Zidane To Do Three Days Of Community Service…
…in place of the three-match suspension handed down by FIFA today, since he is retired:
Zinedine Zidane was banned by FIFA for three games Thursday for head-butting Italy defender Marco Materazzi during the World Cup final. Now retired, the former France captain will serve his punishment by doing community work.
Materazzi was suspended for two matches for provoking Zidane with insults.
World soccer’s governing body also fined Zidane $6,000 and Materazzi $4,000 after a disciplinary committee heard the French player’s account of what led to the incident.
Zidane, who retired after his team’s loss in the July 9 final in Berlin, was sent off for ramming Materazzi in the chest with his head.
He agreed to complete three days of community service with children as part of FIFA’s humanitarian projects.
“Community service is not something foreseen in the regulations,” FIFA spokesman Andreas Herren said. “It is a gesture, given the special circumstances involved.”
Zidane has said he attacked Materazzi because he insulted his mother and sister, while Materazzi denied insulting Zidane’s mother.
FIFA said Materazzi was punished for “repeatedly provoking Zidane.”
“Both players stressed that Materazzi’s comments had been defamatory but not of a racist nature,” FIFA said in a statement.
The players apologized to FIFA for “their inappropriate behavior and expressed their regret at the incident,” FIFA said.
Materazzi will miss Italy’s opening two Euro 2008 qualifiers against Lithuania on Sept. 2 and France on Sept. 6.
Enough with the soccer already! Shees. nobody cared when the WC was actually taking place, why should they care now what some moron French headbutter is doing with his free time?