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?
Extract — continue reading at the source.
