Zinedine Zidane headbutting Marco Materazzi in 2006 is arguably the most notorious moment ever from a World Cup final. But despite it being the biggest talking point from the game between France and Italy, only one photographer got the shot.

That’s in large part because the incident happened off the ball. With most observers, including hundreds of photographers, looking at the opposite end of the field. Just a single photographer was following the altercation that was taking place between the legendary Zidane, who was playing his final ever game as a professional soccer player, and the Italian Materazzi.

“My brief that day was a bit unusual,” AFP photographer John MacDougall reflects 20 years later while standing outside of Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, where the 2006 World Cup final was held. “I’d been told to shoot whatever I wanted, except follow the ball.”

⚽ BEHIND THE NEWS: Zidane's World Cup headbutt 20 years on

AFP's John MacDougall was the only photographer to capture the faces of both Zinedine Zidane and Marco Materazzi during their infamous clash at the 2006 World Cup Final. Here he remembers that moment 20 years ago. pic.twitter.com/OC0QUnoGk0

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) June 12, 2026

With the game tied at 1-1, it went into extra time. MacDougall, who had been given the task of shooting atmospheric details, was watching a personal battle play out.

“I noticed Materazzi marking Zidane quite aggressively,” MacDougall says. “For some reason, I don’t know why, Zidane went out of the frame and I stayed on Materazzi. And before I’d even realized, he [Zidane] rushed back into the frame and in a completely unbelievable move, he headbutted him square in the chest.”

The shocking act of violence deservedly earned Zidane — fondly known as Zizou in his native France — a red card, ending one of soccer’s most illustrious careers in disgrace.

MacDougall says he was worried that he had released the shutter too late and missed the moment. But the photographer managed to capture just a single frame showing the milliseconds after Zidane headbutted Materazzi — just as the Italian player was about to hit the ground.

“It produced a single photo,” he says. “I was in total shock. My first reflex was to look around me because I had colleagues sitting next to me, to see if they’d spotted this huge event. And around me, everyone was following the ball, so they hadn’t even noticed what had happened. There was no reaction at all.”

MacDougall subsequently captured Zidane being sent off by the referee. As well as Materazzi, who was lying on the ground, exaggerating his injury.

After taking the photo, MacDougall went off on holiday the next day and so didn’t witness his image being published in nearly every newspaper and magazine around the world. It was only later in 2006, when publications were compiling “best photos of the year” lists, that MacDougall realized the impact of his work.

“It was more the moment itself that had an impact than the photo itself,” MacDougall says humbly.

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