France: Two months after his head-butt into the chest of Marco Materazzi ensured France lost the World Cup, Zinédine Zidane is the most popular man in the country.
Zidane gained 17 points in the Top 50 Ifop/Journal du dimanche opinion poll this summer, making him the most popular French person with men and women, on both the right and the left.
Two-thirds of young people between the ages of 15 and 24 voted for him.
French politicians set the example by absolving Zidane. President Jacques Chirac said the head-butt was "understandable" and Ségolène Royal, the leading presidential candidate, praised the football star's "ability to defend fiercely the values he holds so deeply, in particular respect for his sister". The football federation Fifa suspended Materazzi for two matches after it was confirmed he cast aspersions on Zidane's sister's virtue, so the Italian was not able to play in the France-Italy Euro 2008 qualifying match last night.
In an interview with the Gazzetta dello Sport this week, Materazzi complained that Zidane has not apologised to him.
"If I were going to apologise, it would be to his sister," Materazzi said. "But I swear that before this mess happened, I didn't even know he had a sister." Zidane's red card meant he was suspended for three matches, but since the 34-year-old retired after the July 9th World Cup final, Fifa converted the punishment to three days' charity work. After summering in the Balearic Islands, Marseilles and Paris, the Zidanes returned to Madrid, where the former captain of Les Bleus is an ambassador for the Real team.
Football is also about big money, and Zidane's impulsive attack on Materazzi initially gave his sponsors a cold sweat. Adidas has since created the www.mercizidane.fr website to support him. Last Sunday, Zidane was the guest of honour at the Danone Cup for 10- to 12-year-olds in Lyon, where he told young admirers that "fair play is part of education". Zidane's advertising contract with Danone continues until 2015, and Franck Riboud, chief executive of the multinational yoghurt company, told the Financial Times he may make Zidane a member of the board.
Musical group La Plage also benefited from Zidane's misdeed. They composed The Head-butt Dance, which became France's summer hit and it was sold to Warner Music France.
"Zidane struck/We missed the cup/But we had a good laugh/ Head-butt, head-butt, head-butt," went the pedestrian lyrics. But the combination of African rhythm and French slang somehow made it very funny.
Teachers are worried children will cite Zidane's example as a pretext for avenging insults.
"Defending one's honour has become more important than respecting human beings," the sociologist Michela Marzano told Le Monde. "Let's face it; it's a step backward."