A New Definition of ‘Own Goal’ for World Cup

June 8th, 2006 | by: WC Bob |

Did you know that FIFA has a Technical Study Group? Well, they do and lest you think they are just sitting around drinking beer and waiting for the World Cup to start, today they issued some remarks designed to clarify what will be classified as an own goal at this year’s competition.

In the history of the World Cup there have only been 24 own goals in 644 matches. To help minimize the confusion over what is and isn’t an own goal the following guidelines have been developed:

If a goal-bound shot accidentally bounces off a team-mate into the opponent’s goal, the goal will be awarded to the player who struck the ball towards the target in the first place.
If a goal-bound shot is intentionally redirected into the opponent’s net, the goal will be credited to the player whose action produced the change of direction.
If a shot is going wide and is then deflected or redirected into the opponent’s goal by a team-mate, this player will of course be credited with the goal.

Still not clear about all this?

The video below should give you some good examples of what is an own goal.

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Rami

Totally agree Rolf, you feel bad but I found most of them rather funny, especially the ones that make defenders end up looking like amazing attackers… the only problem is, they’re attacking the wrong goal!
azzurriblue

I dissapointed that the own goal by Aston Villa’s Melberg was not included in the above video… what do you think?
check it out @: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap85A4tBp9g
Rolf

Watching own goals always makes me feel bad for the players when I’m not busy laughing at them.

It looks like the new interpretation will aid goal scorers which I guess is fair.
http://360.yahoo.com/zcgf02 Chris

I loved the clip with the young kid standing behind the goal jumping up and down like crazy. I couldn’t tell which teams were playing, but that one made me crack up.
Tomas

Hey Bob,

You pasted the wrong part of the article. These three bullets don’t relate to own-goal scenarios! Notice the constant use of “team-mate” instead of “defender” when naming the player who deflects the attacker’s shot. Also, look at bullet number two: why would a defender be believed to “intentionally” score a goal on himself? He wouldn’t!

This is the only rule in the article actually relating to own goals:

An own goal [is] when a player plays the ball directly into his own net or when he redirects an opponent’s shot, cross or pass into his own goal. Shots that are on target (i.e. goal-bound) and touch a defender or rebound from the goal frame and bounce off a defender or goalkeeper are not considered as own goals.

Great video though.
Ian Alter

Please show hughlight packages of best GOALKEEPER SAVES during the World Cup. We see best goals a hundred times, but I think best saves are as exciting.