Zinedine Zidane No Longer Has To Pretend Not To Coach Team He Coaches

A couple months ago, we told you about how Zinedine Zidane, manager of Real Madrid Castilla, was under investigation for not having the proper coaching qualifications. The Frenchman had two ways to fight the impending punishment: either cadge up the qualifications or deny that he was actually the manager. Lo and behold, he won.

Since we last caught up with this saga, the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) found that Zidane did lack the qualifications and that, despite the club's little stunt, he was indeed the manager. Zidane was able to produce (or was given, it's not exactly clear) a more or less equivalent coaching license from the French federation, but RFEF wasn't moved. They hit Zidane with a three month coaching ban, and required that he finish the Spanish courses before he could continue. Real Madrid were also fined.

Zidane and the club appealed the ruling to the Spain's court of arbitration in sport, and today it was announced that he had won. RFEF's entire punishment was vacated.

So Big Zidane is back on the bench, Little Zidane is out on the pitch, and everything is right in the world. We knew they'd get away with it.

[ L'Équipe]