2006 FIFA World Cup final

2006 FIFA World Cup final

A scene inside the Olympiastadion during the first half of the match.
Event	2006 FIFA World Cup
Italy France 1 1
After extra time Italy won 5–3 on penalties
Date	9 July 2006
Venue	Olympiastadion, Berlin
Man of the Match	Andrea Pirlo (Italy)[1]
Referee	Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)[2]
Attendance	69,000
Weather	Clear 27 °C (81 °F) 42% humidity[3]
← 2002 2010 →

The 2006 FIFA World Cup final was the final match of the 2006 World Cup, the 18th edition of FIFA's competition for national football teams. The match was played at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany, on 9 July 2006, and was contested between Italy and France. The event comprised hosts Germany and 31 other teams who emerged from the qualification phase, organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 32 teams competed in a group stage, from which 16 teams qualified for the knockout stage. En route to the final, Italy finished first in Group E, with two wins and a draw, after which they defeated Australia in the round of 16, Ukraine in the quarter-final and Germany 2–0, in the semi-final. France finished runner-up of Group G with one win and two draws, before defeating Spain in the round of 16, Brazil in the quarter-final and Portugal 1–0 in the semi-final. The final was witnessed by 69,000 spectators in the stadium, with the referee for the match being Horacio Elizondo from Argentina.

Italy won the World Cup after beating France 5–3 in a penalty shoot-out following a 1–1 draw at the conclusion of extra time. The match was focused mostly on France's Zinedine Zidane and Italy's Marco Materazzi: this was the last match of Zidane's career; they each scored their team's only goal of the game; and they were also involved in an incident in extra time that led to Zidane being sent off for head-butting Materazzi in the chest. The incident was the subject of much analysis following the match. Italy's Andrea Pirlo was named the man of the match, and Zidane was awarded the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament.

The final served as a key match in the France–Italy football rivalry, coming after Italy were defeated by France in the UEFA Euro 2000 final. Italy's victory was their first world title in 24 years, and their fourth overall, putting them one ahead of Germany and only one behind Brazil. The victory also led to Italy topping the FIFA World Rankings in February 2007 for the first time since November 1993. Italy's manager Marcello Lippi said after the game that "It takes a lot of determination and a lot of conviction in penalty shootouts - it's not by chance. Our boys really wanted it and that's why they were able to put away all five" while France manager Raymond Domenech defended Zidane and lamented the loss, saying "I am deeply disappointed. We deserved the title based over the whole match".

Both sides would fail to get past the group stage of the 2010 tournament, becoming the first set of finalists to do so, while Italy became the third World Cup champions to be eliminated from the group phase after Brazil in 1966 and France in 2002.