Zidane came first in a ranking of France's Top 50 personalities,
beating ex-tennis champion Yannick Noah who came in the second place, and
leaving singers Charles Aznavour and Johnny Hallyday, as well as actor
Gerard Depardieu behind.
The footballer had already come first in a comparable survey by
pollster Ifop six months ago.
Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal came in 23rd place, up
from 49th in last July, and her likely conservative challenger for next
year's election, Nicolas Sarkozy, came 42nd in the Ifop poll.
Sarkozy had not appeared on the list in July.
Both Royal and Sarkozy were overtaken by television star Nicolas
Hulot, who has threatened to run for president unless mainstream
politicians do more for the environment. He came third in the poll of
1,064 people.
Zidane was shown a red card 10 minutes before the end of extra time in
the July 9 final after head butting Materazzi in the chest. That ensured
he missed the penalty shootout
that decided the match in Italy's favour.
The incident inspired the summer hit "Coup de Boule" (Head Butt) in
France, and an Italian designer has come up with a line of sweatshirts with two stick figures depicting the incident
printed on the back.
