Zinedine Zidane is an award-winning football player.
The Ballon d'Or ( [ balɔ̃ dɔʁ ] ; `` Golden Ball '' ) , is an annual association football award presented by France Football . Conceived by sports writer Gabriel Hanot , the Ballon d'Or award honours the male player deemed to have performed the best over the previous year , based on voting by football journalists . Zinedine Zidane . Zidane was named the FIFA World Player of the Year three times , in 1998 , 2000 and 2003 , and won the 1998 Ballon d'Or .