BERN, Switzerland, 20 July 2006 — Former France captain Zinedine Zidane will appear before FIFA’s disciplinary committee in Zurich today 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-time 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 shootout 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 yesterday that such a recommendation was unlikely, pointing out that the award was handed out following a media vote and not by FIFA itself.
Juventus Spell Out Appeal Case
Against Relegation
In Rome, the lawyer defending Juventus in Italy’s Serie A match-fixing scandal said yesterday the club’s appeal against relegation would be based on their belief the punishment was not justified.
In a document published on La Gazzetta dello Sport’s website, replying to questions from a Juventus fan, Cesare Zaccone outlined how the club intended to appeal against the guilty verdict handed down by a sports tribunal last week. Juventus were sent down to the second-tier Serie B with a 30-point penalty and the loss of the Serie A titles it won in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. Zaccone said Juventus could not be held directly responsible for the actions of its former general manager Luciano Moggi and argued that the punishments were “not compatible with only one case of sporting fraud — and which we are contesting.” The scandal broke in early May when newspapers published intercepted telephone conversations between Moggi and senior officials at the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), discussing refereeing appointments during the 2004-05 season.
Zaccone also criticized the tribunal’s decision to strip Juventus of the Serie A title they won the following season — a period in which there was no evidence of wrongdoing.
“Why the sanction — which has no justification at all or reason — of being stripped of the 2005-06 Serie A title, in relation to which there does not exist any proof of irregularity?” said Zaccone, pointing out that all the phone taps dated from 2004-05. “And why add to the already very heavy sanction of being stripped of the 2004-05 title by relegating the club to Serie B with a points penalty which is equivalent, in substance, to relegation to Serie C (Italy’s third division)?” Juventus were one of four top Italian clubs found guilty by the sports tribunal last Friday of conspiring with officials to try to rig games during the 2004-05 season. The appeals process is scheduled to start on Saturday at Rome’s luxurious Hotel Parco dei Principi. The appeals court is expected to move faster than the first tribunal, which took 15 days to reach its verdicts, but it will be hard-pushed to complete its work by July 25.
That deadline has been set by UEFA for the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) to submit their list of teams for next season’s Champions League and UEFA Cup competitions.
Should the appeals process remains unfinished on July 25, the FIGC commissioner Guido Rossi has said Italy’s list to UEFA would reflect the verdicts of the first sports tribunal.
In that case, Juventus, Milan and Fiorentina would lose their places in the Champions League and make way for AS Roma, Chievo Verona and Palermo.
