Seeing Red: Zidane and the men sent off at FIFA World Cup™

In the history of the FIFA World Cup, a player has been sent off 169 times, including five in the championship game, but none more memorable than the red card shown in the 110th minute of the 2006 final.

With the game deadlocked 1-1 in extra-time, France captain Zinedine Zidane was sent off for head-butting Italian defender Marco Materazzi, a moment that has gone down in sporting infamy.

After checking on the felled player and consulting with his assistants, Argentinian referee Horacio Elizondo brandished the red card and brought an abrupt end to Zidane’s up-to-that-point distinguished World Cup career.

Speculation immediately began about the nature of the interaction between the two players that may have caused the man who previously lifted the World Cup trophy in 1998 to lash out in such a violent manner.

While there were many stories that the incident centred on comments about Zidane’s mother who was ill at the time, Materazzi maintains that he actually targeted another member of the legendary player’s family.

“What I said was stupid," Materazzi told L'Equipe in 2016, "but it didn't deserve that reaction.

“You would hear stronger words said on the streets of Naples, or Milan, or Paris, much more serious things.  My mother died when I was 15, I would never have insulted his.  I spoke about his sister."

Zidane said in 2010 that he will never apologize for his actions during the game.

"Of course, I reproach myself," Zidane told El Pais in Spain. "But, if I say 'Sorry', I would also be admitting that what he himself did was normal. And for me it was not normal.”

"Things happen on the pitch. It's happened to me many times. But I could not stand it there. It is not an excuse. But my mother was ill. She was in hospital. This people did not know.”

Italy went on to capture the 2006 World Cup via penalty kicks and Zidane retired from professional football following the game, making his last action for club or country one of the most controversial in football history.

While Zidane’s ejection is the most talked about in Final history, the first sending off in a title game did not occur until the 1990 tournament in Italy.  After 60 years of championships finishing with a full complement of players on the field, referee Edgardo Codesal sent Argentinian defender Pedro Monzon off against West Germany in the 65th minute.

Rather than wait another 60 years for the second red to be shown in a Final, Codesal reduced Argentina to nine men 22 minutes later when he showed a second yellow to Argentinian striker Gustavo Dezotti for charging at Jurgen Kohler after Andreas Brehme had scored what would go on to be the winner for West Germany from the penalty spot.

Marcel Desailly for France in 1998 and John Heitinga for the Netherlands in 2010 are the other two men sent to the locker room early in a World Cup Final.

The other sendings off happened prior to the Final, but to some fanbases that doesn’t make them any less significant.

Beckham - England

Headlines and controversy were never too far away during the illustrious career of England star David Beckham and so it was during a 1998 Round of 16 game against Argentina, when he was shown red for kicking midfielder Diego Simeone.

After the Argentinian player bundled Beckham over from behind, the England star kicked back at him as he was walking away, sending him to the turf.

Simeone was shown a yellow card and Beckham was dismissed from a game that England would go on to lose on penalty kicks, bringing to an end their run at the 1998 World Cup.

The Argentinian and future Atletico Madrid manager admitted sometime later that he might have played the situation to get Beckham in trouble.

"I think anyone would have taken advantage of that in just the same way," Simeone told the Observer. "Sometimes you get sent off, sometimes you don't. Unfortunately for the English team that time they lost a player."

Rooney - England

The quarterfinal matchup between England and Portugal at the 2006 World Cup was deemed among other things, a clash between Manchester United teammates Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.

After a battle with Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho, Rooney appeared to stamp on his opponent as he was on the ground.  

Ronaldo and a few of his Portuguese teammates implored referee Horacio Marcelo Elizondo to take action, causing Rooney to push Ronaldo away.

At that point the ref did take action, dismissing Rooney from the game and reducing England to 10 men.

"I don't regret what I did because when you play for your country, you defend your colours," Ronaldo told the BBC in the documentary - Wayne Rooney - The Man Behind The Goals.

England went out of the 2006 World Cup on penalties, but then you already knew that part.

Suarez - Uruguay

The list of red cards that immediately produced positive results for the team it was levied against is short, but has to include Luis Suarez’s sending off in the quarterfinals of the 2010 World Cup against Ghana.

In the dying minutes of extra-time, Dominic Adiyiah headed the ball past the keeper and towards a wide open net when Suarez punched the ball off the goal line, earning himself a straight red card and the African team a penalty.

Asamoah Gyan would miss from the spot and Uruguay would go on to win the game on penalty kicks, sending them through to the semifinals and preventing Ghana from becoming the first African team to reach the tournament’s final four.

"The truth is, it was a bit of everything," Suarez told The Players’ Tribune.  "Of being depressed, of being sad, of being sent off. Because we were going to lose, but if they weren't scoring that goal we weren't going to lose.

"You get up within 30 seconds when he takes the penalty kick, the satisfaction of taking a risk in a situation of which I have been blamed for anti-fair play. However, the Ghana player missing the penalty is not my fault."

Uruguay would be eliminated by the Netherlands in the next round.

Suarez would have a much less celebrated incident at the 2014 World Cup, where he would receive a four-month ban for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini. It was the third biting incident over the course of his career.

Totti - Italy

South Korea finished first in Group D as World Cup co-hosts in 2002 and advanced into a Round of 16 game against Italy.

With the teams deadlocked 1-1 in the 103rd minute, Francesco Totti broke into the South Korean box and went down as he approached the net against defender Song Chong-gug.

Referee Byron Moreno booked Totti for diving, his second yellow, ending his night and giving South Korea a numerical advantage.

"I would do it again," Moreno told Il Messaggero newspaper. "I don't even have to watch the replays. Totti dived."

At first it appeared as though that advantage would have no bearing on the result as Italy’s Damiano Tommasi broke in on goal right after the red card, but was flagged offside before he could fire home the winner.

Italy would be eliminated in the 117th minute when Ahn Jung-hwan scored the golden goal, sending South Korea into a quarterfinal game against Spain