LEGENDARY French footballer Zinedine Zidane has said voters should do anything they can to stop Marine Le Pen winning the presidency.

Referring to Le Pen's associated far-right party, the Real Madrid coach said he is "far from all these ideas, from this National Front. So we need to do everything to avoid this".

Zidane, who was born in Marseille and comes from Algerian descent, took a similar stance when Jean-Marie Le Pen – Marine Le Pen's father – made it to the second round of the 2002 presidential election.

A former World Cup and European Championship winner, Zidane remains highly popular in France. He said the message "is the same, the one from 2002".

Le Pen faces centrist Emmanuel Macron in the presidential run-off on May 7.