Before the Berlin final, before the Panenka and the headbutt that froze a generation, there was a late-afternoon message on 3 August 2005. Zinédine Zidane, then 33 and playing for Real Madrid, announced that he was returning to the France team after retiring from international football.
Key takeaways
- Zidane’s return was announced on his personal website shortly before 4pm on 3 August 2005.
- Claude Makelele and Lilian Thuram also came back as France struggled in World Cup qualifying.
- Raymond Domenech’s side stood fourth at the halfway point after four draws from six games, including three goalless results.
- France sealed direct qualification for the 2006 World Cup with results against Ireland, Switzerland and Cyprus.
- A new documentary, 9 July 2006, revisits the World Cup run through around 30 videos, including Zidane’s decisive moments in the final.
A return that changed France’s course
Zidane had insisted more than once that his international career was over after France’s 1-0 Euro 2004 quarter-final defeat to Greece. Yet his statement in August 2005 brought him back into the fold: France had given him so much, he said, and he wanted to help the national side again.
The announcement came at a difficult point for Les Bleus. Four of their first six qualifying matches had ended level, with three finishing 0-0, while criticism of Domenech was mounting. France were fourth in their qualifying group at the midway stage, far from the authority expected of the 1998 world champions.
Questions immediately followed Zidane’s reversal. There was speculation over whether the French Football Federation had pushed for his return, whether political figures wanted a sporting lift after Paris failed in its bid for the 2012 Olympic Games, or whether commercial pressure had played a part.
Zidane offered a more unusual explanation. He described being awakened at 3am and speaking to someone, saying the experience felt mystical, irrational and beyond his control. He said an irresistible force had led him to listen to the voice urging him to return. Amid the intense reaction, he later said the person had simply been his brother, but the episode has retained its mystery two decades on.
From qualification tension to Berlin’s defining night
Within weeks, Zidane was leading France towards Germany. A 1-0 win in Dublin on 7 September, followed by a 1-1 draw in Bern and a 4-0 victory over Cyprus, secured direct qualification for the World Cup.
At that point, the scale of what followed could scarcely have been anticipated. Eight months later, Zidane would captain France in the World Cup final and write one of football’s most enduring chapters: a Panenka penalty, then the headbutt that ended his final professional match.
The documentary 9 July 2006 retraces that path from the comeback announcement through to the final, examining the cultural impact of France’s 2006 campaign and the two images from Berlin that remain inseparable from Zidane’s last night in the game.
