On the 17th anniversary of Italy’s World Cup triumph in Germany, some of our writers share their personal recollections of where they watched the match.
James Oddy
I was 16 at the time and was actually in Rome for the semi final and the final. I was really into Italian football for a variety of reasons, mostly playing Football Manager and Pro Evo and the best players were in Italy. That triggered me to find out more about the country and its culture.
Watching Italy lift the World Cup in Rome was just unbelievable. I remember for the semi final we went out for a meal and the waiters were really clear that we shouldn’t expect the quickest of service. There were some American tourists kicking off but me and my family got into the spirit of it. We went to a bar afterwards and when Del Piero scored that winner, there was an explosion of pure emotion. Such a memorable moment in my life.
We were flying home the day after the final and watched it in a bar. Weirdly I remember it less vividly but I had the overwhelming feeling that Italy would win. I didn’t get any sleep that night because of the car horns and people dancing on their roofs. To experience that at 16 really cemented my love of Italian football which still remains to this day.
Giancarlo Rinaldi
For the descendants of Italian emigrants the Nazionale means more than it does to those who never had to leave their country behind. In Scotland, and countless other nations where they have made their homes, an Azzurri match is an excuse to get together and share their prosciutto, Primitivo and passion. The World Cup Final of 2006 was no different.
When they last won the competition in 1982, I was a 12-year-old boy crying in delight on the steps of a Tuscan bar. This time around I drove around Dumfries in search of fellow Scottish-Italians to celebrate with. I tooted my horn and waved the Tricolore out the window while the sounds of Seven Nation Army blared out of my car stereo. It was only the sweeter to think that millions of others like me around the planet would be doing pretty much exactly the same thing at the same time. Po-po-po-po-po-po-po…
Richard Hall
It’s a strange one because I live in a small town with quite a few Italian restaurants. I wanted to watch the final with Italians so I headed to a place called Zest owned by a guy called Orlando. I was writing for Football Italiano which was a fantastic site and I was really enjoying soaking up Italian culture and football.
Orlando closed the restaurant for the night so I watched it with three of my mates and whole lot of Italians. Celebrations went into the night and the Italian community all came out to party until the small hours. Me and my mates decided to book a trip to Italy that night and a few weeks later we were there watching some football – that was the first time I went to the Curva Nord to see Inter and The Gentleman Ultra was born out of these experiences.
Jake Smalley
The 2006 World Cup final was the second one I remember vividly after Ronaldo’s heroics over Germany in Yokohama. I’d recently turned 10 and we were undergoing huge renovations at home so I had to watch the final sat in an empty living room on a propped-up TV. The key moments I remember were both Zidane related for obvious reasons (dodgy penalty and headbutt), but from an Italian perspective I just remember watching a team with serious guts. Sure the red card helped but Italy were resolute. They were strong and tenacious and for some reason we got to see Vincenzo Iaquinta for half an hour. Mauro Camoranesi’s hair sticks out for me too – he was a menace.
Henry Bell
I’d just started my first sort-of job working as a director, resident at a theatre in Cornwall: I was 23 and getting paid in food and lodging. It was my first experience of work clashing spectacularly with a football tournament as I was opening a production of the French farce, A Flea In Her Eye during the World Cup. Luckily, Italy’s fixtures fell outside of key moments in the production and I watched the final in my digs with my incredibly hospitable hosts.
My football watching brain was beginning to click in and, through politeness I’d endured watching England through the tournament. The contrast in yet another failure from the Lampard/Gerrard midfield to Italy’s double pivot of Pirlo and Gattuso was very acute. I did my best to not mention this too often during my stay.
As an Englishman with very little interest in England (as a country or a football team), I’ve never understood the moral superiority of their fans. The next day at rehearsals I was definitely in the minority when I celebrated Materazzi’s shit-housery to get Zidane that red card. As we continued to work with Georges Feydeau’s masterful text, I did find time to muse that the farcical nature of the sending-off was a fine example of life imitating art on a rather direct personal level.
Emmet Gates
I was 19 and was still living at home in County Tyrone working part time in Tesco. In retrospect that night was a last hurrah for me and a bunch of friends from college that were at the centre of that moment in my life. We’ve all moved to different parts of the world now and I can’t quite believe it was 17 years ago. Where does all that time go? We met up in a pub in Dungannon and saw it on a big screen. The pub was mixed between Italy and France fans. We were all behind Italy because we all loved Italian football at the time.
I remember France’s penalty because Malouda dived. There was no contact at all and I actually thought Zidane had missed his penalty and it wasn’t over the line. I have no recollection of Grosso hitting the winning penalty! I’d put money on Italy to win the World Cup. From that point until 2014 I put cash on Italy winning every tournament. Italy were 10/1 and I put £20 on them so I was mightily chuffed with myself.
Even though Italy won it, I didn’t consider them to be a great team in comparison to some of the big names in previous squads. Looking back now though you think that Italy would kill for a squad like that.
Kirsten Schlewitz
I actually didn’t watch the 2006 World Cup – I hadn’t come back to football yet – so my memories are shaped by media narrative: the human hurricane that was Marco Materazzi conceding the penalty and scoring the equaliser, insulting Zidane’s sister and getting head-butted in return, getting Zidane sent off. What I most remember is being fascinated by Italy’s downfall when I watched the 2010 tournament. I was helping edit posts so I schooled up on the previous tournaments, and I was astonished as to how a squad that hadn’t changed all that much could fall apart so spectacularly.
I remember watching the final 2010 group stage game and, despite being a Slovakia fan, rooting hard for the Azzurri as they attempted that dramatic comeback with Antonio Di Natale and Fabio Quagliarella scoring in the final ten minutes. I thought maybe Italy’s future would again be bright…wow, was I wrong! But seeing clips and videos of that championship does give me chills, and I walked through the FIGC museum display with hushed reverence – until I got to the giant photo of Fabio Cannavaro lifting the 2006 World Cup, at which point I may or may not have gasped a bit in appreciation of the human form.
Mark Gordon
I was watching in a pub in Aberdeen and unlike the 90 and 94 World Cups, I was at least old enough to drink to calm any nerves. I feared the worst when France scored their early penalty. The atmosphere wasn’t exactly electric in the bar, it was Sunday evening after all. Materazzi’s header was greeted by a loud cheer but that was only from me. Zidane’s red card was met with a mix of gasps and chuckles as they replayed his head-butt.
Unusually, I was strangely calm about the penalties. Totti’s last minute spot kick against Australia had been more nerve-wracking for me. I was convinced Buffon would be the hero but as it turned out it was Grosso. I never thought for a second that he would miss when he stepped forward, it just seemed like it was meant to be after his goal in the semi-final. As a huge Roberto Baggio fan my first thought as Grosso scored was genuinely about 1994. I was delighted the Azzurri won but I still wished Baggio had been playing.
Where did you watch the 2006 final? Please tell us in the comments below.