Zidane may lose World Cup best player award

Blatter: Zidane may lose best player award

Rome, Italy



12 July 2006 10:57

Fifa may strip disgraced French skipper Zinedine Zidane of his World Cup best player award, the organisation's president Sepp Blatter has told Italian newspapers.

Zidane was announced as the winner of the prestigious award on Monday morning, the day after the World Cup final which saw him sent off in the second period of extra time for head-butting Italian player Marco Materazzi.

Italy went on to defeat France 5-3 on penalties after the game in Berlin's Olympic Stadium was tied at 1-1.

Fifa has since launched an investigation into the incident. Zidane claims he was reacting to insults aimed at him by Materazzi and is scheduled to give his version of events live on French television on Wednesday evening.

Blatter said that before taking any decision on whether to strip Zidane of the award, he wanted to see the results of the Fifa investigation.

"It's not Fifa that decides who wins this award but an international committee of journalists," he told La Repubblica newspaper.

"All the same, the Fifa executive committee has the responsibility of intervening when it is a matter of conduct which goes against the ethics of the sport."

"That is why I gave the orders to our disciplinary commission to investigate what happened."

Voting by journalists covering the World Cup for the best player award is by a deadline of midnight on the day of the final, but most journalists submit their votes earlier to better concentrate on their work during what is the busy climax to the competition.

Blatter also said that Zidane's headbutt had shocked him personally.

"I've known Zidane for several years, his tremendous personality, the way he lives his life, his modesty and his love of his family.

"To see him acting like that leaves me vexed, both for himself and for all sense of fair-play."

'I did insult him, it's true'
Meanwhile, Materazzi has admitted he insulted Zidane, but denies calling him a "terrorist".

"I did insult him, it's true," Materazzi said in Tuesday's Gazzetta dello Sport. "But I categorically did not call him a terrorist. I'm not cultured and I don't even know what an Islamic terrorist is."

Zidane and Materazzi exchanged words after Italy broke up a French attack in extra-time of Sunday's final in Berlin. Zidane jogged a few metres away from the Italian player, turned and lowered his head and rammed him in the chest, knocking him to the ground.

Zidane was sent off, reducing France to 10 men. Italy won the game in a penalty shoot-out.

"I held his shirt for a few seconds only, then he turned round and spoke to me, sneering," the Italian defender said. "He looked me up and down, arrogantly and said: 'If you really want my shirt, I'll give it to you afterwards."'

The 32-year-old Inter Milan player did not elaborate exactly on what he said to Zidane.

"It was one of those insults you're told tens of times and that always fly around the pitch," he said.

Media reports, based on interpretations by lip-readers, have suggested that Materazzi called Zidane a terrorist or insulted his mother or sister. Materazzi denies these claims, too.

"For me, the mother is sacred, you know that," Materazzi told the newspaper.

Materazzi is no stranger to controversy. He was suspended for two months for punching Siena defender Bruno Cirillo after a Serie A game in February 2004, and earned condemnation following a brutal tackle on Sweden and Juventus striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic in October 2005.

Materazzi was also sent off three times while playing for Everton in the 1998/99 season.

One Italian senator even suggested that Materazzi -- also sent off three times while playing for Everton in the 1998-99 season -- didn't merit selection for the Italian team because of his physical style.

Zidane also is known for having a temper. He was sent off for stomping on a Saudi Arabian opponent at the 1998 World Cup, while at Germany 2006 he was banned for France's group match against Togo.

Five years ago with Juventus, Zidane head-butted an opponent in a Champions League match against Hamburger SV after being tackled from behind.

Meanwhile, Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni accused Fifa of double standards, noting that soccer's governing body named Zidane as the tournament's best player after his headbutt, while Italy forward Francesco Totti was kicked out of the 2004 European Championship for spitting in an opponent's face.

"I notice a difference in the way in which Totti was treated after the spit and the way in which Zinedine Zidane has been lauded as a champion of soccer, even though he is held responsible for such a violent blow that it could even have had devastating
effects," Veltroni said.

Meanwhile, the far-right vice-president of the Italian Senate stoked anti-French feeling in the country on Tuesday, branding the French team as "blacks, Islamists and Communists".

Roberto Calderoli, head of the right-wing popular Northern League party, refused to retract earlier comments in which he hailed Italy's defeat of France in Sunday's World Cup final as "a victory for Italian identity".

"When I say that France's team is composed of blacks, Islamists and Communists, I am saying an objective and evident thing," Calderoli was quoted on Tuesday as saying by the Ansa news agency.

Italy's all-white team, from a largely devout Catholic populace, had won against "a France team which sacrificed its own identity by lining up blacks, Islamists and Communists to get results," Calderoli had said on Sunday. - Sapa-AFP