Zinedine Zidane transferred to Real Madrid from Juventus in 2001. The French midfielder joined Madrid during Florentino Pérez's Galácticos project, which assembled internationally famous stars at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Zidane had moved to Juventus from Bordeaux in 1996 and became one of the leading players in Italian football. With Juventus, he won two Serie A titles and reached two consecutive UEFA Champions League finals, although the club lost both finals in 1997 and 1998.
Real Madrid completed his transfer in July 2001 for a fee widely reported at about €72–77.5 million, then a world-record fee for a footballer. The differing figures reflect how the deal was reported and calculated, but the clubs and direction of the transfer are not in doubt.
Zidane made his mark quickly in Spain. In the 2002 UEFA Champions League final against Bayer Leverkusen, he scored Madrid's winning goal with a famous left-foot volley. He later won La Liga with Madrid and remained at the club until 2006.