Last night during the most important & critical match of the World Cup between France & Italy, Zinedine Zidane did the unbelievable; he got enraged & gave a dangerous head-butt to Italian player Marco Materazzi & got sent off the green with a red card only 20 minutes before the end of the match during extra-time.
It seems Materazzi provoked Zindane verbally & that's what sent him off.
This final World Cup match is also the final match for Zidane before his retirement, & ending his career like this is a big shame & he will never have a chance to redeem himself!
Zinedine Zidane's fellow former World Cup winner Frank Leboeuf says: I cannot accept what he did, I feel very ashamed - because it is not the kind of thing that this team does, He has been such a great footballer and a wonderful human being ... I don't understand what happened, He has a hot temper; he can react, as we have seen two or three times in his career.
He is a very shy person, a quiet guy - not the kind of guy to show the image he did yesterday.
He should have been focused on the real target - the World Cup. To go out like that, end his great career like that, is a pity.
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hi everybody 1st congratulations 2 italy.
i don't know y zizo had made dis 5ososan 2n da 25er match hail3abo fi 7iato and then he will retire
I so wanted France to win but no he had to act act like a typical male "loser" in the biggest and most significant game of his career. What did that macho act achieve, nothing. He should have realised the effect this would have on the morale of his team. As the captain of his team, he now carries the blame for crushing the hopes of his entire country. It is a shame to have such a wonderful career tarnished in this way. He will dwell on this mistake for a very very very long time.
Congratulations to Italy but I did not want them to win because Australia lost unfairly to them.
we never know what that italian player said to zidane, he maybe humiliated him and thats why zidane couldnt control his acting. But am not saying that it was right, but done 's done we cant blame zidane 4 that! France didnt loose beacause of him!
And by the way Zidane got today the price from Fifa for the best player, congratulation zizou we'll miss you aloot, you're a grea8 player!!!
ya zizo ya gamed walla yehimak we all know tht ur a gr8 player and we will always remember u as 1, no matter wat hpens. anyway the referee was very bad yesterday, so nvm ya zizo inta il a7san and u deserve he golden ball award....luv ya ya zizo inta w henry.
i really think that zidane deserves wat happened to him yesterday cuz he hit that player on purpose AND i think that italia deserves to win
i can't belive zidane did that! i rally truly love him as a really good player..! he ended his career in shame! i wanted france to win really bad! but i can't beleive zidane i am soo ashamed..! BOO HOOOO!
france should winn and they are great
Hello.....congratualation for Italy and hard luck for France.
ZIZO deserves what happened to him because he chose this shameful end by himself. france doesnt deserve to win from the first place and they were just lucky to reach the final match.
the referee was great last night, don't you agree Hanousheh?
NOBODY BEATS BRAZIL N PROSPERS:P
zidane iz a legend, italy iz soo weak marco even fell down cuz the headbutt was soo strong.
DONT MESS WITH ZIZO ITALIANZ EVER AGAIN
don't put the blame on Zidane 100%
that stupid italian must've said something real bad to him...and Zidane is a high tempered person, also he was exhausted...
I love you Zidane...YOU ARE THE BEST
Italians got lucky...that's all
if Zidane stayed, they won't dream of winning !!!
I SOOOOOOOOO wanted france 2 WIN!
I really think they deserved it! they played 100 % better! Da italiens are actors n crap actors 2 ! We will find out what the fool said 2 zidane! I still think he rocks :D
zinedine zidane is the best player in the whole wolrd and it shows because he's voted the best player of the worldcup 2006 and rewarded with the golden ball, thank you very much for the loser and the jalous people who says bad things about him. go go go zidane i'm proud of you and for all you've done and i'm proud to be algerian
according to british newspaper the reason why zidane attacked materazzi 's beac. that italien player called zidane for a " terrorist"
everything's possible.. zizou you re the best!
.....clearly the player provoked him in a very bad way, because why would zidane wanna end everything like that, im not encouraging what he did but its understanble.
for the game france was doing great towards the end and they so could have won without any diffuculty cuz italy was losing it even after zidane left. i personally dont feel that italia earned it simply because they fake alot and what that player did was the dirtist trick in soccer. they won on shootout...which is the worst possible way to win. but whatever they won and condralutions to them.
Zidane his fans still love him and he had a great career and not because some guy provoked him, his long great career will not be overshadowed by a minute of misconduct.
It's a shame because I wanted France to win not Italy but I'm sure the Italian players may have focused on Zidan's weakest point just to force him out of the game by getting on his nerves that's why he striked that guy.
This year only Zidan, Podolsky and C Ronaldo are the best players good luck to them.
Congratulation ZIDANE !!! YOU HAVE BEEN GREAT TO THE LAST MINUTE !!! YOU ARE MAGNIFICENT !!! WE LOVE YOU NO MATTER WHAT !
Gooo ITALYYYY & GERMANYYYYYY but I like ITALY much much much better
Forza Italia!!!
Italia deserved to win coz the only real goal was Matterazzi's goal when France is able to score only on penalty.
And french soccers are also good divers and fakers,they dont how to play football,its not a real team coz without Zidane they're nothing.Italy have a dream team all of her players are real stars.
By the way,stop defend a country when this country doesnt like black and arab people except when they win for them
Viva Italia Forza Azzurri!!!!!
ALL I CAN SAY is i love zozo..and that italian sucksss!!!! GGGGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOO FRANCE..WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER YOU ZIDANE
umm cute girl...germany is looong out and italy won.. lol where have u been?????
Right IVE GOT A LOT to say about this subect!
1) ZIDANE IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE THE BEST FOOTBALL PLAYER OF ALL TIME! (as proven by the best player award granted to him by french president chirac!)
2)Zidane did NOT headbutt him!!!!!he used his head and smacked Materazzi (the racist) in the chest! get it right ya?!
3) Zidane had every right to do what he did and i see him as a symbol of power and a true hero like many millions of other people see him! Because he stood up for his beliefs, culture and morals and that is MORE important than football!
4) Matarazzi had firstly grabbed hold of Zidane's twisted and dislocated arm that he had injured during the game by an italian player, then Zidane simply shrugged the player off, Matarazzi continued his sly and evil game and started to swear at him and call him a DIRTY TERRORIST a F****** MUSLIM at which point Zidane looked down on him and walked away, however as all the camera's saw that racist Matarazzi followed Zidane and started inuslting his 'sharaf' and members of his female family, then Zidane used his head.
5) Italy are the loosers not Zidane. People in FRANCE and all around the world still love Zidane and by doing what he did he proved to the world that he is not only THE BEST AND MOST EXCELLENT PLAYER but also the BEST AND MOST RESPECTFUL individual since he stood up for his morals, religion and culture after being provoked by the RACIST ITALIANS!
SHAME ON ALL ARABS WHO STAND UP WITH ITALY AFTER THEY INSULTED YOUR RELGION AND CULTURE SHAME ON U A MILLION TIMES!
lol calm down salma!??!? shame on arabs for giving lame excuses for their actions is more like it..
so how do u know he sed u terrorist?!they just put that out there to defend his actions its soooo obvious
and zidane had to go and be an Arab and hit him with his head..the thing im askin is..y his head? couldnt he have used his hands?!!
u go italy...!!!congrats on the great game!!
its sooo like Arabs to bring politics into the game...cant a game just be a game? just let it go geeeeez...its football not politics ball?
its true materazzi called zidane a terriost wht a racist waleg plz show the whole world who is a terriost
angel u thick idiot..zidane couldnt use his hands coz one of his arms was dislocated..duhhhhh!!
The cameras were zoomed in and slowed down and experts lip read what materazzi said..ITS NOT HARD TO KNOW THE TRUTH..the only terrorists are the italians..u all forgotton MUSSILINI? we didnt bring politics into football..italians started it..zidane was just playing football there was no need for any of this..
go to this website and read what the italian said to zidane.. no more to be said after the sick italian comment..read for ur self!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=395046&in_page_id=1770
Stop all,Zidane isnt proud to be an algerian coz he live in sapin and he left his parents and his all familiy live in public housing unit in Marseille(south of France)and he wear a red bracelet of kabalah...stop defend a fake champion like this and even if Materrazzi insulted him,he had to score for France totake a real and beautiful revenge...but France doesnt know how to score and they need penalty to score!
So arabs stop defend an soccer that doesn't give a toss to be an arab!An stop to defend a violent action,football means also self control.
Italy win the world cup that 's it....Forza Italia!!!
P.S:and France also is racist,I live in and everyday I see racist action towards immigrants France like immigrants only when they win for them dont forget that...and France with Great Britain is responsible of what's going on Middle East nowadays so alla arabs stop difend countries who dont even like you
CONGRATULATIONS ITALY!!!!!
i wanted them 2 win, cuz at first i was with BRAZIL but they got out of the world cup because of FRANCE, and that made me mad like many other..that's way i am with ITALY and it won anywayz........woooohooooo
you can't say if zidane stayed france would have won, that's so pathetic and stupid 2 say. ITALY HAD ALREADY WON 3 WORLD CUPS IN THE PAST, and this is its FOURTH!!
anywayz in the free shots is around the time zidane got out, so even if he scored one ITALY was already higher byt a point!
plus he is not the only good player, there are lots on the france team. maybe he did do a stupid thing, BUTTT...he is NOT respponsible 4 ITALY winning, and them losing!!
ITALY IS REALLY GOOD, DON'T FORGET THAT!!!!!! and they WON, YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT THAT, but be happy 4 them OR hate them if u were with FRANCE!!lolz
i wanted france to wins sooo bad but hey what can you do. and about zaidan she should have knocked him dead la italian because he made a racist comment to him, he said that he was one of the terrorist.
gooooo 7abibie zaidan wa inta rafi3 rass al arab kilon we love u
materrazi said to zidane "son of a terriost wh***" materrazi u are the only terriost and ur family i wish ur dad died also
EXCUSE ME! i cant beleive that there are arabs out there who are sticking up with someone who had inuslted their culture and religion!!!!
Why the hell would u stand up for materazzi after he insulted ur culture?! doesnt that show how uncililsed he is...and so what if zidane isnt proud of being an arab he hasnt changed his name or his religion. He still stands up for his family (even tho some people are saying he left his family) which is bizarre. I dont think zidane left his family, and no matter hwat zidane is aware that he is arab and muslim.
As for people who are saying he brought poplixs into this well u must be thick or completly retarted Zidane didnt bring politisc into this materazzi did by calling him a terrorist and insulting his family and origin!
I dont think u would let it go lightly if you were insulted in the way zidane was so to those idiots who are trying to be all hard and cool and sticking up for a racist materazzi they are completly ignorant and are in denial of their culture! not zidane who produly smakced materazzi for the sake of his culture!
Im writing this article in the point of view of an anti racist, if zidane had passed such comments to materazzi and his origin i wud rite the same abuot zidane and more coz hes a muslim and not allowed to insult others religions and cultures! If zidane had insulted christianity and italy then the whole world would have revolted against him, but because its islam and arabs no one cares and even the traitors the muslim arabs or even christian arabs have decided to stand up for materazzi- complete ignorance and uneducated is all i have to say about that geek who calls herself angel eyes..haha what a name should be more like devil eyes! lol
italians only brought politics into the game..if the italian dude didn't say anything..zaidain would go on with the game! i just don't understant the limits of italians..and why they have to say sstuff about muslims..who cares! THEY WERE IN A GAME! i really wanted france to win..and as soon as teri henry and zaidian left..i knew that the game was over for France..because italians are very goood with penelty kicks..and the french were one player short....and i wish the # 20 was a better kicker..he's the one who missed it! ugghhh.anyway..koolaha naseeb..WE STILL LOVE YOU ZAIDAN
o and FIFI you are 100% right...GO YOU! LOL
heeeeeeeeeeey all arabs i'm so happy to win italy also italy is the best best best zuuzuu he become big loser loser asshole this play was his last game and he ends shamefully mettarazi go go!! i know he is the best player in the world but it's not good for that even if he called to him terrorist it was good for him to tolerate !!!!!!! italy goooo!that is lying .metarazi not said to him terrorist every time i was love him but now i hate him he become bull !!!! lol go italy
WUT r u talking about.Najma..i didn't get 1 thing you TRIED to say!lol
After Zidane has gone France will nomore win! All the players are black we could say that it is Ghanna or Togo teams not France! But french people like those because they bring them the cup! I hate you France!!!!Go to hell! Viva la Squadra!
U KNOW WHAT I HATE i hate it when arabs like lebnese people and all them people ffrom that way r in love with italy or atleast most of them love italy 3ashan italy ya3ny there cute o class i think there garbeg racict ZIDANE shit is worth mo than italy
ZIDANE IS king of france
Zidane sruck Materazzi after he called him a "terrorist" and described his sister as a "w****". He has dignity and he had to protect his honor.
France deserved to win for playing a fair game unlike those Italian thugs.
najma i wish u die 2day and if u dont i will kill u tommrow how can u stick up with a racist that dissed ur culture oh i forgot u dont care s*** i wish materazzi dies zidane i wish u killed him go zidane
umm FIFI honey? i have more pride and dignity than to respond to ur low life comments
arabs all of u just read evry post...not one of u can respond bi adab
i did read the news article and ok zidane has a right to stay frustrated but u kno wat he shudve done?stuck by the game played it and won it..then hit materazzi!
i still dun believe hittin is the solution for anything and materazzi did exactly wat he wanted..make him kicked out and guess wat? turns out hitting was a bad idea!
all of ur comments r "oh u racist" "oh shame on u"...who the hell are all u to judge?!? GEEEZ get a life!!!
and p.s ..zidane duznt admit hes a muslim..so i dun think its religion that hes defending..its his mum which he has the right to..but hes not representing anythin of our culture to tell u the truth
Marco the Italian player provoked Zidane by telling him: You Filthy Muslim!! This is what made him go crazy and hit him!!
The Italian player is known for his attitude in provoking other players, it was just a smart plan by their coach ! and it seemed to work very well!
i loye you so much zidane plzzzzzzzzzz send me latter plzzzzzzzzzz
soso
zidane send me msg in my amail of yiu see my letter
sos_123_123@hotmail.com just zidane
the imp thing that ITALY won baby,,,,,nanananan i actually didnot want france to win i hate them...
FORZA AZZURRI ;) go italy go....
even the italian players are awesome not like frensh players..
First of all Zidane did not react this way because he was an Arab, he acted like this because of Testerone, like many males who act first and think later. His reaction might have been expected and even encouraged any other time. He was provoked and he gave the exact reaction the Italians wanted. He should have controlled himself in one of the most important matches of his career and acted like the bigger man. For anyone saying he was protecting his honour, this socalled honour was in no danger, but in fact the Italian showed that he had no morals and no honour. I do feel sorry for Zidane but goodness he did himself no favours. I hope his mum gets better.
Religion had no effect in any other games, dirty tactics and so on yes but not religion. However if the rumours about what has been said are true, it is disheartning to an arab that a thug like the Italian player can work this to his advantage. When are we ever going to rid of this reputation and stigma that follows arabs everywhere? are we ever going to be known as more than mindless terrorists?.
Urm...i think u should get a life! im allowed to give my opinion and if my comments (which are no lower than urs) were really low life and u didnt want to repsond to them then you wouldnt have written back!
haha you really are a Geek and a hypocrite coz ur contradicting yourself! read your comments agen HUNNY! lol! GO ZIDANE WE LOVE U COZ U ARE A MUSLIM AND AN ARAB, WE ALL LOVE U FOR DEFENDING YOUR SHARAF AND HONOUR WHICH IS PART OF ISLAM! ha shame on you geek angel eyes! we're not waiting for you to like him i wouldnt give a donkeys arse if u did or not im giving my opinion and the majority of people english, american, arab, candian, chinese, idnain 90% of people agree with me on the other article web pages and this, if u dont agree then dont bring it out on me its not my fault! Cherio'z GEEK!
idiots all who defend this Zidane
He's not an arab he is a kabyle its not the same thing
He never said that he is proud to be muslim or anything that arabs would like to think(He married a christian,he wears a red bracelet and he gave occidental name to his children so he doesn't like his algerian culture)
Plus,even Materazzi insulted him(but wait to know what he said to him before condemn him),a real champion doesn't kick his adversaries,but have to kick the ball it would be better..;but maybe he knows to score only when he have a penalty?
And do you remember his action in 98 on a saoudi player?it was not racist?
Zidane is a great player but not the best,he is not an angel(he have a long past concerning his violence 14 bad actions)
Italy win and you cant do anything for that!Italy has the best players,they are talented and awesome,its not like french soccers they are like monkeys!
VIVA ITALIA,campione del mondo!!!!!!!!
With all due respect to Zidane's Fans;
He has said he's a Muslim without any
practice.Can Zidane's fans explain me what does it mean and what kind of Muslim is he?
I know well it's something very personal but
it seems that you're proud of his Islam more than he is!
And as all of you know saying offensive words is usual in every football game.In better word it's a trick mostly is used by the deffenders to provoke opponent players.Great and professional players are trained to not react even to the worst words.So whatever Marco said to him it wasn't a professional react.
Anyway I'm so sorry for Zidane because he really deserves Golden Ball.I'm not his great fan but I have to confess that he was one of the bests in this tournoment and believe it or not
in spite of his unappropriate reaction ZiZou will reamin one of the greatest football players and a hero in football history .
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
im here laughin my ass off!!
ur like a child who doesnt kno how to defend herself except with swearing!!
omg this is the funniest thing ive ever read
"geek" "idiot" wow bravo!!u kno how to swear !!
Zidane's Interview on a French TV "Canale+"
Zidane: Materazzi insulted my mother and sister
Zinedine Zidane has publicly apologised for his sending-off in the World Cup final, but claimed he did not regret his actions against Marco Materazzi.
Zidane, who was captaining his country in his final match before retirement, stated that Materazzi insulted his mother and sister in the seconds leading up to the incident, which saw the France midfielder thrust his head into the Italy defender's chest.
'I reacted badly and I would like to apologise for it,' Zidane told Canal Plus. 'I would like to apologise because a lot of children were watching the match. I do apologise but I don't regret my behaviour because regretting it would mean he was right to say what he said.
'There was no tension with Materazzi before or during the match.
'He just put his hand onto my shirt and I told him to stop. I told him that if he wanted it I could give it to him at the end of the match.
'Then he said very harsh words to me and repeated them several times. I left but then I went back towards him and things went very fast. The words he said concerned my mother and sister.
'I heard them once, then twice, and the third time I couldn't control myself. I am a man and some words are harder to hear than actions. I would have rather been knocked down than hear that.'
'Afterwards I explained to the referee that I had been provoked, but my behaviour is not forgivable,' Zidane said.
Without Zidane, who had earlier given France the lead with a penalty, extra-time finished with the score locked at 1-1, and Zidane's team lost the penalty shoot-out 5-3 to Italy.
Asked whether he plans to attend FIFA hearings into the incident, Zidane said that he would seek to defend himself.
'I will go and I will tell everything I have just said,' he added. 'The reaction is always punished but if there is no provocation there is no reaction. The guilty person is the one who provokes.
'If I reacted that way, it is because something bad happened. Do you really believe that 10 minutes before the end of my career I would be able to make such a bad gesture? The provocation was very serious.'
The incident was a sad way to end what has been a glittering career for Zidane, but he insisted he would not change his mind about retiring.
'This is a decision I have made and I will not go back on it,' he said. 'This is definite. I will not play again.'
Materazzi himself, who scored the equaliser for Italy on Sunday, made a statement of his own while Zidane was speaking on French television.
'I didn't mention anything about religion, politics or racism,' he said. 'I didn't insult his mother. I lost my mother when I was 15 years old and still get emotional when I talk about it.
hannah , eva , fifi hut up all you piece of shit i can not belive it you are the one who make up the stupid tory like and bring all of this stupid facts i am algerian french and zidane did never say he was not arabic in fact hes so proud of his arabic origin and last year only he gave more than 2 millions euro to help some orphelin aocaition for abondoned algerian kids in france and he builted a mosque in his native country of algeria all he said that he is not a fully practicing muslim and he was aked who will he prefer to play for in case algeria go the wrold cup and france one day he said he will prefer play with france since he was born and raised there all his life ... and he never ever said he wasnot arabic or denied his origin or like who said the mot stupid thing i heard so far that hes wearing the kaballah red bracelet ... bla bla stupid bull shit comment from phanetic racist arabic people who were raised full of hatery because of religious ignorance belief and wanna do their best to lie about arabic people and cuture ...please think before to say something stupid like what you said algerian algerian are for sure the last arabic country to deny their arabic origin after the long years of colonization they suffered from france 1 million martyrs and more ... that will never happend with an algerian to deny his arabic origin ...
peace on u all now
and yes zizou did the right thing after the stupid racit italian player called him a terrorist he deserve more than that actually after saying that .
I don't think zidane said the whole truth about what Materazzi told him, I am sure his communication agent and the french government convinced him to not tell the truth!He can not beat the italian only because he insulted his mother or sister, europeens are accustomed to these kind of insults!
the person who calls themself 'shut up' read my comment again i am standing up for zidane! u moron! read it! lol im supporting him!
Please PLEASE PLEASE wake up everyone?!
Ignorance is a very small word to descirbe what is going on in this world and the whole Zidane subject!!!
I am neither with or against Zidane i am writing this post to WAKE YOU ALL UP!
Firstly FIFA organisation has a hell of a lot to do with politics and those people who say that football has nothing to do with politics think again!!!
Secondly have none of you on here managed to pick up the trend that has occurred during this whole World Cup Season?!?!?!
1) The world cup started when students all around the world were in the midst of their summer examinations- doesnt that say something? It was being used as a tool to distract the new generation and make them think about football and forget their future (there is a deeper sentiment but i wont go through it all now!)
2) Since the very first game Israel has taken life very easy and begun its attack on Palestine (gaza in particular) and now Lebanon, therefore once again the FIFA organisation used this years world cup as a distraction from very serious issues and experiences going on in Palestine and Lebanon up till now.
3) The last match was on Sunday...MILLIONS of people watched it...MILLIONS of people saw the controversial head butt by Zidane.. therefore MILLIONS of people are not too busy talking and reading and discussing the whole Zidane head butt even after the world cup is over...Once again a brilliant tool to distract the attention away from Palestine and Lebanon and the thousands and thousands of innocent children that are dying every day on a mass scale!
Wake up people...where are the human rights...instead of arguing over a millionaire's actions who wont suffer the same way the young and innoncent children of lebanon and Plaestine are suffering..Watch the news and think about how ignorant and selfish you have all been..But once again i say, its not ur fault because FIFA is a political organisation with aims. Thank you.
wake up please...I APPLUAD U FOR EVERY WORD U SAY...everything u said is 100% correct i cant believe people are fighting over millionaires who are living their lives happily..and as u say..war has struck on lebanon and gaza and arabs are watching football in their thousands!!
Oh my god i never saw it in this way!! who ever u are ..wake up please...thank u for reminding people of how stupid they are and SO TRUE about world cup startin in exam time!! god damm this world no one gives a shiiiiit about children who are torn into pieces on the floor from bombs!! hasbi allah wa ni3amt al wakeel!
war in lebanon started death to all jews death to all isreali soldiers jews are just are a crime machine they killed ppl in gaza in lebanon i wish they alll die most of our probelms would be solved
Yes, death to all jews, we will be happy without them. Go to hell dirty jews!
For those who still think Materazzi used racist words against Zidane, here is the FIFA press realese of 20 july where it’s clearly stated that Zidane HIMSELF declared Materazzi did not use words of racist nature, you can find it on the FIFA official site.
Reading the posts contained in this group I also realized that true xenophoby concerned Italians in all this story...
Here is the press release:
Zidane/Materazzi disciplinary proceedings: suspensions, fines, community service and regret
Zurich, 20 July 2006 - Suspensions and fines were the sanctions pronounced by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee at its meeting today (Thursday, 20 July 2006) as part of the disciplinary proceedings opened against Zinedine Zidane (France) and Marco Materazzi (Italy) after their clash during the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ final in Berlin on 9 July. Zinedine Zidane has also agreed to do community service work with children and youngsters. Meeting under the chairmanship of Marcel Mathier (Switzerland), the five-man FIFA Disciplinary Committee imposed a three-match ban and a fine of CHF 7,500 on Zinedine Zidane on account of his head-butt to Materazzi’s chest. As Zidane has now retired from international football, the committee took note of Zidane’s pledge to do three days of community service work with children and youngsters as part of FIFA’s humanitarian activities. Materazzi was suspended for two official matches of the Italian national team and fined the sum of CHF 5,000 for repeatedly provoking Zidane.
FIFA gave both players the right to be heard in accordance with the FIFA Disciplinary Code. The hearing with Marco Materazzi was held at FIFA headquarters on 14 July, with Zinedine Zidane questioned during today’s meeting. **********In their statements, *****both players stressed***** that Materazzi’s comments had been defamatory but not of a racist nature.********** During the course of their hearings, both players also apologised to FIFA for their inappropriate behaviour and expressed their regret at the incident.
Referee Horacio Elizondo (Argentina) sent Zidane off in the 110th minute of the World Cup final after his clash with Materazzi. The incident had been directly observed from his position at the pitchside without the use of a monitor by the fourth official, Luis Medina Cantalejo (ESP), who informed the referee and his assistants through the communications system. Both match officials were also invited to attend the meeting. According to the regulations, the fourth official must inform the referee if any acts of violent conduct are committed out of sight of the referee and his assistants.
Further information from: FIFA Media Department media@fifa.org