What has become of Youri Djorkaeff, “better than Zidane at the 98 World Cup”, according to Robert Pires?

In its weekly feature entitled “Life after Career”, Afrique Sports looks at Youri Djorkaeff, one of the key figures in France’s first World Cup triumph (in 1998). For his former team-mate Robert Pires, the former Inter Milan attacking midfielder was better than the famous Zinedine Zidane at the 98 World Cup. But where does Djorkaeff stand in his conversion?

Youri Djorkaeff, son of former professional footballer Jean Djorkaeff, has enjoyed a successful career with both club and country. Playing as a second striker or attacking midfielder, the native of Lyon took his first steps in amateur football in the early 1980s. Passionate and hard-working, he managed to sign his first professional contract with FC Grenoble in 1985.

A brilliant career

However, it was during his spell with RC Strasbourg that Youri Djorkaeff showed the full extent of his talent during the 1989-1990 season. It was a performance that enabled him to play for some of the biggest clubs in France and abroad, including AS Monaco, Paris-Saint-Germain and Inter Milan. The UEFA Cup winner also won the 1996 edition. The man nicknamed the Snake retired from the New York MetroStars in 2006.

With Les Bleus, Youri Djorkaeff found the net 28 times in 82 appearances. As with his club career, the former Parisian enjoyed success with the French national team, winning two major trophies alongside iconic players such as Didier Deschamps and Zinédine Zidane (the 98 World Cup and Euro 2000). Speaking to the French Football Federation (FFF), the 55-year-old reflected on one of the finest moments of his career as a professional footballer.

“We are the first Frenchmen to achieve this and go down in history forever”.

“3-0: we could never have imagined such a victory in the final against Brazil… When the referee blew his whistle, it was like deliverance. At the time, I had flashes of all the World Cup finals I’d watched on TV as a kid: Argentina in 1978 and 1986, Italy in 1982… I remembered the joy of the victors, of all the players who then had a different look on their faces, expressing a unique emotion. Something inhuman, in a way, that only happens once in your life. So, yes, I think of Pele, Maradona and others, and I tell myself that I’m now part of a very closed circle, a footballing elite,” says Youri Djorkaeff.

“We know we’re the first Frenchmen to achieve this and go down in history forever. We want to stay on the pitch as long as possible because we realise that this is the end of a magnificent adventure. You savour every second, every gesture, every sensation: holding the World Cup in your hands, so beautiful, kissing it, lifting it, sharing it, running with it alongside your mates, feeling the emotion of the crowd… And you quickly realise that your life will never be the same again,” he added in statements reported by the FFF.

Youri Djorkaeff, consultant and General Manager

After playing 581 matches, Youri Djorkaeff called time on his career one evening on 29 October 2006. But the man who finished ninth in the 1996 Ballon d’Or did not cut the cord with his passion for football. Youri Djorkaeff is now Chief Executive of the FIFA Foundation.

Created in 2018 and based in Zurich (Switzerland), the FF is an independent organisation whose aim is to help promote social change around the world, and to obtain aid for the repair or reconstruction of damaged or destroyed sports infrastructures.

The man with 182 career achievements is also a sports consultant on France’s oldest national general-interest channel, TF1. In a way, it’s a great way to continue his love affair with the beautiful game.