Qatar To Put Zinedine Zidane Headbutt Statue Back On Show For 2022 FIFA World Cup

Qatar is aiming to put a controversial statue of Zinedine Zidane's notorious 2006 World Cup final headbutt on display for this year's tournament, authorities said Monday. The five metre (16 feet) high bronze showing the French legend in confrontation with Italian defender Marco Materazzi was put up for less than four weeks on the Doha seafront in 2013 when protests that it breached Islamic rules on idolisation led to it being taken down. The statue will now be at the centre of an exhibit at Doha's new international sports museum on the impact of high level sport on "mental health and dealing with stress", said Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the head of Qatar Museums.

Museum officials said they hoped to have the statue on display again by the start of the 2022 World Cup on November 21.

The statue sculpted by Algerian-born French artist Adel Abdessemed offended conservatives in the Muslim emirate after it was put up in 2013. A social media campaign saw many people condemn it as a flagrant violation of religious tenets.

Al Thani said that there was often opposition to art. "At the start they criticise it but then they accept it."

Qatar, which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on new museums and art over the past two decades, plans a vast campaign for the World Cup when 1.4 million people are expected to visit.

Source: NDTV Sports