Zidane set to face FIFA over World Cup head butt

By Mark Ledsom

BERN, Switzerland (Reuters) – Former France captain
Zinedine Zidane will appear before FIFA’s disciplinary
committee in Zurich on Thursday to give his account of the
incident in which he head-butted an opponent in the World Cup
final.

The 34-year-old was sent off in the closing stages of the
final match of his illustrious career after butting his head
into the chest of Italian defender Marco Materazzi.

Zidane, three-times FIFA’s World Player of the Year, had
already announced his decision to retire as a player long
before the final took place.

Without their captain, and regular penalty-taker who had
scored their goal from the spot in the game that eventually
ended in a 1-1 draw, France lost the subsequent shoot-out 5-3.

The five-member disciplinary panel will also consider
possible punishments against Materazzi who admitted insulting
Zidane in the moments leading up to the head butt.

Materazzi has, however, denied several media reports, based
on the opinions of lip-readers, that he used racist insults to
provoke Zidane.

The Inter Milan player, who had his own hearing before the
disciplinary committee last Friday, told Italy’s Gazzetta dello
Sport newspaper that it was “one of those insults you hear
dozens of times and that often slips out on the pitch.”

FIFA has been tight-lipped about the exact charges being
brought against the two players, and about the size of the
punishments that could be handed out.

According to the organization’s disciplinary code, any
player who “deliberately assaults someone physically or damages
his health will be suspended for at least four matches,” and
handed a minimum fine of 5,000 Swiss francs ($3,984).

A lesser assault in which the victim is not considered to
have been physically harmed is sanctioned with a ban of at
least two matches and the same minimum fine.

Given his personal wealth and his subsequent retirement
from the sport, either punishment would be chiefly symbolic in
Zidane’s case.

The disciplinary committee could theoretically recommend
that Zidane be shorn of his “Most Valuable Player” award from
the World Cup.

A FIFA spokesman said on Wednesday that such a
recommendation was unlikely, pointing out that the award was
handed out following a media vote and not by FIFA itself.