What if Zidane hadn’t headbutted Materazzi in 2006?

Berlin, July 2006. The Olympiastadion is a stage dressed in blue and white, echoing with whistles, drums, and the sheer weight of history. France and Italy, two giants of the game, collide in the World Cup final. For France, it is the last dance of Zinedine Zidane, the talismanic No.10 who has carried his country for over a decade. For Italy, it is redemption after Calciopoli, the scandal that has dragged Serie A through the mud. The stakes could not be higher.

In our world, Zidane’s head met Marco Materazzi’s chest, and with that brutal act, his career ended in infamy. But what if it hadn’t happened? What if Zizou had walked away, ignored the provocation, and kept his head both figuratively and literally?

First, the immediate shift: France finish extra-time with their captain still on the pitch. Zidane had already scored a Panenka penalty and was their natural choice to step up again in the shootout. In reality, David Trezeguet’s miss against Gianluigi Buffon became the defining moment. With Zidane still present, Trezeguet might not even have been fifth in the order. Imagine instead: Zidane, calm and ruthless, facing Buffon. The ball nestling in the net, France crowned champions, Zidane departing the game not in disgrace but on a throne.

The ripples are immense. Zidane’s legacy, already glittering, becomes untouchable. A World Cup winner in 1998, a Ballon d’Or, a Champions League volley that defied physics, and then, the leader who delivered another star on France’s crest in 2006. He walks away as football’s philosopher king, a player without blemish. No grainy GIFs of the headbutt passed around the internet, no endless debates about “temperament” and “flaws in genius.” Only triumph.

For Italy, the story alters too. Cannavaro, Buffon, Totti - all legends - are remembered as nearly-men rather than world champions. That night in Berlin was Italy’s healing moment, an injection of pride after scandal. Take it away, and Calciopoli hangs heavier, darker, on the Italian psyche. Without that fourth star, would Marcello Lippi have been coaxed back in 2008? Would Cannavaro have lifted the Ballon d’Or that year, or would it have gone elsewhere?

On the cultural level, Zidane’s headbutt became an image stitched into football’s mythology, referenced in films, art, music. It was surreal, violent, unforgettable. Remove it, and what fills the space? A Panenka and a penalty, no doubt, but not the same cinematic quality. Zidane’s exit would be regal, yes, but perhaps not as magnetic. His myth is tangled in that act – the paradox of a genius undone by his own passion. Without it, is Zidane just perfect rather than fascinating?

So much of football’s beauty lies in its imperfections. Zidane lifting the trophy in Berlin would have given us a clean ending, a golden script written in advance. Instead, we got something messier, stranger, more human. The headbutt was tragedy and theatre, a reminder that even the greatest can fracture under pressure.

What if Zidane hadn’t done it? France might have been champions, Zidane untouchable, Italy scarred. But perhaps, just perhaps, football would have lost one of its most hauntingly iconic moments.