Own goal

An own goal occurs in association football and other goal-scoring games when a player scores a goal that is registered against his or her own team. It is usually accidental, and may be a result of an attempt at defensive play that failed or was spoiled by opponents.

The term has become a metaphor for any action that backfires upon a person.

Association football

In association football, when players kick or otherwise cause the ball to go into their own side's goal, it results in a goal being scored for the opposition.

An own goal cannot be scored directly from an attacking throw-in or a defending free kick (a corner kick will be awarded to the attacking team if so should happen), and under certain other circumstances (for example, directly from a corner kick, although it is just a theoretical situation).

It doesn't matter if the defending team violates the rules when a goal is scored, so an own goal can be scored with the hands. In addition, the back-pass rule prohibits goalkeepers from handling the ball with their hands when receiving a deliberate pass from a teammate that is made with their feet (the pass can be made with all the others parts of the body except hands).

The player who does this is personally "credited" with the goal as part of the statistical abstract of the game unless a goal is scored after a shot (by the attacking side) is deflected into the net by a defending player. In that case, officials determine if the original shot was on target. If so, the attacker is awarded the goal, even if the shot would have otherwise been easily saved by the goalkeeper. Some scorers will give credit to the attacker if the defender's mistake caused the own goal, similar to ice hockey.

Other sports

When they occur in other sports, own goals are not "credited" in the same manner as in football, but instead credited towards the attacker whose attempt forced the defensive error.

Ice hockey

If a goal is scored by a player on the defending team, credit for the goal goes to the last player on the other team to have touched the puck, mainly to the belief that the player credited with the goal had his/her shot deflected. Occasionally, it is also credited to the closest player to the goal from the other team. On six occasions in the National Hockey League, players have shot the puck into their own empty net, either late in the game or because of a delayed penalty call, resulting in one of the two ways in which a goalie is credited with a goal. This was the situation which resulted in Billy Smith of the New York Islanders as the first netminder receiving credit with a NHL goal scored.

Basketball

When accidentally scoring at an opposing team's basket (basketball's equivalent of an "own goal"), the goal is credited to an attacking player. In NBA and NCAA rules, the goal is credited to the player on the scoring team who is closest to the rim; under FIBA rules, the player designated captain is credited with the basket.

Gridiron football

A touchdown (major) is scored if the ball goes in the end zone and the attacking team has control of it (i.e., run in or successfully caught). Simply kicking or tossing the ball into the end zone scores nothing.

The result may be a safety when a ball-carrier is tackled or exits the field of play within the end zone being defended by his team. The opposing team is awarded two points, and receives the ball after a free kick taken at the twenty-yard line. The ball may be taken into the end zone during a play. In some cases it can be a touchback (in American football); in some cases it can be a single (in Canadian football).

Australian rules football

As a legitimate defensive play, an Australian football defender may concede an "own score." Such a score, referred to as a rushed behind and statistically credited to no player (scoresheets will simply include the tally of rushed behinds), results in the opposition team earning one point.

A defending player will choose to concede a rushed behind when the risk of the opposition scoring a goal (worth six points) is high. The team which concedes the rushed behind then retains possession of the ball, kicking in as normal.

It is impossible for a team to concede an "own goal" worth six points. In this way, Australian football separates itself from the other codes in this page, as teams may only score goals from their own efforts in attack, rather than benefiting from an opponent's blunder.

Many football observers dislike the practice of deliberate rushed behinds. The two main issues are that: defenders are given too easy an option of alleviating pressure in defence, and; the defending team is then given control of the ball via the kick-in. The idea of a rushed behind registering three points (awarded on the scoreboard as three behinds) instead of just one has been trialled in the NAB Cup. It has also been proposed, but not trialled, that a deliberate rushed behind be followed by neutral contest (in the form of a ball-up) near the goal. Neither has yet been proposed for regular season play.

Notable own goals

Several notable instances in sports where players scored on their own goal.

Association football

• Gary Sprake, goalkeeper for Leeds United scored on own goal in a 1967 2-0 defeat to Liverpool whilst attempting to throw the ball to a defender.
• Lee Dixon, defender for Arsenal, scored on own goal in 1991 2-1 defeat to Coventry by lobbing goalkeeper David Seaman whilst attempting to pass the ball to him.
• Staf Van Den Buys scored three own goals in one match.
• Nicola Caricola, whose own goal started the Curse of Caricola for the MetroStars of Major League Soccer.
• Andrés Escobar, a Colombian defender was murdered after he scored own goal in the 1994 World Cup that resulted in his team's elimination. The murder is often blamed on the goal.
• Tom Boyd of Scotland scored an own goal which turned out to be the winner for Brazil — in the opening game of the 1998 World Cup when the ball ricocheted off goalkeeper Jim Leighton and hit Boyd as he was moving towards it.
• Jonathan Woodgate in his first game for Real Madrid after his recovery from injury: he later received a red card. He then went on to score another own goal a friendly against Real Zaragoza
• Frank Sinclair, who scored two own goals in three games in 1999 whilst playing for Leicester City, and later scored an infamous own goal in a game against Middlesbrough.
• Andoni Zubizarreta, the Spanish goalkeeper scored an own goal during Spain's 1998 World Cup defeat to Nigeria by deflecting a cross into his own net. Although the goal was officially creditted by FIFA to Nigerian player Garba Lawal who crossed the ball, it is still considered to be an own goal. Spain exited the cup in the first round and Zubizarreta retired shortly afterward.
• Graham Alexander, Preston defender scored an own goal in 2002, when goalkeeper Tepi Moilanen allowed his pass to slip under his foot in a crucial league game against Norwich City. Tepi Moilanen had also previously scored an own goal himself while playing for Finland in a 1998 world cup qualfying match against Hungary after a Finnish defender hit a goal line clearance against him.
• Djimi Traoré, a defender who attempted to perform a backheel when playing for Liverpool against Burnley in an FA Cup tie, but ended up sliding the ball in his own net, costing Liverpool the tie.
• Samuel Wynne of Oldham Athletic, who scored two goals each way in a 3-2 victory over Manchester United on October 6, 1923.
• Chris Nicholl scored all four goals in a 2-2 draw between Aston Villa and Leicester on the 20th of March 1976.
• Jamie Carragher, Liverpool defender scored two own goals in a 2-3 home defeat against Manchester United on 11 September 1999
• Brian Gayle, the captain of Sheffield United headed an own goal in a match against rivals Leeds in 1992, helping Leeds win the First Division championship.
• Gary Mabbutt scored an own goal in extra time in the 1987 FA Cup final, which give Coventry City the title. A "fanzine" in Coventry is called Gary Mabbutt's Knee due to the incident.
• Des Walker scored an own goal, also in extra time, during the 1991 FA Cup final to give Tottenham a 2-1 win.
• Gary Neville while playing for England in a Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia passed the ball back to the goalkeeper, Paul Robinson, who missed the ball and so it trickled into England's net.
• In a 2002 match in Madagascar's THB Champions League, AS Adema defeated SOE Antananarivo 149-0 when SOE scored 149 own goals in protest of a referee decision in the previous game.
• In a June 10, 2006 game between England and Paraguay at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, a David Beckham free kick grazed the head of Carlos Gamarra and it went in the back of the net. FIFA officials initially declared the goal an own goal on Gamarra, but the Technical Studies Group of FIFA reviewed the goal. The goal remained credited to Gamarra despite the Group's declaration that any shot destined to reach the goal area that accidentally bounces off a defending player into their own goal would be awarded to the player who delivered the shot.
• In the 1994 Caribbean Cup Preliminary Round, Barbados deliberately scored on their own goal in a successful attempt to advance to the Final Stage by forcing overtime against Grenada. Needing a two goal victory to advance, Barbados found themselves up 2-1 with 3 minutes left in regulation time. An unusual tournament rule awarded a two goal victory to a team that won in overtime.[1]
• In a UEFA Euro 2008 Qualifying match against Iceland, Northern Ireland's Keith Gillespie scored an own goal in the last minute of injury time in the second half which consigned Northern Ireland to a 2-1 defeat. After the game Gillespie and team-mate George McCartney were involved in a fight over the incident which led to both being investigated by the Irish FA.
• On November 3, 2007, in a Scottish First Division match between Queen of the South and Hamilton Academical, Hamilton scored two own goals in the space of two second half minutes. Hamilton had been leading 1-0 and went on to lose the match 2-1.
• Yuri Kovtun scored an own goal in the 90th minute of a Euro 2000 qualifying match between Russia and Iceland in Reykjavík, giving Iceland a 1-0 win.
• John Arne Riise scored an own goal on the 22nd April 2008 in the Champions League Semi Final, 1st Leg. This was scored in the 95th minute, and gave Chelsea a precious away goal and 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield. Chelsea later went on to win the home leg 3-2, and progress through to the Champions League final.
• Peter Enckelman, goalkeeper for Aston Villa scored an own goal during a Birmingham Derby in 2002 after miskicking a throw from Olof Mellberg.
• Chris Brass, whilst playing for Bury on 22nd April 2006 attempted an overhead kick but smashed the ball into his own face and past his own goalkeeper, he also received a broken nose.

Ice hockey

• Goaltender Marc-André Fleury of the Pittsburgh Penguins had a shot from Henrik Zetterberg of the Detroit Red Wings go between his legs and stop short of the goal in the third period of Game 6 of the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals. Believing the puck was loose behind him (which it was), he fell backward to cover the puck, and accidentally pushed it into the goal, giving the Red Wings what turned out to be the game and Stanley cup winning goal making it the second year in a row that the cup winning goal was an own goal scored by a goalkeeper.[2]
• On June 6, 2007, during Game 5 of the 2007 Stanley Cup Final against the Anaheim Ducks, Chris Phillips, defensemen for the Ottawa Senators, tossed the puck into the skates of Senators' goaltender Ray Emery and was deflected into the net in the second period. The goal made it a 3-1 lead for the Ducks and would stand up as the Stanley Cup championship clinching goal for the Ducks. Travis Moen was credited as the goal scorer, the game and Cup winner despite having left the ice shortly before the goal was scored.
• Sergei Gonchar, another NHL defenseman who not only deflected his own unpressured outlet pass off the back of Olaf Kolzig's skate on November 14, 2003 while a member of the Washington Capitals, but redirected an opposition player's cross-ice pass five-hole on Marc-Andre Fleury on November 13, 2006, almost three years to the day, as a Pittsburgh Penguin.
• Defenseman Marc Bergevin of the St. Louis Blues grabbed the puck, and accidentally threw it into his own net, during the 2000 Stanley Cup Playoffs. This tied Game 2 at 1-1, and the Blues went on to lose the game to the San Jose Sharks 4-2. Ultimately, the Sharks upset the Presidents' Trophy-winning Blues by taking the series 4-3. [3]
• Detroit Red Wings' Paul Coffey accidentally swiped the puck into the Wings' own net during Game 1 of the 1996 Western Conference Finals against the Colorado Avalanche. The goal proved costly as it forced the Wings to tie the game late to force overtime, where they would eventually lose. Colorado went on to win the series 4-2.
• Steve Smith, NHL defenceman who accidentally scored on his own team, the Edmonton Oilers in the 1986 NHL Divisional Finals. In the third period of the seventh and deciding game against the rival Calgary Flames, with the score tied 2-2, he made a pass from behind his own net that hit goaltender Grant Fuhr and bounced into the net. The goal, credited to Calgary forward Perry Berezan, stood up as the game winner and eliminated the Oilers from playoff contention and possibility of a three-peat.

Basketball

• Trailing by three in a 1971 National Basketball Association game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Cleveland Cavaliers player John Warren went on a fast break and dunked the ball in Portland's net. Instead of being down only one, they were now down by 5, and would go on to lose the game.

Floorball

• During the 2007-08 Men's EuroFloorball Cup Finals, the 5^th place match featured 3 own goals. Finnish team SSV Helsinki would score 2 own goals during regulation time, but would still go on to win the match as their opponents, Swiss team SV Wiler-Ersigen would score an own goal 15 seconds into sudden victory overtime.