The fastest goals in football history
Christoph Baumgartner’s name may not mean anything to most football lovers, but at least for those who challenge themselves in sports quizzes from time to time, it is worth remembering it from now on.
Namely, the midfielder of the Leipzig RB club became the author of the fastest (A) national team goal of all time at the weekend when he scored in the sixth second of the match against Slovakia.
The 24-year-old Baumgartner aimed for the goal immediately after the kick-off, rushing past three players in a row and then launching a long-range shot from 20 meters that was unreachable by goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.
En Hızlı Gol
Slovakya ile Avusturya arasındaki maçta Baumgartner’ın 6. saniyede attığı gol, milli takımlar arasındaki müsabakalarda tarihin en hızlı golü olarak kaydedildi.
— Ülke Puanı (@UlkePuan) March 23, 2024
That’s how he grabbed the world record in a heartbeat because, in 2013, the German national team player Lukas Podolski scored in the seventh second of the game in the match against Ecuador. Of course, that goal is made more curious by the fact that it was Ecuador who put the ball in the game…
Germany and the seventh second were synonymous over the weekend, as Florian Wirtz was just then playing in the national competition against France. On any other day, it would have been enough to make it to the front page of sports news, but on this occasion, a second was amiss.
𝟕 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐒…..
Florian Wirtz’s first international goal is the 𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐓 goal in Germany’s history. pic.twitter.com/YgYuJcpd1p
— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) March 24, 2024
Motivated by the fast goals of Wirtz and Baumgartner, we at Olybet.TV decided to map the fastest goals of various competitions. The following ranking is from the slowest to the fastest:
EC – 67 seconds
If we generally talk about seconds in the case of the fastest goals in history, no one has scored within the first minute in the history of the European Football Championship. The fastest goal at the European Championship dates to 2004 when Russian national team member Dmitri Kirichenko hit the net in the 67th second of the game in the group match against Greece.
Let it be pointed out here that Greece lost that match 1:2, and it was the only match at the EC in question that Greece, who was later crowned European champion, did not win.
World Cup – 11 seconds
On the other hand, at the World Cup, opening the score within the first minute has occurred as many as ten times. The first time it happened was at the first World Cup in history in 1930, when the Romanian Adalbert Deșu scored against Peru in the 50th second.
Four years later, the German Ernst Lehner moved the top mark to 24 seconds, and in 1962, the Czech Václav Mašek became the record holder, scoring against Mexico in the 16th second.
However, this hit was erased from the annals of history in 2002, when Turkey’s Hakan Şükür sent the ball into the South Korean net in the 11th second of the game in the World Cup bronze medal match.
Champions League – 10.12 seconds
There have also been no problems with fast goals in the most prestigious Euro series, which is currently called the Champions League. The record holder is former Bayern Munich player Roy Makaay, who scored in the 10th second of the match against Real Madrid in 2007.
Bundesliga – 9.32 seconds
Moving on to Europe’s top leagues, the “slowest” jokes can be made about the Germans. Namely, the top mark of the Bundesliga fits in barely ten seconds: Karim Bellarabi slammed into the Borussia Dortmund net in 2014 after 9.32 seconds of play.
Ligue 1 – 8 seconds
The record for the fastest goal in the French Premier League seems ancient compared to other top leagues. Namely, the Ligue 1 top mark was made 32 years ago, when Michel Rio scored in the 8th second of the match against Cannes in 1992.
La Liga – 7.8 seconds
The author of the fastest goal in the Spanish Premier League is Joseba Llorente, who scored in 7.8 seconds against Espanyol in 2008.
Premier League – 7.69 seconds
The English are narrowly ahead of the Spaniards because the fastest goal in the Premier League was scored 7.69 seconds after the opening whistle. By Shane Long to Watford.
Serie A – 6.2 seconds
However, the fastest goal in Europe’s top five leagues comes from Italy, where Rafael Leão scored in just 6.2 seconds against Sassuolo in 2021.
Austrian Premier League – 5 seconds
The fastest PROVEN goal in Europe’s top leagues comes from the Austrian topflight and happened just earlier this year when Salzburg RB striker Petar Ratkov was just a lucky man (see video).
What about Estonia?
Why did we emphasize the word PROVEN above? This is because, according to unofficial data, the goal net has rustled in five seconds in the Estonian Football Premier League as well. Not to mention, it was an own goal, but since there is no videotape of the match in question, we only have a partial truth.
The matter in question happened on September 12, 2009, when FC Kuressaare visited FC Levadia and lost 0:8. FC Kuressaare head coach at the time, Jan Važinski:
“Levadia put the ball in the game, and [Konstantin] Nahk gave a long diagonal ball from the middle, which Roland [Kütt] could have picked up easily, because there was no chance that any attacker could get there, but he told Jaanis [Kriska] to play and so the ball flew from the header unluckily into the own goal,” the coach told the club’s website at the time. “Let’s be honest, the incredible stupidity of the first goal is a terrible shame.”
Was it a world record or not?
The fact that the events took place like that is confirmed by everyone. But whether it took four, five, six or seven seconds…
“It could have been the fifth second,” said Levadia’s assistant coach Marko Kristal to the Estonian newspaper Õhtuleht after the match. “I think it really was in the fifth second,” Dmitri Skiperski seconded.
The main referee of the game, Ainar Kuusk, also supported the claim of the fifth second: “The ball was in the goal practically immediately after the opening whistle. Later, I also spoke with Heigo Niilop (former football referee – ed.), who was at the game, and he also thought that it was on the fifth second.”
Based on the statements of those involved, Kriska also broke the world record for the fastest own goal that day. Although no official record is kept of this, it is mostly agreed that the (previous) record was held by Englishman Pat Kruse, who scored an own goal in the sixth second of an English Fourth Division game against Cambridge United on 3 January 1977.
However, since there is no videotape of the Levadia-Kuressaare game, it is not possible to say with 100% conviction that Kriska broke Kruse’s record. Of course, it was fine by him. “To be honest, I don’t feel proud. I’m still an anti-hero,” said the defender, who also got a red card at the beginning of the second half of the match in question.
Fastest goal ever?
Leaving aside the questions about Kriska’s goal – how fast is the fastest goal in history? Of course, when answering this question, different parameters must be considered: should only the matches of the major leagues be taken into account? Adults-only games? Must there be a video of the goal?
However, leaving that aside, most factual data agree that the author of the fastest goal in football history is Gavin Stokes, who sent the ball into Clydebank net in 2.1 seconds in a match in the West of Scotland Super League Division I (still an official league, not national league).
How did the Maryhill man do it? See for yourself:
