“After watching Dom Ballard’s backheel volley for Bristol City against Birmingham in game week two of the Championship, it begs the question: what’s the earliest in a season a goal has gone on to win goal of the season?” asks Ricardio Sentulio.
There is no doubting Dom Ballard’s outrageous flick for Bristol City at Birmingham City should be a Puskás contender, especially with his finish kissing the crossbar on its way in, and has a very good chance of being the best goal scored in the 2026-27 Championship season, even though there is a long way to go.
Ballard’s wondergoal was scored on 22 August, on gameweek two. Eleven years ago to that day, Marco Matias notched this ridiculous effort for Sheffield Wednesday at Leeds United, although it should be said that Yorkshire derby was gameweek four, so technically later in the 2015-16 season than Ballard’s. Matias was given the goal of the season gong in April 2016.
The earliest Championship goal of the season we could find was the 2022-23 effort from Ismaïla Sarr for Watford. The Senegalese, now at Palace, scored from the halfway line to stun West Brom on the opening day (8 August). It doesn’t get much earlier, especially as Sarr’s strike was just 12 minutes into the match.
David Beckham’s famous goal for Manchester United against Wimbledon in 1996-97, lobbing Neil Sullivan from the halfway line – later voted the best of that Premier League campaign – was also on the opening day of the league season but came later in the year (11 days after Sarr) and also in the 87th minute (so 75 minutes later than Sarr in the match).
In Scotland, the 2017-18 SPFA goal of the season was given to Kieran Tierney for Celtic versus Kilmarnock, also on 8 August (2017) in the League Cup. Even though that is the same date as Sarr’s strike, the cup tie actually came three days after Celtic’s opening league game, a 4-1 win over Hearts on 5 August 2017. We could also mention that Celtic’s Jota once scored a goal of the month (for August even though the goal was in July) for Celtic against Aberdeen (31 July 2022, game one).
We finish with a goal that probably doesn’t quite fit into this category but is too good to ignore or forget. Schalke’s goal of the year (not season, it should be stated) in 2013 came as early as on 27 July but comes with three caveats: a) it was in a pre-season friendly; b) it was by a player that wasn’t even on Schalke’s books at the time of scoring; and c) it was a tap-in.
After two successful years at Schalke, Raúl had joined Al-Sadd, with a pre-season friendly arranged as part of the deal. So when Al-Sadd travelled to Gelsenkirchen on 27 July 2013, Raúl agreed to play the first half for his new side and the second half for Schalke. The Spaniard scored twice for the latter, the first of which was a textbook right-place-right-time finish from two yards out. To understand why it was voted Schalke’s goal of the year, you are going to have to check out the assist from a teenage Julian Draxler.
Have you any earlier examples from further afield? Mail us with your questions and answers.
Spinning plates
“Has a club’s player-manager ever been called up for an international cap, or travelled to play during an international break in the club season?” asks Frederick Sondheimer-Acosta.
Let’s start with a couple of famous examples from the Scotland team of the mid-1980s. “Kenny Dalglish became Liverpool player-manager in the summer of 1985 and subsequently played a few games for Scotland, including the first leg of their World Cup playoff win against Australia,” writes Dom Miller. “He won his 100th cap against Romania in March 1986 and was initially selected for the World Cup squad but withdrew due to a knee injury picked up in the FA Cup final (there has always been a suspicion he didn’t go because his mate Alan Hansen wasn’t picked). Dalglish won his last two caps in the autumn of 1986.”
Scotland, with Alex Ferguson in temporary charge after the tragic death of Jock Stein, did have a player-manager in their squad for the World Cup. Graeme Souness was appointed by Rangers in April and played the first two games at Mexico 86, when Scotland were a little unfortunate to lose to Denmark and West Germany. But Souness struggled with the altitude, saying he never felt worse on a football field than during the West Germany game, and Ferguson left him out of their final group match against Uruguay.
Another mighty, all-purpose midfielder, Johnny Giles, went one better than Souness. “Perhaps uniquely, Giles held player-manager positions for club and country simultaneously,” writes Bruce Mair. “He was player-manager of the Republic of Ireland, a part-time post, from May 1973 until March 1980 while playing for Leeds United (1973-75) and serving as player-manager of both West Bromwich Albion (1975-77) and Shamrock Rovers (1977-80). Giles selected himself for 24 of his 59 international appearances.”
Those are the most high-profile examples in Britain and Ireland, but there are dozens more cases – thanks to Bruce Mair, in particular, for doing so much work on this. We’ve picked some of the more interesting examples:
Andy Aitken “The earliest player-manager I can find,” writes Bruce. “Won three caps for Scotland while player-manager of Middlesbrough, 1907-08, and three more when player-manager/secretary at Leicester Fosse (now Leicester City), 1910-11.
Orvar Bergmark “Played 41 internationals for Sweden, including their run to the 1958 World Cup final, while player‑manager of Örebro between 1958 and 1961.”
Gunnar Gren “Seventeen caps for Sweden while player-manager of Örgryte IS, 1957-58. A teammate of Orvar Bergmark in the Swedish side that reached the 1958 World Cup final.”
Stuart Pearce “Capped twice for England in 1997 during his stint as caretaker player-manager at Nottingham Forest.”
Fanny Vágó “Hungary’s most‑capped women’s international made 19 appearances for her country while player‑manager of Ferencvárosi TC between 2021 and 2023.”
Elisha Scott “Liverpool legend won four caps for Northern Ireland while player-manager of Belfast Celtic at the tail end of his career, 1934-36.”
John Toshack “Six appearances for Wales as Swansea City player-manager in 1979.”
Jim Platt “Played twice for Northern Ireland in 1984 as player-manager of Ballymena United and made one further appearance as player-manager of Coleraine in 1986. Member of Northern Ireland’s 1986 World Cup squad.”
Knowledge archive
“Has there ever been an occasion where a major team has been disrupted by jury service, with either a manager or a player being called up during the season?” James Schofield asked back in May 2018.
“Plymouth’s Welsh international Carl Fletcher once tried to argue he couldn’t sit on a jury as he was too well known,” answered Andy Carswell. “According to reports in 2010, Judge Francis Gilbert told the midfielder that being Plymouth captain was not sufficient reason to excuse him, and that he had enough time to travel to Cheltenham for a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie after completing his duties. Fletcher argued that his position meant he was in a position of potentially being threatened, saying: ‘I don’t want anything to come back on me for sitting on a jury.’ His protests fell on deaf ears, with Judge Gilbert adding: ‘Lots of well-known people, some more famous than you, have been required to sit on juries.’”
James Perch had just helped Newcastle United to fifth place in 2012 but was also forced to cut short a holiday to Dubai after learning of his higher calling. “I’ve got jury service, unless I can be excused,” he told the club website. “It’s killed my holiday a bit, but at the minute I’m set to be in court at the end of May.”
Can you help?
“As someone who occasionally has to search for football stadiums to find directions and the like, I always enjoy that people take the time to rate their experience of visiting a football ground,” begins our own Will Unwin. “Hull City, for example, have 4.3 stars from 3,655 reviews. I therefore ponder … which ground has the highest and lowest Google rating?”
“I was surprised, staggered in fact, to see Nottingham Forest as the 18th team in the Guardian season previews,” writes Ross Connett. “I associate 18th place with the likes of Tottenham or West Ham, never a team beginning with N, just scraping over halfway into the alphabet. Has there ever been a more ‘early alphabet team’-dominated Premier League?”
“During Fulham v Chelsea, the previous jobs of both the opposing managers was coincidentally at the same club, Real Madrid,” notes Sarang Satish. “Are there other times this has happened?”
“Who has scored the highest percentage of their professional goals in hat-tricks?” asks Michael D.
“Last weekend every match in the Gibraltar league was a draw,” mails Stephen Hogg. “There are very few teams in the league, however. What’s the biggest league where this has happened?”
“This season Istanbul has six clubs in the Turkish top flight,” starts Vasco Wackrill. “What is the record number of top-flight clubs supplied in a season by a non-capital city?”
“Three of Kevin Lisbie’s sons are playing professionally; in the Championship (Kyrell, Millwall), in League One (Kyreece, Reading) and League Two (Kaion, Colchester United),” writes Stuart Willsher. “Have we ever had four brothers playing in all four top English divisions?”
