Zinedine Zidane’s World Cup headbutt lives on in infamy, 20 years later

It was unquestionably the most astonishing act of violence to occur in the finals of the World Cup. The entire globe tuned in on July 9, 2006 to see France vs. Italy in the most high-stakes battle for soccer supremacy in modern history. The Euro-centric contest in Germany attracted over 700M people to tune in live, and they witnessed not only 120+ minutes of back-and-forth anxiety, but also saw French legend Zinedine Zidane lay out Italy’s Marco Materazzi with a headbutt to the chest so ferocious it was as if the midfielder channeled a bull.

The incident occurred in extra time, with Zidane earning a red card and was crucially missing for France during the game-deciding penalty shootout, which Italy went on to win. It’s a stretch to say that the red card cost France the win, but it certainly didn’t help them. For Zidane he was in DGAF mode, and he wasn’t going to suffer insults from someone he considered beneath him.

Zidane, who was 34 years old at the time, was winding down one of the most brilliant careers we’ve ever seen from an attacking midfielder. At this point he had nothing left to prove after winning the World Cup with France in 1998, and leading Real Madrid to a Champions League win in 2000. Zidane was one of France’s elder statesmen in 2006, continuing to play for a team that was retooling following the retirements of Marcel Desailly, Bixente Lizarazu, Claude Makélélé and Lilian Thuram.

Debate still rages over what set off the incident. We know there was trash talk going back and forth between Zidane and Materazzi for much of the match, but there have been conflicting reports over the precise flashpoint. Initially, it was reported that Materazzi made racist comments towards Zidane, referring to the midfielder as a “terrorist.” This would have been especially hurtful to Zidane, whose family emigrated to Marseilles from Algeria, and who had spoken publicly about being proud of both his French and Arabic roots.

Zidane put this rumor to bed, saying that Materazzi didn’t say anything racist, but rather got carried away insulting his family. It was reported that Materazzi made comments about Zidane’s mother, who passed away when he was 15-years-old. The Italian back denies he mocked Zidane’s mother as well, saying that the actual phrase that pushed it over the edge was when Zidane told the defender to stop pulling on his shirt, adding that they’d swap after the game — to which Materazzi says he told Zidane: “I prefer the whore that is your sister.”

It was at this point that Zidane tracked down his opponent, turned to face him, and dropped him with the headbutt heard around the world. Initially Zidane was resolute that he doesn’t regret what happened, nor will he ever apologize, but that softened over the years as he admitted that it would have been better if he didn’t react — but also says that he couldn’t have lived with himself if he let the incident go without some sort of reaction.

Was it the right thing to do? Absolutely not. Violence is never the answer — but you have to admit that dropping someone with a headbutt to the chest is a pretty badass way to incite violence, if you’re going to go in that direction.