Zizou and Materazzi both banned
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France legend Zinedine Zidane has been handed a three match-ban for his World Cup final headbutt on Marco Materazzi, whilst the Italian stopper has received a two-match ban for his part in the unsavoury incident.
Three time Fifa World Player of the Year Zidane brought his illustrious career to a close on a shameful note as he thrust his head into the chest of his Italian adversary in extra time of The Azzurri's victory in Berlin.
The controversial incident attracted intense focus and Materazzi was forced to defend himself against accusations that he provoked Zidane using insults directed towards the Frenchman's mother and sister.
Although the defender denied insulting Zidane's mother both players were called to a Fifa hearing in Zurich, and after the French midfielder stated his case on Thursday punishments have been handed out to both parties.
Despite retiring from professional football Zidane has been banned for three games, although he will spend three days carrying out community service with Fifa instead, as well as being fined 7,5000 Swiss Francs (£3,300).
Materazzi has received a two-game ban, ruling him out of Italy's first two qualifiers for the 2008 European Championships which come against Lithuania on September 2 and France four days later.
The Internazionale star has also been fined 5,000 Swiss Francs (£2,200) for his role in provoking Zidane into the famous attack, whilst both players acknowledged that the defender's comments were not of a racist nature.
"Zinedine Zidane has also agreed to do community service work with children and youngsters," read a statement from Fifa.
"As Zidane has now retired from international football, the committee took note of Zidane's pledge to do three days of community service work with children and youngsters as part of Fifa's humanitarian activities.
"In their statements, both players stressed that Materazzi's comments had been defamatory but not of a racist nature.
"During the course of their hearings both players also apologised to Fifa for their inappropriate behaviour and expressed their regret at the incident."
Three time Fifa World Player of the Year Zidane brought his illustrious career to a close on a shameful note as he thrust his head into the chest of his Italian adversary in extra time of The Azzurri's victory in Berlin.
The controversial incident attracted intense focus and Materazzi was forced to defend himself against accusations that he provoked Zidane using insults directed towards the Frenchman's mother and sister.
Although the defender denied insulting Zidane's mother both players were called to a Fifa hearing in Zurich, and after the French midfielder stated his case on Thursday punishments have been handed out to both parties.
Despite retiring from professional football Zidane has been banned for three games, although he will spend three days carrying out community service with Fifa instead, as well as being fined 7,5000 Swiss Francs (£3,300).
Materazzi has received a two-game ban, ruling him out of Italy's first two qualifiers for the 2008 European Championships which come against Lithuania on September 2 and France four days later.
The Internazionale star has also been fined 5,000 Swiss Francs (£2,200) for his role in provoking Zidane into the famous attack, whilst both players acknowledged that the defender's comments were not of a racist nature.
"Zinedine Zidane has also agreed to do community service work with children and youngsters," read a statement from Fifa.
"As Zidane has now retired from international football, the committee took note of Zidane's pledge to do three days of community service work with children and youngsters as part of Fifa's humanitarian activities.
"In their statements, both players stressed that Materazzi's comments had been defamatory but not of a racist nature.
"During the course of their hearings both players also apologised to Fifa for their inappropriate behaviour and expressed their regret at the incident."
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