Close to two decades after former French football star Zinedine Zidane headbutted Italian Marco Materazzi in the 2006 FIFA World Cup final, the man who highlighted the infamous incident has come out in the open.
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) general secretary Datuk Seri Windsor John revealed on a recent episode of the podcast Julang that he witnessed the act and quickly alerted the fourth referee, Massimo Busacca, who then conveyed the message to the match referee, Argentina’s Horacio Elizondo.
“I was the VAR before VAR,” quipped John, referring to the now widely used – and often controversial – video assistant referee system in modern football.
“Since you (journalist Rizal Hashim and Twentytwo13 editor Haresh Deol) called me for the first time, I’ll share something I’ve never told anyone before about Zidane’s headbutt…
“I had a television in front of me. Back then, media officers had TVs. The headbutt was missed by the referees, but I saw it on the screen. So I told the fourth referee, ‘Zidane headbutted (Materazzi),’ and he alerted the referee.”
“The fourth official for the 2006 World Cup final was Massimo Busacca. I told Massimo, ‘Eh, Massimo, Zidane headbutted.’ He said, ‘Are you sure?’ I said, ‘Yes.’”
Zidane and Materazzi had scored a goal each, with France and Italy tied 1–1 after extra time. The match went to penalties, where Italy triumphed 5–3 to be crowned champions at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany.
John told the podcast hosts that if they ever met Busacca, they should ask him about the incident. Busacca, now FIFA’s refereeing director, often visits Kuala Lumpur for referee-related events.
“This secret stayed with us for a very long time. You heard it first on Julang,” he added.
John’s revelation pours cold water on Gianluigi Buffon’s claim that it was he who alerted the referee about the infamous headbutt, which led to Zidane’s red card.
The Italian goalkeeper, who played in the final, recently claimed he saw the headbutt live and had “rushed over to tell the referee what he had witnessed in the 110th minute of the match, prompting the fourth official to confirm the red card offence”.
“At that moment, I was the VAR,” Buffon laughed, as quoted by Football Italia in an article published on May 16.
Zidane later said he attacked Materazzi because the Italian had insulted his mother and sister – a claim denied by Materazzi.
FIFA suspended both players and fined them following the incident.
Watch the full episode of Julang here:
