Luca Zidane, the son of France’s World Cup-winning playmaker Zinedine, has switched his international allegiance from France to Algeria.
Born just outside Marseille, the 27-year-old goalkeeper had appeared for France at various youth levels.
The move, which Fifa approved, may enable Luca Zidane to follow in his father’s footsteps by appearing at a World Cup, with Algeria expected to secure a place at the 2026 finals in North America in their qualifier against Somalia next month.
Zidane, who is the second of four brothers, all of whom came through the Real Madrid academy, currently plays for Spanish second-tier side Granada.
He played two matches for Madrid and has La Liga experience at Rayo Vallecano, but dropped a level in 2022 to play for Eibar before heading to Andalusia in 2024.
Zidane qualifies for the North African country through his father, whose parents hailed from the Kabylie region of Algeria.
Zinedine Zidane, who is regarded as one of the game’s greatest players, scored twice for France in their 1998 World Cup final victory over Brazil, but was famously sent off in the 2006 final, which was won by Italy after a penalty shootout.
Luca Zidane is the second of four brothers, and all of them – Enzo, Théo, and Elyaz – are footballers who developed at the youth academy of Real Madrid. Luca is of Spanish descent through his mother and of French descent through his father.
Luca joined the Real Madrid youth academy at the age of 6 in 2004 and plays as a goalkeeper. He worked his way up from the academy, eventually joining Castilla, the reserve team.
On September 1, 2022, free agent Luca signed a two-year contract with Eibar in the second division. On 22 March of the following year, he renewed his link with the club until 2026.
On 5 July 2024, Zidane agreed to a three-year deal with Granada, recently relegated to the second division.
