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FanFootball - English Premier League, Champion's League, La Liga and general soccer news and results.

Zidane's red card

August 3rd 2006 03:31

The dreaded "red-card"

Argentine referee Horatio Elizondo, the man who showed France legend Zinedine Zidane the red-card in the final of the World Cup 2006 has handed over the item of World Cup memorabilia after a one hour meeting with Argentina President Nestor Kirchner.

Kirchner was delighted with the gift and playfully brandished the tool of Zidane's downfall, autographed by Elizondo, in the direction of cameramen as if he was booking them.

Who would've thought Elizondo would give away the red-card - it would've been an awesome "show-and-tell" item for his grandchildren!

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Posted By: charles - Category: World Cup 2006

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Zidane and Materazzi given bans and fines

July 21st 2006 01:45

Zizou in his famous No.10 France shirt (http://soccer-europe.com)

Recently retired France captain Zinedine Zidane has been banned for 3 matches and fined £3260 ($AU8,000) for his infamous head-butt in the closing stages of the World Cup final earlier this month.

Since Zizou had already retired, the 3 match-ban would be academic and as such, he has agreed to do community service work with children and youngsters on behalf of the FIFA.

Good on him.

On the other hand, the 'real' culprit in most people's eyes, Materazzi, was handed a two match ban and fined £2170 ($AU5,350) for his role in the incident.

Perhaps more importantly is that FIFA's statement said: "Both players stressed Materazzi's comments had been defamatory but not of a racist nature."

Also determined in the hearing is that Zidane will not be stripped of his Golden Ball award for the best player of the tournament.

This is definitely the first case of the provoker also being punished that I've come across in many years of following football and it sets a difficult precedent.

***The image of Zinedine Zidane is copyrighted. The copyright holder allows anyone to use it for any purpose, provided that http://soccer-europe.com is credited***

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Posted By: charles - Category: World Cup 2006

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Materazzi faces disciplinary proceedings

July 14th 2006 03:02

The football governing body FIFA has confirmed that Italy defender Marco Materazzi could face disciplinary proceedings regarding his conduct in the World Cup final where he played an important part in the red-card fiasco that saw France's Zinedine Zidane sent off for a headbutt.

The two parties, Materazzi and Zidane, have been summoned to attend a hearing of FIFA's disciplinary committee on Thursday 20 July in Zurich.

Zidane has the right to make a written statement, which must be submitted by Tuesday 18 July and Materazzi will then be given a copy of the statement so he can respond.

My take on all of this is is that it would be rather interesting to see how Materazzi will be punished if found guilty by FIFA's committee.

The case is the first of its kind that I'm aware of and it sets a complicated and difficult precedent for FIFA given the fact there is no way to regulate/govern what a player says on the football pitch.

In that respect, I expect them to be kept very busy in the future if another player attacks an opponent in a similar fashion to Zidane and claim it was in retaliation to something that was said.

Meanwhile, in another interesting piece of news as reported on the Fox Sports website, a French lawyer plans to ask a court to intervene in the controversy over Zinedine Zidane's sending-off in the World Cup final.

The lawyer wants the World Cup final to be replayed because there are doubts over whether a match official relied on video evidence or not.

You can read the full story here.

My opinion? Absolutely no chance of that happening!!

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Posted By: charles - Category: World Cup 2006

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Zidane's version of events

July 13th 2006 02:30

Zinedine 'Zizou' Zidane has finally spoken about his sending off in the World Cup final for headbutting defender Marco Materazzi in the chest.

For my readers that understand French, here is the video clip of his interview with French TV station Canal Plus:
[ Click here to read more ]

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Posted By: charles - Category: World Cup 2006

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Zidane to speak about headbutt incident

July 12th 2006 12:52

Retired France legend Zinedine Zidane is set to reveal all about the infamous headbutt incident in the World Cup final on French TV station Canal Plus today.

[ Click here to read more ]

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Match Day 25: World Cup Final

July 10th 2006 05:02

MATCH DAY 25 RESULT:

Venue - Olympiastadion
[ Click here to read more ]

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Posted By: charles - Category: World Cup 2006

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Match Day 24: World Cup 3rd place decider

July 9th 2006 12:12

MATCH DAY 24 RESULT:

Venue: Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion
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Posted By: charles - Category: World Cup 2006

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Golden Ball Award

July 7th 2006 04:22

What is it?

The prestigious FIFA Golden Ball award is given to the most valuable player in the 32-team World Cup tournament and is picked by FIFA accredited journalists.
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Posted By: charles - Category: World Cup 2006

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Match Day 23: World Cup Semi Final 2

July 6th 2006 00:50

MATCH DAY 23 RESULT:

Venue - Allianz Arena
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Posted By: charles - Category: World Cup 2006

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Match Day 22: World Cup Semi Final 1

July 5th 2006 02:29

MATCH DAY 22 RESULT:

Final - Signal Iduna Park
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David Beckham quits England Captaincy

July 4th 2006 03:00

The World's most famous footballer, England and Real Madrid superstar David Beckham, has resigned as England captain after five and a half years of leading his country.

This announcement came barely 12 hours after his country's disappointing defeat against Portugal in the Quarter Final's of the World Cup.
[ Click here to read more ]

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Match Day 21: World Cup Quarter Final 3 and 4

July 2nd 2006 04:33

MATCH DAY 21 RESULTS:

Sat, 1 July 2006
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Match Day 20: World Cup Quarter Final 1 and 2

July 2nd 2006 04:14

MATCH DAY 20 RESULTS:

Fri, 30 June 2006
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Lucas Neill

June 30th 2006 00:30

Richard Jolly, from ESPN's Soccernet has compiled a list of the best players to be featured in 'Team of the departed".

As the title suggests, the list honours those players who can look back with personal pride after distinguishing themselves on the highest stage despite their team's early exit.
[ Click here to read more ]

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Posted By: charles - Category: World Cup 2006

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