Fun Facts – Explored Football

10 Things You Did Not Know About the 2006 World Cup

Explored Football — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:04:36 +0000

Germany 2006 gave us the most watched television event in history, a headbutt that stopped the world, a scandal that should have destroyed a champion before the tournament even began, and one of the most violent matches ever played at a World Cup. Here are ten things you probably did not know about it.

1. Italy Won the World Cup While Their League Was Being Dismantled Back Home

Before a single ball was kicked in Germany, Italian football was in freefall. The Calciopoli match-fixing scandal had just broken, implicating Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio in a scheme to influence referee appointments. Juventus were stripped of two Serie A titles and relegated. Several of Italy’s World Cup squad played for clubs under investigation or punishment. They went to Germany as a team under siege, with their entire domestic league in crisis behind them. They won the tournament anyway. Fabio Cannavaro, who played for Juventus throughout the scandal, lifted the trophy and won the Ballon d’Or. It remains one of the most remarkable psychological achievements in international football history.

2. Zidane Won the Best Player Award After Being Sent Off in the Final

In the 110th minute of the World Cup final, with the score level at 1-1 and the game drifting towards penalties, Zinedine Zidane turned and headbutted Marco Materazzi in the chest. He was sent off. He walked past the World Cup trophy on his way to the dressing room, head down, and watched France lose the shootout on television. FIFA then awarded him the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player. It is the only time in World Cup history that the award has gone to a player who was sent off in the final.

3. What Materazzi Actually Said

For years the world speculated. Newspapers hired lip readers. Materazzi won libel cases against British tabloids who printed inaccurate versions. It took seventeen years for the full story to emerge. When Zidane had pulled at Materazzi’s shirt during the game, Materazzi grabbed his jersey in return and Zidane said: “If you want my shirt, I will give it to you afterwards.” Materazzi replied that he would prefer Zidane’s sister. That exchange, after years of mystery and legal proceedings, is what ended the greatest footballer of his generation’s career. Materazzi later said the two never saw each other again after that night in Berlin.

4. The Referee Did Not Even See the Headbutt

Argentine referee Horacio Elizondo admitted after the match that neither he nor his two linesmen saw the incident. The only official who caught it was the fourth official, Luis Medina Cantalejo, watching from the sideline. He radioed Elizondo through a headset to describe what had happened. It was one of the first high-profile cases of a sending-off being issued based entirely on information relayed from an official who had not been in position to view the incident. VAR did not exist yet. A headset and a fourth official changed the course of the final.

5. Switzerland Were Eliminated Without Conceding a Single Goal

Switzerland were the only team in World Cup history to be knocked out of the tournament without their opponents scoring against them. They kept clean sheets throughout the group stage and then faced Ukraine in the round of sixteen in a goalless draw. The shootout came. Switzerland missed all three of their penalties. They went home unbeaten in open play, unbeaten in the sense that nobody scored past them, and completely out of the competition. It remains one of the strangest exits in World Cup history.

6. The First and Last Goals of the Tournament Were Both Scored by Defenders

German left-back Philipp Lahm scored the opening goal of the tournament against Costa Rica after just five minutes. Italian centre-back Marco Materazzi headed in the final goal of the tournament in the World Cup final itself. No other World Cup has seen both the first and last goals scored by defenders. Materazzi, as it turned out, contributed more goals than almost any other Italian in the squad, scoring twice in the tournament. He also contributed the most talked-about non-goal in the tournament’s history.

7. The Battle of Nuremberg: 16 Yellow Cards and 4 Red Cards in One Match

The round of sixteen match between Portugal and the Netherlands became known simply as the Battle of Nuremberg. Russian referee Valentin Ivanov issued 16 yellow cards and 4 red cards in a single game, setting a World Cup record that still stands. Both teams finished with nine men on the pitch. Portugal won 1-0. FIFA later sent a formal letter to Ivanov questioning his handling of the match. The players were largely blamed for the chaos, but the referee’s willingness to reach for his cards at every opportunity turned a bad-tempered game into a historic one for entirely the wrong reasons.

8. Ronaldo Broke the All-Time World Cup Scoring Record Against Ghana

Brazilian Ronaldo, who had already won two World Cups and was the tournament’s all-time leading scorer heading into Germany 2006, scored his 15th World Cup goal against Ghana in the group stage. The goal broke Gerd Muller’s record of 14 goals, which had stood since 1974. It was one of the few individual highlights of a difficult tournament for Brazil, who were eliminated in the quarter-finals by France. Ronaldo retired from international football shortly after. His record still stands.

9. Miroslav Klose Won the Golden Boot With Just Five Goals

Five goals was enough to win the top scorer award at Germany 2006, the lowest total to claim the Golden Boot since 1962. No other player scored more than three goals in the tournament. It reflected how tightly contested and defensively organised the competition was. Italy, the eventual winners, conceded just two goals across the entire tournament. The 147 goals scored across 64 matches produced an average of 2.3 per game, one of the lower figures in World Cup history. Klose, who would go on to become the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer in 2014, started that journey with a relatively quiet tournament by his own standards.

10. Three Billion People Watched the Final

The 2006 World Cup final between Italy and France drew an estimated cumulative audience of three billion viewers, making it one of the most watched television broadcasts in human history at that point. The entire tournament attracted an estimated 26.29 billion non-unique views across all matches. To put that in context: there were approximately 6.5 billion people on earth in 2006. The planet watched a defender headbutt another defender, a penalty shootout, and a trophy lift that nobody in Italian football was entirely sure their team deserved to celebrate given everything happening at home. They celebrated anyway. So did three billion others.

Written by Explored Football | Fun Facts

10 Things You Probably Did Not Know About the 1999 Champions League Final

Explored Football — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:05:50 +0000

Everyone knows the basic story. Manchester United were losing 1-0 with seconds remaining. Sheringham scored. Then Solskjaer. United won the treble. Bayern were heartbroken. But the 1999 Champions League final is full of details that never make it into the highlights reel. Here are ten of them.

Fact 1

It was Sir Matt Busby’s 90th birthday

The date of the final, 26 May 1999, would have been the 90th birthday of Sir Matt Busby, the manager who led Manchester United to their only previous European Cup in 1968. Busby had died in January 1994. The symmetry was not lost on anyone connected with the club, and Alex Ferguson referenced it in his team talk before the match. United wore black armbands in Busby’s honour throughout the tournament.

Fact 2

Both teams were chasing the treble — and Bayern lost theirs anyway

This is the detail most people forget. Bayern Munich were not simply trying to win the Champions League that night. They had already won the Bundesliga and were due to play Werder Bremen in the German Cup final two weeks later. A Bayern win in Barcelona would have set up a German treble. Instead they lost the Champions League final, and then — with their squad still emotionally shattered — lost the German Cup final to Werder Bremen on penalties. One defeat triggered two.

Fact 3

Roy Keane and Paul Scholes could not play — and both won player of the tournament

United’s two best midfielders were suspended for the final after picking up yellow cards in the semi-final against Juventus. Roy Keane had been immense in that semi-final, scoring the equaliser and driving United back from 2-0 down. He was named UEFA’s player of the tournament. Paul Scholes, equally suspended, was named in the team of the tournament. The two players most responsible for getting United to the final could not play in it. Ferguson brought in Nicky Butt and used David Beckham in central midfield.

Fact 4

Bayern hit the woodwork twice in the second half

In the second half, with Bayern leading 1-0 and seemingly in control, Mario Basler hit the post with a free kick and Mehmet Scholl hit the bar with a chip that was heading in. Either of those goals would have made the scoreline 2-0 and almost certainly ended United’s hopes entirely. The woodwork saved United before Sheringham and Solskjaer did. This is rarely mentioned when people talk about the drama of the final’s closing minutes.

Fact 5

Bayern had already engraved their name on the trophy

With Bayern leading 1-0 deep into injury time, UEFA officials had begun preparing for a Bayern Munich victory. Ribbons in Bayern’s colours had been attached to the trophy. There are reports that Bayern’s name had been added to the engraving on the base of the cup. When Sheringham equalised and then Solskjaer scored, officials scrambled to reverse the preparations. The trophy United lifted had Bayern’s ribbons hastily removed moments before.

Fact 6

Lothar Matthaus was substituted with ten minutes to go — and it changed the game

Bayern’s substitution of Lothar Matthaus in the 80th minute is one of the most analysed decisions in Champions League final history. Matthäus was Bayern’s most experienced player and a commanding presence. His replacement, Thorsten Fink, was brought on to protect the lead. The withdrawal of Matthäus removed Bayern’s most authoritative figure from the pitch at exactly the moment United were building pressure. Ferguson’s substitutions brought Sheringham and Solskjaer on. Bayern took their best player off. The contrast in management decisions in the final ten minutes is stark.

Fact 7

Peter Schmeichel went up for a corner in the final minutes

With United pressing desperately for an equaliser, goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel — in his final match for the club — went forward for a corner kick. He did not score or directly assist, but his presence in the Bayern penalty area caused confusion and contributed to the scramble from which Sheringham scored. The image of the towering goalkeeper advancing into opposition territory in a Champions League final, in his last game, remains one of the most dramatic moments of that night.

Fact 8

United won the tournament without losing a single match

Manchester United went through the entire 1998/99 Champions League campaign without losing once. Their group contained Bayern Munich, Barcelona, and Brondby. They played Inter Milan and Juventus in the knockout stages. Despite this level of competition, they finished the tournament unbeaten. More unusually, they won the tournament with just five victories total — the fewest wins ever recorded by a Champions League winner in that era, a result of the number of draws they accumulated along the way.

Fact 9

More than 50,000 United fans were in Barcelona — with only 30,000 tickets

Manchester United received 30,000 tickets for the final at Camp Nou. An estimated 50,000 United supporters travelled to Barcelona regardless. Fans without tickets gathered in bars and public squares across the city, creating a United-dominated atmosphere throughout Barcelona even outside the stadium. The club travelled to the game on Concorde, which United had chartered for the journey. It was the last major sporting event Concorde was used for before its retirement.

Fact 10

Solskjaer scored with his shin — not his foot

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s winning goal is often described as a tap-in, which undersells how difficult it actually was. Sheringham had just headed the ball back across goal and it arrived at Solskjaer at an awkward height and angle. Solskjaer’s instinctive reaction was to stick out his right shin and deflect the ball into the net. It was not a controlled finish. It was a reflex action from a striker who had been on the pitch for eight minutes. The fact that it went in at all, at that moment, is what makes the image of Solskjaer’s outstretched leg one of the most iconic in Champions League history.

“Can Manchester United score? They always score!” — Clive Tyldesley, ITV commentator, 26 May 1999

The 1999 final lasted 90 minutes plus injury time. United were behind for 89 of them. Both goals came from substitutes. Bayern hit the woodwork twice. The trophy had already been decorated for a Bayern win. And the whole thing happened on what would have been Sir Matt Busby’s 90th birthday. No scriptwriter would have dared to write it.