Italy's Marco Materazzi will appear before a FIFA tribunal on Friday to give his version of the World Cup Final's notorious headbutting incident that marred French soccer star Zinedine Zidane swansong.
FIFA said Thursday it had decided to probe Materazzi's part in the case after a French TV interview Wednesday night in which Zidane claimed to have been repeatedly provoked during Sunday's match by the Italy defender, who allegedly offended "the women in my family".
Materazzi denied the claim, saying "I have lost my own mother so I would never say anything like that".
The two were initially scheduled to thrash out their differences before FIFA on July 20, according to a FIFA announcement Thursday afternoon. But Materazzi almost immediately made a successful bid to try and clear his name this week.
Materazzi and his accuser are still expected to have a closed-door questioning session on Thursday July 20, two days after exchanging written versions of the incident which will already have been sent to the panel.
Earlier this week, when the rumoured insult that caused Zidane to snap was "terrorist", the Inter defender said "I'm so ignorant I don't even know what a terrorist is". There have been several calls for Zidane, who before the match was picked as Player of the Tournament, to be stripped of that honour for the violent headbutt into Materazzi's chest which forced the referee to issue the Real Madrid maestro his marching orders in the first period of extra time.
Italy won the Cup on penalties after Materazzi equalised an early Zidane penalty.
Zidane scored two headed goals to take the World Cup from Brazil in 1998 and on Sunday was prevented by a brilliant save from putting them 2-1 up with a bullet header shortly before he was sent off.
In the Wednesday interview on French channel Canal Plus he apologised for the headbutt because of the impact it would have on young fans but said he did regret it because of the alleged provocation he received. French public opinion has swung behind Zidane, who in the initial aftermath of the incident was widely seen as having disgraced himself in his last match.
Anti-racism bodies have been eager this week to jump on any evidence of a racist taunt against the French icon.
Within the soccer world there is a widespread feeling that such an act as Zidane's is unforgiveable no matter how much he was provoked, pundits say. Trying to rattle opponents in various ways is part of the game, they say.
The international press has battened onto the case this week. The latest headline was in Thursday's Wall Street Journal: 'What did 'the animal' say to make 'God' angry?'
