Former France captain Zinedine Zidane and Italy defender Marco Materazzi were both fined and banned by Fifa on Thursday after the headbutting incident that marred the World Cup final on July 9. Zidane, who has retired as a player, was fined  014 and handed a three-match ban by Fifa’s five-man disciplinary committee following his red card for headbutting Materazzi.
World soccer governing body Fifa said on Thursday they have opened a disciplinary inquiry into the behaviour of Italy World Cup winning defender Marco Materazzi. In a statement, Fifa said: ”The decision was taken following claims made by French player Zinedine Zidane, who attacked Materazzi with a headbutt during the final of the Fifa World Cup in Berlin on July 9.”
World football’s governing body Fifa have clarified the deadline they set for the implementation of a new law that punishes clubs whose fans racially abuse players after Inter Milan escaped with a mere fine for a recent transgression. Fifa said the new ruling would come into effect immediately for those football associations whose regulations already contain a clause setting out the same punishment.
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/ 20 December 2005
Former Swedish international referee Anders Frisk received the Fifa president’s award from Sepp Blatter here on Monday in what the soccer supremo termed was a message of support for referees. Frisk retired from the game after receiving several death threats following the Champions League quarterfinal first leg match between Barcelona and Chelsea last season.
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/ 21 October 2005
Top seed Lindsay Davenport had to save two match points against enterprising Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova before advancing to the quarterfinals of the Zurich Open on Thursday. France’s second seed Amelie Mauresmo meanwhile was bundled out by qualifier Katarina Srebotnik.
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/ 2 February 2005
Fifa is launching its first-ever Beach Soccer World Cup this year, world football’s governing body said Tuesday. Twelve countries are expected to compete in the competition, which is likely to take place in Brazil later this year. A new Fifa subsidiary is being set up in Barcelona, Spain, to work alongside the existing beach-soccer federation.
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/ 19 January 2005
Fifa’s player of the year Ronaldinho and European player of the year Andriy Shevchenko head a list of 52 players invited to play in a charity match next month to raise money for victims of the tsunami, Fifa said on Tuesday. The FC Barcelona midfielder and AC Milan striker will captain the two sides, which will include Brazil’s Ronaldo, England’s David Beckham, and Frenchman Zinedine Zidane of Real Madrid.
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/ 7 February 2004
Swiss big business on Friday endorsed South Africa’s economic policies, but cautioned that legislation such as black economic empowerment could blunt the country’s competitive edge. ”Laws should be limited otherwise what we will see is apartheid from the other side,” a Swiss business leader said.
Switzerland’s generosity and humanitarian tradition will be put to the test next Sunday when voters decide how to use billions of dollars rolling in from selling off part of the country’s huge gold reserves.
A South African lawyer said on Monday Swiss banks Credit Suisse and UBS were among those named in a lawsuit for allegedly encouraging human rights abuses by trading with South Africa during the racist apartheid regime.
More Swiss companies are about to be added to the list of defendants accused by US class-action lawsuits of helping to prop up South Africa’s apartheid-era regime
Richemont, the world’s second-biggest luxury goods group, said higher cost and lower jewellery and leather goods sales caused annual operating profit to fall by a third.
Former South African president F W de Klerk has advised Swiss banks to fight the legal action launched against them by victims of apartheid, and has raised the ire of Jubilee SA.
Beautiful lakeside Zurich has offered an ironic glimmer of hope to people looking for a one-way ticket to the end of the line — suicide.