‘coup de tête’ by adel abdessemed image via

a sixteen foot-high bronze statue portraying french soccer player zinedine zidane’s head-butting incident against italian marco materazzi in the 2006 world cup final has been erected in front of the centre pompidou in paris. created by algerian artist adel abdessemed, the larger version of abdessemd’s earlier ‘coup de tête’ depicts the incident that marked the end of one of france’s greatest athelete’s career. the public sculpture has been installed to accompany abdessemed’s solo show at the institution which runs from october 3rd, 2012 to january 7th, 2013.

‘the statue goes against the tradition of making statues in honour of certain victories. it is an ode to defeat,’ says exhibition organizer alain michaud.

a smaller version of the sculpture was exhibited at david zwirner in new york earlier this year. see designboom’s previous coverage of the installation here.

zinedine zidane headbutt statue by adel abdessemeddetail image via

zinedine zidane headbutt statue by adel abdessemed life size recreation of the 2006 world cup final incident image via

clip of the original 2006 world cup incident