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Thursday, 20 July 2006 |
Fifa ban and fine Zinedine Zidane and Marco Materazzi
French football star Zinedine Zidane has been banned for three games and fined £3,260 by world governing body Fifa for head-butting Italy's Marco Materazzi during the World Cup final.
After an investigation by Fifa, Marco Materazzi was also suspended for two games and fined £2,170 for provoking Zinedine Zidane at the time of the incident.
A Fifa statement said: "Both players stressed Materazzi's comments had been defamatory but not of a racist nature."
Zinedine Zidane's ban is of an academic nature because he retired from football after the finals and had no intention of playing again but he will work with football's world governing body Fifa for three days.
Fifa explained: "Zinedine Zidane has agreed to do community service work with children and youngsters.
"During the course of their hearings both players also apologised to Fifa for their inappropriate behaviour and expressed their regret at the incident."
Zinedine Zidane spent 90 minutes at a private hearing on Thursday, and Marco Materazzi appeared before the Fifa panel on 14 July.
In spite of the incident, Zinedine Zidane won the Golden Ball for the tournament's best player and Fifa has confirmed he will be allowed to keep the award.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 25 July 2006 )
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