One of the most shocking and memorable moments in World Cup history. 

    Posted by ghostinsilk

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    32 Comments

    1. WideConversation1989 on

      I’ll get downvoted for this. But Zidane couldn’t control his temper and cost his team big here. Wildly out of proportion to reacting to ‘I prefer your sister’, and he’s always had a bad temper during his playing days, as much he was a magician on the pitch.

    2. hedgehogwart on

      I was in high school French Club that year and we actually chose that image for our club shirt.

    3. darksugarfairy on

      Damn, i remember watching this on tv with my family when I was a kid. Can’t believe it’s been 20 years lol

    4. littlefox321 on

      Ugh this makes me feel so old 😭 This was the first world cup that I remember watching as a child. Our neighbours were Italian and they were keeping the whole block awake till like 3 am after this 😆

    5. Disastrous-Tart-4651 on

      I was very my friend’s house and knew nothing about football at the time. I was like finally some drama I can get behind lol

    6. Zestyclose-Beach1792 on

      Watching this live at the Italian Canadian club in Guelph, ON was a wild experience. No one knew what happened until the showed the slow motion replay…the collective reaction when it hit was hilarious.

    7. CelestrialDust on

      Wasn’t this the same World Cup as the battle of Nuremberg? Kinda mad I was too young to witness what seemed to the biggest shithousery World Cup in recent times

    8. notrightnow20205 on

      I remember watching this after work with coworkers in NYC on a huge screen outside.

    9. JerseyTeacher78 on

      That guy deserved it. Zidane said in interviews that materazzi had said something insulting about his mom.

    10. donttrustthellamas on

      And I won five quid off my form teacher for betting Italy would win 💃

    11. mintycaramelyhazel on

      I don’t know if I’m mandela effect this, but there wasn’t like a flash game where you controlled zidane headbutting things? I swear I spent stupid time on it, but at the same time I feel I’m making this up

    12. as someone who’s ethnically Algerian, I remember that this was the first time some racist french people reminded Zidane of his roots.. He’s still super loved though, but some still think he made a bad decision. I personally think he was right for defending his sister’s honor, this italian player was a huge douchebag

    13. Brilliant_Air_3681 on

      They took the temper out of the him, but Italy has been missing from FIFA world cup since then. He who laughs last laughs best

    14. Legitimate-Lock-6594 on

      I was watching with my mom and sister during g summer break. We’re a sports family and we’re mildly paying attention and we’re shocked. I see his name and know he did something but I always forget what. Perfect. Now I know.

    15. Clara_Geissler on

      That was the last time our national team was great! infact we won that year, and it was awesome! But thats another story because this year we didnt qualify for world cup😂

    16. HA classic. Maybe Messi will sail into the sunset the same way (doubt it somehow)

    17. Remember exactly where I was when this happened. A girl I had a massive crush on invited me over to watch the game. I showed up thinking that we would end up making out or something, got there and there’s about 20 people including her new boyfriend. . absolute pain. 

    18. EJFWoodhouse on

      Mind you, it was also his last ever match. I’m French and while he was an absolute class player, I’ve never forgiven him. Italy was so trash in 2006 it’s a shame we let them win this.

      It’s a WC final, you can insult my grandma, my dog, anyone, I’ll wait til the final whistle.

      Mbappon reaction after the Paraguay game to express his disdain was way more effective. Materazzi was world champion and got his name attached to Zidane for his legacy instead of being forgotten, he even referenced this altercation in ads.

    19. Exotic-Sentence-4057 on

      I always wondered what the logic of hitting him in the chest was. Like it doesn’t seem like it accomplishes anything. I mean yea knock the wind out.

    20. TheBakerification on

      Still just an absolutely wild thing to do, especially in a World cup match

    21. Maester_Bates on

      I remember that night so well. We had new Italian neighbours across the hall and they didn’t have a television so they came to watch in our flat. We didn’t invite them or anything, they invited themselves and, as the match went on, other Italians.

      They’re were 4 or them but 6 or 7 more arrived during halftime. I didn’t mind because they brought food, alcohol, weed and Italian girls and those are a few of my favourite things.

      They made watching the match infinity more enjoyable and when Italy won we were swept up out onto the streets for the party where Italians took over the streets of Cork.

    22. VaguelyArtistic on

      Ive been thinking about this a lot lately because I’ve been reading Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child (as in the Tom Cruise Reacher movie) and Reacher head butts a lot of people lol.

    23. What a way to go out, lol. I remember this so well. 20 years ago is absolutely insane to think.