The 2006 FIFA World Cup was awarded to Germany by a single vote after the President of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), Charles Dempsey, controversially abstained in the final round of voting, rather than voting for South Africa as he had been instructed. In any event, the World Cup finals tournament was staged at 12 venues across Germany, including the Zentralstadion in Leipzig, in former East Germany, between June 9 and July 9, 2006.
The World Cup final was contested by Italy and France at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, with Gli Azzuri winning 5-3 on penalties after the match finished 1-1 after 90 minutes and after extra time. A seventh minute penalty by French captain Zinedine Zidane was cancelled out by a header from Italian defender Marco Materazzi 12 minutes later and the teams remained deadlocked thereafter. However, in a bizarrre, off-the-ball incident, deep into extra time, Zidane felled Materazzi with a headbutt to the chest and was sent off. In the ensuing penalty shoot-out, French striker David Trezeguet, who hit the crossbar, was the only player not to convert his spot-kick.
Italy had progressed to the knockout stages by virtue of topping Group E with seven points, one point ahead of second-placed Ghana, and thereby avoiding Brazil in the round of 16. In their three group matches, Italy beat both Ghana and the Czech Republic 2-0 and played out an eventful 1-1 draw with the United States at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion in Kaiserslautern, in which there were three red cards.
Back at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion in the round of 16, Italy recorded a last-gap 1-0 win over Australia, thanks to a Francesco Totti penalty deep into stoppage time. They were more convincing when beating Ukraine 3-0 in the quarter-final at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg three days later, but were back to their old tricks in the semi-final against hosts Germany at the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund four days after that. Nevertheless, late, late goals from Fabio Grosso and Alessandro Del Piero were enough to take them to the final, after which they collected the World Cup trophy for the fourth time.