All you need to know about the World Cup final

It will finish on Sunday in Berlin in the historic Olympic Stadium with either Fabio Cannavaro of Italy or France's Zinedine Zidane hoisting the most prized trophy in sport - the FIFA World Cup.

Over the last month, the world has cheered, argued, booed, sung, complained, whined, laughed, cried in sadness and cried tears of joy. This World Cup does not figure as one of the best — in truth, it struggles to make my top ten and I have watched eleven of them — but it has had its memorable moments, as all World Cups do.

No matter what has gone before, the final game this Sunday has the ingredients that could provide us with one of the grandest of World Cup finales. Italy leads with 17 wins, 7 losses and 8 draws. However, you have to go back to the 1978 World Cup in Argentina to find Italy's last win over France. Since then, France is unbeaten in their last six meetings.

1938 World Cup quarterfinal — Italy 3-1 France (host)
1978 World Cup group stage — Italy 2-1 France
1986 World Cup round of 16 — Italy 0-2 France
1998 World Cup quarterfinal — Italy 0-0 France (France 4-3 on penalties)
2000 Euro 2000 final — Italy 1-2 France (after extra time)

Italian Coach Marcello Lippi (58) has enjoyed a more successful career as a coach than he did as a player. He was a journeyman player for a number of Italian clubs before moving into coaching in 1982. He worked his way through the ranks and by 1989 he was in charge of Cesena in Serie A — Italy's top league.

He joined Juventus in 1994 and made his reputation with the Turin giants. During two spells with Juve he led them to five Serie A championships and won the Champions League once. Juventus also reached the Champions League final on three other occasions under Lippi. He took over the Italian national team after the European Championships in 2004 and Italy is currently unbeaten in its last 24 games.

Raymond Domenech (54) also took over the national team after France lost in the quarterfinals of the 2004 European Championships. His playing career took him to a number of French teams including Lyon, Strasbourg, Paris Saint-Germain and Bordeaux before retiring in 1984 to move into coaching.

He was in charge of Mulhouse and Lyon of the French league before being placed in charge of the French youth team in 1993. He remained in that position until he replaced Jacques Santini after the Euros. During his time in charge France has only lost one game.