Was VAR born after Zidane’s 2006 World Cup final headbutt? | OneFootball

An online documentary revisits the 2006 World Cup final, where video played a decisive role in Zidane’s red card.

According to L'Équipe, '9 juillet 2006' unpicks the incident and its fallout in about 30 videos.

At 109 minutes of extra time, Materazzi stayed down for over a minute after the headbutt, and play was halted with the referee unaware why. The documentary examines this sequence in detail.

The final, watched by 2 billion viewers, used 28 cameras, some tracking players. One following Thierry Henry switched to Zidane two minutes before the flashpoint.

German director Wolfgang Straub chose to broadcast the headbutt footage worldwide. Fourth official Luis Medina Cantalejo, seated between the benches, saw it on his monitor and informed referee Horacio Elizondo. Elizondo then approached Zidane, hand to his back pocket, and a red card followed.

Shock followed, and the France bench erupted, abusing the fourth official and arguing he could not have seen it. VAR did not exist and officials could not base decisions on replays.

Fitness coach Robert Duverne says they asked whether any official had seen it and maintained images were not proof. Raymond Domenech later said it was the first time VAR was used. The film also explores Italy’s view, Materazzi’s words, plus Pascal Chimbonda’s surprise and Franck Ribéry’s emergence.

Source: L'Équipe