Headbutt on Materazzi earns Delvecchio three-match ban

ROME: Sampdoria midfielder Gennaro Delvecchio has been given a three-match ban for headbutting Inter Milan defender Marco Materazzi, the Italian football league's disciplinary commission said on Tuesday.

Delvecchio was sent off after only seven minutes of last Sunday's Serie A match in Genoa following an altercation with the Italian World Cup winner.

Materazzi was the man infamously headbutted in the chest by French superstar Zinedine Zidane in the World Cup final last year.