Three weeks after France’s defeat in the World Cup, the infamous moment when national footballing hero Zinedine Zidane lost his temper has been immortalised in the form of an unlikely hit song called Head Butt.

From radio, television and mobile phones to bars, campsites and on beaches it is impossible to escape the reggae-like refrain that celebrates the violent act in the Berlin final against Italy that earned Zidane a red card and very brief disgrace. "Zidane a frappé, la Coupe on l’a ratée" (Zidane struck, we blew the cup) the song goes.

The overnight success of Coup de Boule (Head Butt), which is top of the singles chart, has become a phenomenon for the music industry after its release on the internet by hitherto unknown musicians.

"We are in the process of making a miracle," said Thierry Cassagne, President of Warner Music France, which bought the song from its unknown authors Franck Lascombes, Sebastien and Emmanuel Lipszyc.

The Lipszyc brothers, who run a firm called La Plage that makes jingles and sound-effects, were mourning the Berlin disaster the day after the match. The internet was filling up with songs and video gags about "Zizou’s" attack on Marco Materazzi of Italy.

"We were depressed and couldn’t work. People were sending jokes around the internet," said Sebastien Lipszyc, 31, a big Zizou fan. "Franck came up with the idea of joining in all this reaction. Our jokes became lyrics and it was finished in half an hour. We used instrumentals that we had in stock."

The La Plage trio sent their track to 50 friends over the internet and three hours later they heard it being played on Skyrock, one of the biggest French radio networks. The next day they were besieged by mobile telephone firms and by Wednesday Warner had out-bid two other big recording companies to market the song. On the Saturday, the video was filmed in the Charlety stadium - featuring a referee brandishing a red card at an unseen player. Over 150,000 copies of the single have been sold since it came out last week, while well over 100,000 have been downloaded.

Only two weeks from its inception, Head Butt has earned the coveted status of "tube de l’été" or summer hit, the danceable, catchy tune that monopolises the air in France’s holiday months. The record in the genre was earned by the Lambada, with 1.5 million singles, in 1989. The difference with Head Butt is that the summer hits are usually the product of intensive marketing. Now the record companies are reacting fast to the internet, as they did with Britain’s Arctic Monkeys and Sandi Thom, whose success online preceded hefty record sales. Head Butt is now being sold in 20 countries, including Japan.

The explosion of Zidane parodies and songs on the Internet - which include a video montage of him butting President Chirac - testify to the continuing adoration of the Marseille-born footballer who retired from the sport after the Berlin final.

Zidane’s sponsors -- who pay him some £5 million a year -- did not flinch with the pitch violence that cost him a symbolic three-match suspension and community service order and several have promised him years more income. Addidas has engaged him until 2017 and opened a new internet site in his honour www.mercizidane.fr. Danone, the French food firm which has an 11-year contract with Zidane for campaigns involving children, said today that he might even serve on its board. Franck Riboud, the company’s chief executive, said that he had suggested to Zidane that he could be a non-executive director.

According to marketing experts, Zidane’s head butt may even have added to his commercial power, because it has conferred on him a rebel image that goes down well with the young. Sebastien Lipszyc said that he and his brother were dazed by the sudden success that Zizou had brought their firm, "but most of all we hope it has made Zidane laugh".

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