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.

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.

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.

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.

[15] Most recently, they had contested the UEFA Euro 2000 final, which ended in a 2–1 victory for France after a golden goal in extra time by David Trezeguet.

[20] In May 2006, a match-fixing scandal in Italy's Serie A league was uncovered, mainly surrounding Juventus,[21] a team to which five of the national squad players belonged.

[22] Italy's campaign in the tournament was accompanied by open pessimism,[23] in large part due to the controversy caused by the Serie A scandal.

[31] In the round of 16, on 26 June, Italy took on Australia in a match in which Materazzi was controversially sent off in the 53rd minute after an attempted two-footed tackle on Australian midfielder Marco Bresciano.

In stoppage time, a controversial penalty kick was awarded to Italy when referee Luis Medina Cantalejo ruled that Lucas Neill fouled Fabio Grosso.

[32] FIFA President Sepp Blater later conceded that the penalty decision was a refereeing mistake and apologised to Australian fans, saying that he believed there was "too much cheating on the players’ side" and that Australia should have reached the quarter-finals instead of Italy.

[33] In the quarter-final, on 30 June, Italy took on Ukraine, and Gianluca Zambrotta opened the scoring early in the 6th minute with a left-footed shot from outside the penalty area after a quick exchange with Totti created enough space.

After a back-and-forth half-hour of extra time, during which Gilardino and Zambrotta struck the post and the crossbar respectively, Grosso scored in the 119th minute after a disguised Pirlo pass found him open in the penalty area for a bending left-footed shot into the far corner past German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann's dive.

Substitute striker Alessandro Del Piero then sealed the victory by scoring with the last kick of the game at the end of a swift counterattack by Fabio Cannavaro, Totti and Gilardino.

[36] In their next match against South Korea on 18 June, France took the lead in the 9th minute after Thierry Henry picked up Sylvain Wiltord's deflected shot.

[40] In the semi-final, on 5 July, France won again with a lone goal, this time from a first half Zidane penalty kick after Henry was tripped inside the box by Ricardo Carvalho.

[42] On 6 July 2006, the Argentine Horacio Elizondo was chosen as referee for the final, ahead of the German Markus Merk and the Slovakian Ľuboš Micheľ.

[44] His compatriots, Dario García and Rodolfo Otero, were chosen as assistant referees,[43] and the Spanish Luis Medina Cantalejo as fourth official.

The beginning of the second half was largely controlled by France,[54] also seeking a penalty early on when Malouda went to ground in the box after a tackle by Gianluca Zambrotta.

In the 104th minute, Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon made a potentially game-saving save when he tipped a Zidane header over the crossbar that had been crossed in from Willy Sagnol.

[4][58] It marked the 14th overall expulsion of Zidane's career, and meant he joined Cameroon's Rigobert Song as the only players ever to be sent off during two separate World Cup tournaments.

[61] After Grosso scored, Italian commentator for RAI Marco Civoli said the phrase Il cielo è azzurro sopra Berlino (in English: the sky is blue above Berlin) [62][63] Man of the Match: Andrea Pirlo (Italy)[1] Assistant referees: Dario García (Argentina) Rodolfo Otero (Argentina) Fourth official: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain) Fifth official: Victoriano Giráldez Carrasco (Spain) Match rules: According to FIFA, 715.1 million individuals globally watched the final match of this tournament.

[74] Materazzi disputed this claim, eventually winning public apologies from The Sun and Daily Star in 2008,[74][75] as well as libel damages from all three newspapers.

Family Guy parodied it in the episode "Saving Private Brian", in which Zidane headbutts an old lady while delivering her a birthday cake.

In addition to becoming a staple of parody via numerous online videos and GIFs, a novelty song titled Coup de Boule ("Headbutt") reached the top of the French charts.

[93][94] In October 2009, in an interview conducted on French radio station RTL, Zidane stated: "Let's not forget that provocation is a terrible thing.

"[96] In 2010, Zidane had said that he would "rather die than apologise" to Materazzi for the headbutt in the final,[97] but also admitted that he "could never have lived with himself" had he been allowed to remain on the pitch and help France win the match.