Five of the most heart-stopping World Cup moments, ranked

Sunday, 14 June 2026

ANALYSIS: Hurst, a hand and a headbutt.

Every World Cup has at least one moment which inflames the sporting world, and then reverberates for decades to follow.

Even with the advent of video technology, the 2026 tournament which began on Friday is bound to feature an incident which dominate discussion over everything else that happens in the US, Mexico and Canada.

Here are the five most sensational moments in World Cup history.

1) Geoff Hurst's goal as England win at home

England’s sole World Cup title came 60 years ago, shrouded in controversy.

Striker Geoff Hurst scored a hat-trick in the home side’s 4-2 extra-time win over West Germany at Wembley Stadium, but it was his second goal which is still talked about the most.

With the game tied at 2-2 in the 11th minute of extra-time, Hurst received a cross from Alan Ball in the penalty area, controlled it expertly on the turn and thumped a shot which hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced down, with goalkeeper Hans Tilkowski beaten.

The ball bounced back into play as England’s players celebrated, while the West Germans were convinced the whole ball had not crossed the goalline.

Referee Gottfried Dienst of Switzerland was unsure, so he looked to Azerbaijani linesman Tofiq Bahramov, who said a goal had been scored - without the technology available to allow them or any other official to consult slow-motion replays or virtual measurements. Dienst confessed later that he and Bahramov didn’t speak a common language, leaving them to communicate non-verbally.

“I will tell anyone connected with world football: that ball was at least one metre over the line,' Hurst - the last surviving member of that victorious England side in 1966 - said this year

“And I’ve always gone on my team-mate Roger Hunt’s celebration. He wheeled away in celebration when he could have put the ball in the net himself. He shouted ‘It’s a goal’, and I’ve always gone on that.”

Tilkowski disagreed. “I am still today 100 per cent sure it was not a goal,” he said shortly before passing away in 2020. “I looked back over my left shoulder and I could see clearly the ball wasn’t behind the line. It bounced on the line.”

In 2016, the Sky Sports Monday Night Football team in the UK said the goal should have stood after using technology to recreate it. Yet the original film of the game favours the ball not completely crossing the line.

After his death in 1993, Azerbaijan's then national stadium was renamed the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium in the linesman’s honour.

2) Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’

England have been involved in the two most controversial goals in World Cup history.

In the 1986 quarterfinal against Argentina at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, Diego Maradona scored twice in a 2-1 win by the eventual champions.

His second is regarded as the greatest individual goal in football history. His first will never be forgotten either.

The knockout match was played in the lingering aftermath of the 1982 Falklands conflict between the two countries.

Maradona and his rival captain, England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, shook hands before kickoff. Shilton would later fall foul of Maradona’s left hand.

In the 51st minute with the score 0-0, Maradona leapt for a sliced clearance by England’s Steve Hodge (who still claims it was a calculated back-pass), with the diminutive playmaker trying to beat Shilton’s punch.

Needing a few extra inches, Maradona opted not to head the ball, but to punch it with his hand above his head, over Shilton and into the England net.

He sprinted off to celebrate, as England players surrounded referee Ali Bin Nasser from Tunisia, complaining about Maradona’s handball.

But Bin Nasser jogged slowly backwards while looking at linesman Bogdan Dotchev from Bulgaria, who gave no indication of a problem with the goal.

“I was waiting for Dotchev to give me a hint of what exactly happened but he didn’t signal for a handball. And the instructions Fifa gave us before the game were clear – if a colleague was in a better position than mine, I should respect his view,” Bin Nasser explained many years later, The Guardian reported.

“Although I felt immediately there was something irregular, back in that time Fifa didn’t allow the assistants to discuss the decisions with the referee. If Fifa had put a referee from Europe in charge of such an important game, the first goal of Maradona would have been disallowed,” Dotchev told the Bulgarian media.

The Tunisian was fluent in French and English whereas his colleague from Bulgaria spoke German and Spanish. After the game between England and Argentina they spoke in the dressing room only through a translator, who had been provided by Fifa.

Soon after the match, Bin Nasser apparently cited a haemorrhoid treatment that affected his decision. Neither of the officials were involved in another World Cup match.

Maradona’s view of the goal? “A little with the head of Maradona, and a little with the hand of God.”

3) Zinedine Zidane’s headbutt

What on earth happened?

A penalty shootout is looming in the 2006 World Cup final, with France and Italy level at 1-1.

A French attack is cleared and the action continues upfield, until the referee’s whistle blows, and attention turns back to Italian defender Marco Materazzi, lying writhing on the turf.

Near him is French superstar Zinedine Zidane, whose two goals spearheaded his country’s triumph at home in 1998 and had been brought out of international retirement by coach Raymond Domenech for the tournament.

Zidane had already turned back the clock with his displays in the quarterfinal versus holders Brazil and against Portugal in the semi.

Seven minutes into the final, Zidane puts France ahead from the penalty spot with a ‘Panenka’ which almost goes horribly wrong.

But Materazzi hammers home a header soon after, and the score doesn’t change from there.

Referee Horacio Elizondo did not see the incident, which the worldwide TV audience only gets to grasp - and gasp at - via replay, showing Zidane stopping after a discussion with Materazzi and headbutting him in the chest.

After some time sorting out what occurred, Elizondo shows Zidane a red card. But how did he know what happened, as VAR was not yet in place.

The official line was that the fourth official, Luis Medina Cantalejo of Spain, saw the headbutt and told Elizondo via head-sets.

But it was alleged in doing so he referenced video of the incident, which wasn’t allowed to be used in decision-making.

Why was Zidane so incensed? Initial suggestions, including one from Zidane, said the Frenchman’s mother had been insulted, something Materrazi vehemently denied. Later video seemed to indicate the Italian said “You can give it [his shirt] to your sister” or something of that ilk.

Without Zidane, France lost the penalty shootout.

4) Schumacher’s semifinal assault

“Red-handed!” screamed the banner headline on L’Equipe’s front page the following day, with the photo underneath showing the shocking incident.

With an hour played in the 1982 World Cup semifinal between West Germany and France, with the score 1-1, a trademark defence-splitting pass from French midfield superstar Michel Platini out substitute defender Patrick Battiston through on goal.

West German goalkeeper Harald ‘Toni’ Schumacher lumbered towards the edge of his penalty area as the ball bounced high, making it harder for Battiston to control his first-time shot.

His left-footed effort drifted wide of the goalpost, as Schumacher barreled on, leaping sideways into the air and smashing into the French player with his hip and shoulder.

Battiston crumbled to the turf and lay motionless as Dutch referee Charles Corver signalled for … a goal kick.

That had to wait however, as the unconscious Battiston, minus three teeth and with damaged vertebrae, was eventually stretchered off and given oxygen before being taken to hospital.

Corver and his linesman had both somehow missed Schumacher’s assault, which would have led to a red card had it been observed.

The semifinal went to extra-time with the score still at 1-1, but two goals in the first spell seemingly had France marching into the final. Yet the villains - with 11 men still available to them - fought back to level at 3-3 and send the game into penalties, which saw Schumacher save twice to tilt the shootout in his team’s favour.

In the fallout after West Germany lost the final 3-1 to Italy, L’Equipe described the incident as “a story of unpunished violence. … Schumacher was a brute. It’s a morality tale which we will tell our children.”

5) Paolo Rossi’s hat-trick stuns Brazil

Brazil were the darlings of the 1982 World Cup in Spain, and seemingly cruising towards an inevitable triumph in the final.

They’d thumped the All Whites (4-0) and Scotland (4-1) while also beating the USSR in group play, scoring some dazzling team and individual goals.

With talents like Zico, Eder, Socrates and Falcao, they looked untouchable, and started the second round by beating Argentina (with Diego Maradona) 3-1.

In contrast, Italy had three first-round draws and only qualified for the second round by having scored one more goal than third-placed Cameroon.

They beat Argentina 2-1, but controversial striker Paolo Rossi had yet to score in the tournament, having only recently returned from a two-year ban following his involvement in the Totonero 1980 match-fixing scandal.

But Rossi - who Italy coach Enzo Bearzot told before the game to put pressure on defenders Oscar and Luizinho: 'They'll surely make a mistake, he said' - capitalised three times on some lax work by the favourites to give his side a late 3-2 lead.

They had a fourth goal wrongly ruled out for offside in the 86th minute, while goalkeeper Dino Zoff had to make a fantastic save to deny Oscar a last-gasp equaliser which would have sent Brazil into the semifinals.

Instead Italy progressed, Rossi scored both their goals in the semi victory over Poland, and the opener in their 3-1 triumph against West Germany in the final.