Qatar will re-install controversial statue of Zinedine Zidane’s infamous 2006 headbutt to be on display during the World Cup, after Islamic protests saw it brought down after just four weeks back in 2013
- Zinedine Zidane’s infamous 2006 headbutt was immortalised by a statue in 2012
- The piece of art made its way to Qatar, where it was put on display in 2013
- However, Islamic protests saw the display brought down after just four weeks
- The country plans to re-erect the installation as part of a museum exhibit
Qatar will re-install a controversial statue of Zinedine Zidane’s notorious 2006 World Cup final headbutt for this year’s tournament.
The five-metre high bronze display, named ‘Coup de Tete’ and created by Algerian-born artist Adel Abdessemed, depicts the French legend in confrontation with Italian defender Marco Materazzi during France’s defeat by Italy in Germany 16 years ago.
The exhibit 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.
A controversial statue depicting Zinedine Zidane’s 2006 headbutt will be reinstalled in Qatar
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.
‘It was nothing against public art, it was more that it felt that was not the right location and it’s going be reinstalled,’ Al Thani told a press conference.
‘We’re actually planning to reinstall it at the 3-2-1 museum. Zidane is a great friend of Qatar and he’s a great role model for the Arab world.
‘One of the things we’re trying to teach and empower people through art is facts about life.
Zidane was sent off in the second half of France’s 2006 World Cup final defeat by Italy
‘So with the Zinedine Zidane sculpture, we’ll be talking a lot about the stress on athletes under big tournaments and the importance of dealing with issues of mental health.’
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.
Qatar want statue to be part of a museum exhibit on ‘mental health and dealing with stress’
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.
The landmark Museum of Islamic Arts, which has undergone a huge refurbishment, is to reopen in October, Al Thani said.