadcast.com and Yahoo!'s other broadcasting services were discontinued within a few years after the acquisition. Cuban has repeatedly described himself as very lucky to have sold the company before the dot-com bubble burst. However, he also emphasized that he hedged against the Yahoo! shares he received from the sale and would have lost most of his fortune if he had not done so.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban continues to work with Wagner in another venture, 2929 Entertainment, which provides vertically integrated production and distribution of films and video.


title: Mark Cuban

text: On September 24, 2003, the firm purchased Landmark Theatres, a chain of 58 arthouse movie theaters. The company is also responsible for the updated version of the TV show "Star Search", which was broadcast on CBS. 2929 Entertainment released "Bubble", a movie directed by Steven Soderbergh, in 2006.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban was featured on the cover of "Best" magazine's November 2003 premiere issue, announcing the arrival of high-definition television. Cuban also was co-founder (with Philip Garvin) of AXS TV (formerly HDNet), the first high-definition satellite television network.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In February 2004, Cuban announced that he would be working with ABC television to produce a reality television series, "The Benefactor". The premise of the six-episode series involved 16 contestants trying to win $1 million by participating in various contests, with their performances being judged by Cuban. It premiered on September 13, 2004, but the series was canceled before the full season aired due to poor ratings.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In 2018, Cuban was no. 190 on "Forbes" list of "World's Richest People", with a net worth of $3.9 billion.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban financially supported Grokster in the Supreme Court case "MGM v. Grokster". He is also a partner in Synergy Sports Technology, a web-based basketball scouting and video delivery tool used by many NBA teams.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban has also assisted ventures in the social software and distributed networking industries. He was an owner of IceRocket, a search engine that scours the blogosphere for content. Cuban was a partner in RedSwoosh—a company that uses peer-to-peer technology to deliver rich media, including video and software, to a user's PC—later acquired by Akamai. He was also an investor in Weblogs, Inc., which was acquired by AOL.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In 2005, Cuban invested in Brondell Inc., a San Francisco startup making a high-tech toilet seat called a Swash that works like a bidet but mounts on a standard toilet. "People tend to approach technology the same way, whether it's in front of them, or behind them", Cuban joked. He also invested in Goowy Media Inc., a San Diego Internet software startup. In April 2006, Sirius Satellite Radio announced that Cuban would host his own weekly radio talk show, "Mark Cuban's Radio Maverick". However, the show has not materialized.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In July 2006, Cuban financed Sharesleuth.com, a website created by former "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" investigative reporter Christopher Carey to uncover fraud and misinformation in publicly traded companies. Experimenting with a new business model for making online journalism financially viable, Cuban disclosed that he would take positions in the shares of companies mentioned in Sharesleuth.com in advance of publication. Business and legal analysts questioned the appropriateness of shorting a stock before making public pronouncements which are likely to result in losses in that stock's value. Cuban insisted that the practice is legal in view of full disclosure.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In April 2007, Cuban partnered with Mascot Books to publish his first children's book, "Let's Go, Mavs!". In November 2011, he wrote a 30,000-word e-book, "How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It", which he described as "a way to get motivated".


title: Mark Cuban

text: In October 2008, Cuban started Bailoutsleuth.com as a grassroots, online portal for oversight over the U.S. government's $700 billion "bailout" of financial institutions.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In September 2010, Cuban provided an undisclosed amount of venture capital to store-front analytics company Motionloft. According to the company's CEO Jon Mills, he cold-emailed Cuban on a whim with the business proposition and claimed Cuban quickly responded that he would like to hear more. Mills credited that sentence for launching the company. In November 2013, several investors questioned Cuban about Mills' representation of a pending acquisition of Motionloft. Cuban denied an acquisition was in place. Mills was terminated as CEO of Motionloft by stockholders on December 1, 2013, and in February 2014 was arrested by the FBI and charged with wire fraud; it was alleged that Mills misrepresented to investors that Motionloft was going to be acquired by Cisco. Cuban has gone on record to state that the technology, which at least in part is meant to serve the commercial real estate industry, is "game changing" for tenants.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In 2019, Cuban, Ashton Kutcher, Steve Watts and Watts' wife Angela, invested a 50% stake in Veldskoen shoes fledgling U.S. business. In 2021, Cuban, Pantera Capital, BlockTower, Hashed, Cadenza Ventures (backed by 100x Group), CMS and QCP Capital backed a layer-2 decentralized exchange protocol, Injective Protocol and their CEO Eric Chen. Also in late 2021, Cuban purchased the entire town of Mustang, Texas, a 77-acre town in Navarro County. He told the "Dallas Morning News" that a buddy needed to sell it and, "I don't know what if anything I will do with it."


title: Mark Cuban

text: As of May 2015, he has invested in 85 deals across 111 "Shark Tank" episodes, for a total of $19.9 million invested. The actual numbers vary because the investment happens after the handshake deal on live television, after the due diligence is performed to ensure the accuracy of the information presented in the pitch room. For instance, Hy-Conn, a manufacturer of removable fire hoses, after agreeing to a deal of $1.25 million for 100% of the company with Cuban, did not go through with the deal.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban's top three deals, all with at least $1 million invested, are Ten Thirty One Productions, Rugged Maniac Obstacle Race, and BeatBox Beverages.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Since Cuban joined the show in 2011, the ratings for "Shark Tank" have increased, and also during his tenure, the show has won four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Structured Reality Program (from 2014–2017). Before the category came into existence it won the award for outstanding reality program for two years in a row (2012 to 2013), all of these awards came after he joined. As of 2022, Cuban is the second richest of all Sharks to appear on the show after Sir Richard Branson.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban owns film distributor Magnolia Pictures. Through Magnolia, he financed "Redacted", a fictional dramatization based on the 2006 Mahmudiyah killings, written and directed by Brian De Palma. In September 2007, Cuban, in his capacity as owner of Magnolia Pictures, removed disturbing photographs from the concluding moments of the "Redacted", citing copyrights/permissions issues.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Also in 2007, Cuban was reportedly interested in distributing through Magnolia an edition of the film "Loose Change", which posits a 9/11 conspiracy theory, with Charlie Sheen narrating. Cuban told the "New York Post", "We are having discussions about distributing the existing video with Charlie's involvement as a narrator, not in making a new feature. We are also looking for productions with an opposing viewpoint. We like controversial subjects, but we are agnostic to which side the controversy comes from."


title: Mark Cuban

text: In April 2011, Cuban put Magnolia Pictures and Landmark Theatres up for sale, but said, "If we don't get the price and premium we want, we are happy to continue to make money from the properties."


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban has invested in the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, as well as accepting the particular cryptocurrency as a method of payment for Dallas Mavericks merchandise and tickets since at least early 2021. After being asked by CNBC for his thoughts on the payment method, Cuban responded, "It’s a medium that can be used for the acquisition of goods and services. The community for doge is the strongest when it comes to using it as a medium of exchange."


title: Mark Cuban

text: After Voyager Digital, a cryptocurrency lender, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2022, Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks were named in a class-action lawsuit that alleged that Voyager Digital was a Ponzi scheme the following month due to Cuban's promotion of Voyager and Voyager's sponsorship with the team. In February 2022, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a lawsuit against Bitconnect that the Securities Act of 1933 extends to targeted solicitation using social media.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In January 2022, Mark Cuban launched the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, with the aim of lowering generic drug prices for end consumers in the US.


title: Mark Cuban

text: On November 17, 2008, it was reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil suit against Cuban relating to alleged insider trading in the shares of Mamma.com, now known as Copernic. A stock dilution occurred shortly after a trade in June 2004, giving hints of inside knowledge at the time of the trade, and Cuban allegedly was saved from a loss of $750,000. The SEC claimed that Cuban ordered the sale of his holdings in Mamma.com after he had been confidentially approached by the company to participate in a transaction likely to dilute shares of current shareholders. Cuban disputed the charges, saying he had not agreed to keep the information secret. On his blog, Cuban contended the allegations were false and that the investigation was "a product of gross abuse of prosecutorial discretion". "DealBook", a section of "The New York Times", reported through an anonymous source that Cuban believed the investigation was motivated by an SEC employee having taken offense to his interest in possibly distributing the film "Loose Change".


title: Mark Cuban

text: In July 2009, the U.S. District Court dismissed the charges against Cuban, and the SEC appealed. In September 2010, an appeals court said that the district court had erred and that further proceedings would be necessary to address the merits of the suit.


title: Mark Cuban

text: A federal jury in Texas found in favor of Cuban on October 16, 2013. The nine-member jury issued the verdict after deliberating 3 hours and 35 minutes.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In March 2014, Cuban was on air at CNBC criticizing high-frequency trading (HFT). Those against HFT, such as Cuban, believe the technology is equivalent to automated insider trading.


title: Mark Cuban

text: On January 4, 2000, Cuban purchased a majority stake in the NBA's Dallas Mavericks for $285 million from H. Ross Perot Jr.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In the 20 years before Cuban bought the team, the Mavericks won only 40% of their games and had a playoff record of 21–32. In the 10 years following, the team won 69 percent of their regular season games and reached the playoffs in each of those seasons except for one. The Mavericks' playoff record with Cuban is 49–57, including their first trip to the NBA Finals in 2006, where they lost to the Miami Heat.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Historically, NBA team owners publicly play more passive roles and watch basketball games from skyboxes; Cuban sits alongside fans while donning team jerseys. Cuban travels in his private airplane—a Gulfstream V—to attend road games.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In May 2010, H. Ross Perot Jr., who retained 5% ownership, filed a lawsuit against Cuban, alleging the franchise was insolvent or in imminent danger of insolvency. In June 2010, Cuban responded in a court filing maintaining Perot is wrongly seeking money to offset some $100 million in losses on the Victory Park real estate development. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2011, due in part to Cuban asserting proper management of the team due to its recent victory in the 2011 NBA Finals. In 2014, the 5th Circuit Court affirmed that decision on appeal. Following his initial defeat, Perot attempted to shut out Mavericks fans from use of the parking lots he controlled near the American Airlines Center.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In January 2018, Cuban announced the Mavericks would be accepting Bitcoin as payment for tickets in the following season. On March 4, 2021, Cuban announced the Mavericks would begin accepting Dogecoin as payment for both merchandise as well as tickets to games.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In early 2021, he decided to stop playing the National Anthem at Dallas Mavericks games in order to "respect those whose believed the anthem did not represent them." He also supported the movement as far back as late 2020. The NBA responded by requiring every team to play it, citing it as their "long-standing policy". Cuban did not complain, and ended up playing the anthem.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban's ownership has been the source of extensive media attention and controversy involving league policies.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban has been fined by the NBA, mostly for critical statements about the league and referees, at least $1.665 million for 13 incidents. In a June 30, 2006 interview, Mavericks player Dirk Nowitzki said about Cuban:


title: Mark Cuban

text: In an interview with the Associated Press, Cuban said that he matches NBA fines with charitable donations of equal amounts. In a nationally publicized incident in 2002, he criticized the league's manager of officials, Ed T. Rush, saying that he "wouldn't be able to manage a Dairy Queen." Dairy Queen management took offense to Cuban's comments and invited him to manage a Dairy Queen restaurant for a day. Cuban accepted the company's invitation and worked for a day at a Dairy Queen in Coppell, Texas, where fans lined up in the street to get a Blizzard from the owner of the Mavericks.


title: Mark Cuban

text: During the 2005–06 NBA season, Cuban started a booing campaign when former Mavericks player Michael Finley returned to play against the Mavericks as a member of the San Antonio Spurs. In a playoff series between the Mavericks and Spurs, Cuban cursed Spurs forward Bruce Bowen and was fined $25,000 by the NBA for rushing onto the court and criticizing NBA officials. After the 2006 NBA Finals, Cuban was fined $250,000 by the NBA for repeated misconduct following the Mavericks' loss to the Miami Heat in Game Five of the 2006 NBA Finals.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In February 2007, Cuban publicly criticized NBA Finals MVP Dwyane Wade and declared that he would get fined if he made any comments about what he thought really happened in the 2006 NBA Finals.


title: Mark Cuban

text: On January 16, 2009, the league fined Cuban $25,000 for yelling at Denver Nuggets player J. R. Smith at the end of the first half on a Mavericks-at-Nuggets game played on January 13. Cuban was apparently incensed that Smith had thrown an elbow that barely missed Mavericks forward Antoine Wright. Cuban offered to match the fine with a donation to a charity of Smith's choosing. Cuban stated that if he doesn't hear from Smith, then he will donate the money to the NHL Players' Association Goals and Dreams Fund in the names of Todd Bertuzzi and Steve Moore. In May 2009, Cuban made a reference to the Denver Nuggets being "thugs" after a loss to the Nuggets in game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals. The statement was geared towards the Nuggets and their fans. As he passed Kenyon Martin's mother, who was seated near Cuban as he left the arena, he pointed at her and said, "that includes your son." This controversial comment revisited media attention on Cuban yet again. Cuban issued an apology the next day referencing the poor treatment of away fans in arenas around the league. The league issued a statement stating that they would not fine him.


title: Mark Cuban

text: On May 22, 2010, Cuban was fined $100,000 for comments he made during a television interview about trying to sign LeBron James.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Despite Cuban's history with David Stern, he believed the NBA Commissioner would leave a lasting legacy "of a focus on growth and recognizing that the NBA is in the entertainment business and that it's a global product, not just a local product. Whatever platforms that took us to, he was ready to go. He wasn't protective at all. He was wide open. I think that was great."


title: Mark Cuban

text: On January 18, 2014, Cuban was once again fined $100,000 for confronting referees and using inappropriate language toward them. As with previous fines, Cuban confirmed that he would match the fine with a donation to charity, however, with the condition that he reaches two million followers on his Twitter account. Cuban also jokingly commented that he could not let Stern leave without a proper farewell.


title: Mark Cuban

text: On February 21, 2018, Cuban was fined $600,000 by the NBA for stating that the Dallas Mavericks should "tank for the rest of the season." Commissioner Adam Silver stated that the fine was "for public statements detrimental to the NBA."


title: Mark Cuban

text: On March 6, 2020, Cuban was fined $500,000 by the NBA for "public criticism and detrimental conduct regarding NBA officiating", according to the league.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban has repeatedly expressed interest in owning a Major League Baseball franchise and has unsuccessfully attempted to purchase at least three franchises. In 2008, he submitted an initial bid of $1.3 billion to buy the Chicago Cubs and was invited to participate in a second round of bidding along with several other potential ownership groups. Cuban was not selected to participate in the final bidding process in January 2009. In August 2010, Cuban actively bid to buy the Texas Rangers with Jeffrey L. Beck. Cuban stopped bids after 1 a.m., having placed bids totaling almost $600 million. He had outbid a competing ownership group led by ex-pitcher and Rangers executive Nolan Ryan, but lost the deal before the Rangers played the San Francisco Giants in the 2010 World Series.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In January 2012, Cuban placed an initial bid for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but was eliminated before the second round of bidding. Cuban felt that the value of the Dodgers' TV rights deal drove the price of the franchise too high. He had previously said that he would not be interested in buying the franchise at $1 billion, telling the "Los Angeles Times" in November 2011 "I don't think the Dodgers franchise is worth twice what the Rangers are worth." However, as the bidding process drew near many speculated that the sale would surpass $1.5 billion, with Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reporting on Twitter that at least one bid in the $1–1.5 billion range was placed in the initial round of the bidding process. Ultimately, the Dodgers sold for $2.15 billion to Guggenheim Baseball Management.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban also previously expressed interest in becoming a minority owner of the New York Mets after owner Fred Wilpon announced in 2011 that he was planning to sell up to a 25% stake in the team.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban has wanted to purchase his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates, but was rebuffed by then owner Kevin McClatchy in 2005.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In 2005, Cuban expressed interest in buying the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. In 2006, Cuban joined an investment group along with Dan Marino, Kevin Millevoi, Andy Murstein, and Walnut Capital principals Gregg Perelman and Todd Reidbord to attempt to acquire the Penguins. The franchise ultimately rejected the group's bid when team owners Mario Lemieux and Ronald Burkle took the team off the market.


title: Mark Cuban

text: At WWE's Survivor Series in 2003, Cuban was involved in a staged altercation with "Raw" General Manager Eric Bischoff and "Raw" wrestler Randy Orton. On December 7, 2009, Cuban acted as the guest host of "Raw", getting revenge on Orton when he was the guest referee in Orton's match against Kofi Kingston, giving Kingston a fast count victory. He then announced that Orton would face Kingston at . At the end of the show, Cuban was slammed through a table by the number one contender for the WWE Championship, Sheamus.


title: Mark Cuban

text: On September 12, 2007, Cuban said that he was in talks with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to create a mixed martial arts company that would compete with UFC. He is now a bondholder of Zuffa, which was formerly UFC's parent company.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban followed up his intentions by organizing "HDNet Fights", a mixed martial arts promotion which airs exclusively on HDNet and premiered on October 13, 2007, with a card headlined by a fight between Erik Paulson and Jeff Ford as well as fights featuring veterans Drew Fickett and Justin Eilers.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In April 2010, Cuban loaned the newly formed United Football League (UFL) $5 million. He did not own a franchise, and he was not involved in day-to-day operations of the league nor of any of its teams. In January 2011, he filed a federal lawsuit against the UFL for their failure to repay the loan by the October 6, 2010 deadline.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban is an admirer of author and philosopher Ayn Rand. About Rand's novel "The Fountainhead", he said, that it "was incredibly motivating to me. It encouraged me to think as an individual, take risks to reach my goals, and responsibility for my successes and failures. I loved it." His political views have leaned toward libertarianism. He held a position on the centrist Unity08 political organization's advisory council. Despite leaning towards libertarianism, Cuban posted an entry on his blog claiming paying more taxes to be the most patriotic thing someone can do.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In 2012, Cuban donated $7,000 to political campaigns, with $6,000 going to Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah and $1,000 to Democratic California Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren.


title: Mark Cuban

text: On February 8, 2008, Cuban voiced his support for the draft Bloomberg movement attempting to convince New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to run in the U.S. presidential election of 2008 on his blog. Cuban concluded a post lamenting the current state of U.S. politics: "Are you listening, Mayor Bloomberg? For less than the cost of opening a tent pole movie, you can change the status quo." He eventually voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 election.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In November 2012, in response to Donald Trump offering President Obama $5 million to a charity of President Obama's choosing if he released passport applications and college transcripts to the public, Cuban offered Trump $1 million to a charity of Trump's choosing if Trump shaved his head.


title: Mark Cuban

text: On December 19, 2012, Cuban donated $250,000 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation to support its work on patent reform. Part of his donation funded a new title for EFF's staff attorney Julie Samuels: The Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents.


title: Mark Cuban

text: At the Code/Media conference in February 2015, Cuban said of net neutrality that "having [the FCC] overseeing the Internet scares the shit out of me".


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban formally endorsed Hillary Clinton for president at a July 30, 2016 rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During that campaign stop, Cuban said of Republican nominee Donald Trump, "You know what we call a person like that in Pittsburgh? A jagoff ... Is there any bigger jagoff in the world than Donald Trump?"


title: Mark Cuban

text: On November 22, 2016, Cuban met with the then President-elect Trump's key advisor Steve Bannon, according to reports.


title: Mark Cuban

text: During an appearance on an episode of "Hannity" in May 2020, Cuban voiced his support for former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.


title: Mark Cuban

text: On February 2, 2021, Cuban joined Reddit's WallStreetBets "Ask Me Anything" forum with millions of community members and fielded user questions related to the widely publicized battle between retail traders and Wall Street short sellers over GameStop shares. In the previous days, GameStop shares experienced a meteoric rise to as much as $489 on January 28, 2021, up from $17.15 on January 4, 2021. The growth was mainly brought on by an organized group of Reddit users named "WallStreetBets" that noticed GameStop stock was heavily shorted by Wall Street hedge firms and launched an ensuing campaign to buy enough shares to raise share value and produce a GameStop short squeeze. In the aftermath, the stock became heavily volatile as hedge firms repositioned themselves in the market. Firms like Melvin Capital required bailouts exceeding $2B and retail traders experienced excessive but temporary gains, whereas GameStop share value dropped to below $100 within a few days of closing at over $300. The consistent decline into February raised a lot of questions about next steps for retail traders and prompted Cuban to step in and provide advice to the Reddit community. Amid the volatility, Cuban had been an outspoken supporter of the WallStreetBets community alongside other wealthy financial figureheads like Chamath Palihapitiya, Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss. In the AMA session, Cuban publicly called the trust of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission into question as well as the capabilities of zero commission brokerage firms, like Robinhood, that restricted retail traders from purchasing GameStop shares and other shorted stocks which he said crippled demand. Cuban's advice to Reddit users was to hold GameStop shares if they could afford it in anticipation of additional short sales by Wall Street firms, but ultimately acknowledged that the odds were stacked against them and to use it as a learning lesson. He offered insight into his trading technique suggesting that traders know why they are buying something and to "HODL"(hold on for dear life) until they learn that something has changed. Cuban noted a need for policy change to better support retail traders, credited the WallStreetBets community for leading the charge, and expressed optimism about blockchain trading as a more efficient, transparent and trustworthy form of trading for retail traders in the future.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban started the Fallen Patriot Fund to help families of U.S. military personnel killed or injured during the Iraq War, personally matching the first $1 million in contributions with funds from the Mark Cuban Foundation, which is run by his brother Brian Cuban.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In September 2015, Cuban stated in an interview that running for president was "a fun idea to toss around", and that, if he were running in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, he "could beat both Trump and Clinton". This was interpreted by many media outlets as indication that Cuban was considering running, but he clarified soon afterward that he had no intention to do so.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In October 2015, Cuban posted on Twitter, "Maybe I'll run for Speaker of the House." At the time, there was no clear front-runner to replace the outgoing John Boehner; the Speaker of the House does not have to be a member of Congress.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Cuban told "Meet the Press" in May 2016 that he would be open to being Clinton's running mate in the election, though he would seek to alter some of her positions in order to do so. In the same interview, the self-described "fiercely independent" Cuban also said that he would consider running as Republican nominee Trump's running mate after having a meeting with Trump about understanding the issues, Trump's positions on them, and coming up with solutions. Cuban also described Trump as "that friend that you just shake your head at. He's that guy who'd get drunk and fall over all the time, or just says dumb shit all the time, but he's your friend." On July 21, 2016, Cuban appeared on a live segment on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" entitled "Gloves Off: Mark Cuban Edition" in which he mocked Trump, including referencing the Trump companies' multiple bankruptcies and the failed Trump University program, and questioning the size of Trump's actual net worth.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In a September 2016 interview with NPR's Scott Simon, Cuban effectively positioned himself to support Clinton. He posited that the best strategy to beat Trump was to attack his insecurities, especially that of his intellect. He also added that Trump is the least qualified to be president and is not informed about policies.


title: Mark Cuban

text: Later in September 2016, during a post-presidential debate interview, Cuban criticized Trump's characterization that paying the minimum required taxes 'is smart' and criticized Trump for not paying back into the system that allowed him to amass such wealth.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In October 2017, Cuban said that he would "definitely" run for president if he were single. Later that month, Cuban claimed that if he ran for president in 2020, it would be as a Republican, and described himself as "socially a centrist ... but very fiscally conservative". It had also been speculated that he could have challenged president Donald Trump in 2020 as a Democrat. However, in a March 2019 interview with the "New York Daily News", Cuban stated that he was "strongly considering running" for president as an independent candidate. In May 2019, Cuban said: "It would take the perfect storm for me to do it. There's some things that could open the door, but I'm not projecting or predicting it right now."


title: Mark Cuban

text: In a June 2020 interview with CNN and former Obama advisor David Axelrod, Cuban revealed that he had seriously considered running for president that year as an independent candidate. He went so far as to commission a national poll, which, according to Cuban, showed he would only receive 25 percent of the vote in a hypothetical matchup with President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. Cuban also said that the poll showed his candidacy would have pulled votes from both Trump and Biden.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In September 2002, Cuban married Tiffany Stewart in a private ceremony in Barbados. They have two daughters, born in 2003 and 2006, and a son born in 2009. They live in a mansion in the Preston Hollow area of Dallas, Texas.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In April 2019, after missing a taping of "The View", Cuban revealed he had a procedure performed to treat his atrial fibrillation. His diagnosis was first revealed in 2017 on Twitter.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In 2003, Cuban founded the Fallen Patriot Fund to help families of U.S. military personnel killed or injured during the Iraq War.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In June 2015, Cuban made a $5 million donation to Indiana University at Bloomington for the "Mark Cuban Center for Sports Media and Technology", which was built inside Assembly Hall, the school's basketball arena.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuban posted an offer on LinkedIn to small business owners who had questions about what to do in order to survive the economic downturn being caused by the pandemic. He said people could ask him anything, but that his preference was "going to be helping small biz trying to avoid layoffs and hourly reductions." There were more than 10,000 comments in response to his offer.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In 2020, Cuban picked up homeless former NBA player Delonte West from a gas station in Dallas. He paid for a hotel room for West along with his treatment at a drug rehabilitation center.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In 2022, the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company was set up with a goal to dramatically reduce the cost of prescription drugs in the US and to introduce transparency to the pricing of drugs.


title: Mark Cuban

text: In a March 6, 2018 article, "Willamette Week" reported on an alleged April 2011 incident between Cuban and a female patron of a Portland, Oregon bar called the Barrel Room. The woman told Portland police that Cuban sexually groped her while she posed for pictures with him. She submitted seven photographs, two of which Portland Police Detective Brendan McGuire referred to as "significant". Cuban denied the allegations, and his attorney provided the results of a polygraph test taken by Cuban and written statements from two medical doctors stating that the actions described were anatomically improbable. The Portland District Attorney's office declined to prosecute, citing a lack of concrete evidence to support the claim and the woman's preference not to proceed with charges, and concluding that "no crime can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt". The NBA announced on March 8, 2018, that it was reviewing the matter.


title: Pep Guardiola

text: Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of club Manchester City. He is considered one of the greatest managers of all time and holds the records for the most consecutive league games won in La Liga, the Bundesliga and the Premier League.


title: Pep Guardiola

text: Guardiola was a defensive midfielder who usually played in a deep-lying playmaker's role. He spent the majority of his career with Barcelona, forming a part of Johan Cruyff's "Dream Team" that won the club's first European Cup in 1992, and four successive Spanish league titles from 1991 to 1994. He captained the team from 1997 until his departure from the club in 2001. Guardiola then had stints with Brescia and Roma in Italy, Al-Ahli in Qatar, and Dorados de Sinaloa in Mexico. He was capped 47 times for the Spanish national team and appeared at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, as well as at UEFA Euro 2000. He also played friendly matches for Catalonia.