Zidane's parents, Ismail
and Malika, both Muslims of Kabyle descent from Algeria, emigrated to Paris in 1953 from the village of Aguemone in the Kabylie region of Algeria. They moved to Marseille a few years later, where Zidane was born. Zidane met his wife, Véronique, while playing for Cannes in the 1988-89 season. They have four sons: Enzo, Luca, Theo, and Elyaz. Luca and Theo are both members of the Real Madrid Infantil B Team.
In 2004, Forbes magazine named him the 42nd-highest paid athlete in the world, with earnings of US$15.8 million a year. In November 2006, Zidane toured Bangladesh as the guest of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. He also visited the Algerian birthplace of his parents, and met personally with president Abdel Aziz Bouteflika. Filmmakers Philippe Parreno and Douglas Gordon filmed a documentary Zidane, which follows Zidane during an entire match, filmed with 17 cameras. The documentary was part of the 2009 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.
On 24 February 2007, before a crowd of 10,000 fans at a match in northern Thailand for the Keuydaroon children's AIDS charity, Zidane scored the first goal and set up the second for a Malaysian teammate as the match ended 2-2. The event raised ฿260,000 ($7,750). This money paid for the building of two schools and 16 three-bedroom houses.