The head-butted statue of Frenchman Zinedine Zidane against Italian Marco Materazzi in the 2006 FIFA World Cup final will be re-erected at the new Sports Museum in Qatar, after it was removed from the Doha Corniche in 2013, officials said Monday.
The bronze statue, five meters high, of the French-Algerian artist, Adel Abdel Samad, was purchased by the Qatar Museums Authority in the context of preparations for the World Cup, which will be hosted by the Gulf state, starting from November 21.
Qatar removed the statue less than a month after it was placed near the sea in the capital, after a campaign on social media denouncing the “worship of idols” prohibited by Islam.
“We felt it was in the wrong place and it will be moved. We plan to put it in the 3-2-1 Museum,” which opened at the end of last March, said Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, chair of the Qatar Museums Board of Trustees.
And she continued, “With the sculpture of Zinedine Zidane, we will talk about the psychological pressure on athletes in major tournaments and the importance of addressing mental health issues.”
The sculpture embodies the moment that stunned everyone when Zidane headbutted defender Materazzi for verbally abusing him, before he was sent off during extra time for the final match, and Italy won their fourth title in its history after penalty shootouts.
“Art, like anything else, is a matter of taste,” Sheikha Al-Mayassa added, adding that “society evolves…People can start criticizing a certain thing before understanding it and getting used to it.”
14 giant bronze sculptures by British artist Damien Hirst, which focus on the stages of fetal development from fertilization to birth, were covered in front of a hospital under construction in Qatar between 2013 and 2018.
The gas-rich emirate’s cultural calendar includes, among other things, an exhibition dedicated to football at the Sports Museum starting in October.