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BBC Goal of the Season

English football accolade awarded by the BBC

Note

an English football award

In English football, the Goal of the Season is an annual competition and award given on BBC's Match of the Day, in honour of the most spectacular goal scored that season. It is typically contested between the winners of the preceding ten Goals of the Month, although the goal can and has come from any game in the regular season, including international qualifiers and friendlies—potentially from the opening league games of the season to the end of the European season UEFA Champions League final. In several instances, the goal has come in the final game of the domestic season, the FA Cup final, the most recent example of which is Steven Gerrard's last-minute goal in 2006. However, in 1980–81, for example, the superb goal scored by Ricky Villa in the FA Cup final replay for Tottenham Hotspur against Manchester City could not be considered as voting had already taken place.

In general, the winning goal has occurred for an English side within the domestic English league or cups, although there are no particular rules; Kenny Dalglish's goal in 1982–83 for Scotland being an exception. The goal usually comes from competitions to which the BBC holds television rights and which are shown under the Match of the Day banner; at present Premier League highlights and FA Cup live matches and highlights, although some have come from the equivalent Sportscene broadcast by BBC Scotland. Due to the lack of BBC European club football coverage, held predominantly by ITV, Sky and BT Sport, no goal of the season has ever been scored in European club competition despite many contenders.

Due to a transfer of broadcast rights, the entries for the 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2003–04 seasons were decided on ITV's The Premiership, which have been subsequently recognised by the BBC. When the BBC previously could not show league footage from 1988–89 to 1991–92, the winning goal in each season was scored in the FA Cup which they held the rights to. League rights holder ITV had its own competition during these seasons for Goal of the Season, broadcast on the Saint and Greavsie show. Previously the channels had shared league and cup rights (showing different matches to each other) and for many years ITV broadcast its own Golden Goals competition as an equivalent of Goal of the Season. From 2013–14 season onwards, the Goal of the Season has been chosen by a Twitter poll and the BBC Sport website. The public vote creates a shortlist of three and the studio pundits of the final show of the season pick the winner.

Jack Wilshere is the first player to win Goal of the Season in consecutive seasons (2013–14 and 2014–15) since the start of the Premier League and is only the second player overall to have achieved this after John Aldridge, who won the award in both 1987–88 and 1988–89 (which pre-dated the Premier League era) seasons. Wayne Rooney is the only player to achieve this accolade for two different competitions (FA Cup and Premier League), as well as the only player to receive the award three times. The 1987–88 competition was unique in that all 10 goals shortlisted were scored by Liverpool players. To date, this is the only occasion where the contenders were made up entirely of goals scored by players for one club.

For several years in the late 2000s, the winner was not subject to public vote due to the 2007 phone-in scandals. The winning goal was instead decided by pundits in the studio.

List of winners

:Source

Season	Nationality	For	Against	Stadium	Competition	Commentator	Notes	1970–71	1971–72	1972–73	1973–74	1974–75	1975–76
	Coventry City	Everton	Highfield Road	First Division	3 October 1970
	Hereford United	Newcastle United	Edgar Street	FA Cup	5 February 1972
	Chelsea	Arsenal	Stamford Bridge	FA Cup	17 March 1973
	Fulham	Leicester City	Craven Cottage	FA Cup	26 January 1974
	Blackpool	Sunderland	Bloomfield Road	Second Division	1 February 1975
	Queens Park Rangers	Liverpool	Loftus Road	First Division	16 August 1975	url=http://www.qpr.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10373~1929726,00.html	title=Vote for your greatest QPR goal!	date=31 March 2010	access-date=16 December 2011	publisher=Queens Park Rangers}}
	Liverpool	Everton	Maine Road	FA Cup	23 April 1977
	Nottingham Forest	Arsenal	City Ground	First Division	21 January 1978
	Liverpool	Derby County	Baseball Ground	First Division	24 February 1979
	Norwich City	Liverpool	Carrow Road	First Division	9 February 1980
	Aston Villa	Everton	Goodison Park	First Division	7 February 1981
	West Bromwich Albion	Norwich City	The Hawthorns	FA Cup	13 February 1982
	Scotland	Belgium	Heysel Stadium, Brussels	Euro 1984 qualifying	15 December 1982	url = https://www.theguardian.com/football/that-1980s-sports-blog/2014/sep/09/goals-season-1980s-liverpool-fashanu-everton	work = The Guardian	access-date = 28 December 2020	date = 9 September 2014	title = The 10 goals of the season in the 1980s	first = Steven	last = Pye}}
	Southampton	Liverpool	The Dell	First Division	16 March 1984
	Everton	Liverpool	Anfield	First Division	20 October 1984
	England	Israel	Tel Aviv	Friendly	26 February 1986
	Coventry City	Tottenham Hotspur	Wembley Stadium	FA Cup	16 May 1987	url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/may/20/golden-goal-keith-houchen-for-coventry-city-v-tottenham-1987	title= Golden goal: Keith Houchen for Coventry City v Tottenham (1987)	date=20 May 2016	work=Guardian	accessdate= 10 March 2021}}
	Liverpool	Nottingham Forest	Hillsborough	FA Cup	9 April 1988
	Liverpool	Everton	Wembley Stadium	FA Cup	20 May 1989
	Crystal Palace	Manchester United	Wembley Stadium	FA Cup	12 May 1990
	Tottenham Hotspur	Arsenal	Wembley Stadium	FA Cup	14 April 1991
	Wrexham	Arsenal	Racecourse Ground	FA Cup	4 January 1992
	Aston Villa	Wimbledon	Selhurst Park	Premier League	3 October 1992	url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2006/12/11/was-it-too-early-to-be-goal-of-the-season-115875-18242812/	title=Was it too early to be Goal of the Season?	date=5 December 2011	access-date=11 December 2006	work=Daily Mirror}}
	Leeds United	Tottenham Hotspur	Elland Road	Premier League	17 April 1994
	Southampton	Blackburn Rovers	Ewood Park	Premier League	10 December 1994	{{cite news	url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/matthew-le-tissier-you-will-not-be-surprised-to-hear-is-a-useful-golfer-and-he-is-getting-plenty-of-practice-just-now-1585785.html	title=Matthew Le Tissier, you will not be surprised to hear, is a useful golfer. And he is getting plenty of practice just now	access-date=16 December 2011	work=The Independent	last=White	first=Jim	location=London}}
	Leeds United	Wimbledon	Selhurst Park	Premier League	23 September 1995
	Queens Park Rangers	Barnsley	Loftus Road	FA Cup	25 January 1997
	Arsenal	Leicester City	Filbert Street	Premier League	27 August 1997	url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/sports_talk/1060082.stm	title=Ask Albert – Number 8	date=7 December 2011	access-date=16 December 2011	publisher=BBC Sport }}
	Manchester United	Arsenal	Villa Park	FA Cup	14 April 1999
	West Ham United	Wimbledon	Upton Park	Premier League	26 March 2000
	Charlton Athletic	Leicester City	The Valley	Premier League	1 April 2001
	Arsenal	Newcastle United	St James' Park	Premier League	2 March 2002
	Arsenal	Tottenham Hotspur	Highbury	Premier League	16 November 2002
	Liverpool	Portsmouth	Anfield	Premier League	17 March 2004
	Manchester United	Middlesbrough	Old Trafford	FA Cup	29 January 2005
	Liverpool	West Ham United	Millennium Stadium	FA Cup	13 May 2006
	Manchester United	Bolton Wanderers	Old Trafford	Premier League	17 March 2007
	Arsenal	Tottenham Hotspur	White Hart Lane	Premier League	15 September 2007
	Portsmouth	Hull City	Fratton Park	Premier League	22 November 2008
	Wigan Athletic	Stoke City	Britannia Stadium	Premier League	12 December 2009
	Manchester United	Manchester City	Old Trafford	Premier League	12 February 2011
	Newcastle United	Chelsea	Stamford Bridge	Premier League	2 May 2012
	Manchester United	Aston Villa	Old Trafford	Premier League	22 April 2013
	Arsenal	Norwich City	Emirates Stadium	Premier League	19 October 2013
	Arsenal	West Bromwich Albion	Emirates Stadium	Premier League	24 May 2015
	Tottenham Hotspur	Crystal Palace	Selhurst Park	Premier League	23 January 2016
	Liverpool	Watford	Vicarage Road	Premier League	1 May 2017
	Leicester City	West Bromwich Albion	The Hawthorns	Premier League	10 March 2018
	Manchester City	Leicester City	Etihad Stadium	Premier League	6 May 2019
Son Heung-min	Tottenham Hotspur	Burnley	Tottenham Hotspur Stadium	Premier League	7 December 2019
Erik Lamela	Tottenham Hotspur	Arsenal	Emirates Stadium	Premier League	14 March 2021
Mohamed Salah	Liverpool	Manchester City	Anfield	Premier League	3 October 2021
Julio Enciso	Brighton & Hove Albion	Manchester City	Falmer Stadium	Premier League	24 May 2023
Alejandro Garnacho	Manchester United	Everton	Goodison Park	Premier League	26 November 2023
Kaoru Mitoma	Brighton & Hove Albion	Chelsea	Falmer Stadium	Premier League	14 February 2025

Multiple awards won by player

The following table lists the number of wins by players who have at least two goals named as BBC Goal of the Season.

Awards	Player	Country	Seasons	3	2
	England	2004–05, 2006–07, 2010–11
	Ireland	1987–88, 1988–89
	Netherlands	1997–98, 2001–02
	England	2013–14, 2014–15

Awards won by nationality

Country	Players	Total	England	Ireland	Netherlands	Scotland	Germany	Wales	Argentina	Belgium	Egypt	France	Ghana	Honduras	Italy	Japan	Paraguay	Senegal	South Africa	South Korea	Togo
24	28
2	3
2	3
3	3
2	2
2	2
2	2
1	1
1	1
1	1
1	1
1	1
1	1
1	1
1	1
1	1
1	1
1	1
1	1

Awards won by club

Club	Players	Total	Liverpool	Arsenal	Manchester United	Tottenham Hotspur	Aston Villa	Brighton & Hove Albion	Coventry City	Leeds United	Queens Park Rangers	Southampton	Blackpool	Charlton Athletic	Chelsea	Crystal Palace	England	Everton	Fulham	Hereford United	Leicester City	Manchester City	Newcastle United	Norwich City	Nottingham Forest	Portsmouth	Scotland	West Bromwich Albion	West Ham United	Wigan Athletic	Wrexham

Awards won by competition

Competition	Players	Total	Premier League	FA Cup	First Division	Euro qualifiers	Friendly	Second Division

Most Goals of the Season by commentator

Commentator	Total	John Motson	Barry Davies	Steve Wilson	Tony Gubba	Guy Mowbray	Clive Tyldesley	Simon Brotherton	Jon Champion	David Coleman	Steve Bower	Martin Fisher	Alan Green	Alan Parry	Jonathan Pearce	John Roder	Gerald Sinstadt

2014–15 Goal of the Season controversy

On 24 May 2015, the final day of the 2014–15 season, Match of the Day held an online vote at around 11 pm GMT for the Goal of the Season award. Users were able to vote via the BBC website or Twitter. The poll was quickly skewed by Arsenal supporters, many from the Far East, resulting in Jack Wilshere winning the award for his final day strike against West Bromwich Albion, despite not being the favourite. Host Gary Lineker expressed surprise as he read out the winner, and pundit Alan Shearer suggested that Charlie Adam should have won the award for his 66-yard effort against Chelsea, while fellow pundit Danny Murphy felt former Fulham teammate Bobby Zamora should have won.

The incident was labelled a "shambles" by Pete Smith of The Stoke Sentinel who also thought Stoke's Adam should have won, and a "concerted campaign by Arsenal fans" by Alan Pattullo of The Scotsman, who also felt the Scottish midfielder was deserving of the award. Mark Brus, of Caught Offside, also criticized the choice arguing that a goal in a meaningless game should not have won Goal of the Season and that Juan Mata's acrobatic effort against Liverpool was worthy of the award.

The following season, before the final episode of that season's Match of the Day, the programme's producers changed the rules to prevent a similar situation. The Goal of the Season award has since been decided by the pundits on the show, who will choose the winner based on the top three goals voted for by the public.

References

Match of the Day: 25 Years of Goal of the Season video (1995, voiced by John Motson)
"MOTD Live Poll". BBC Sport.
cestrian81. (17 October 2011). "Goal of the Season contenders (1987–88)".
"BBC Goal of the Season from 1970–71 to Present".
Murray, Scott. (28 January 2011). "The Joy of Six: Training-ground set-piece goals". The Guardian.
Motson (2005), p. 19.
(17 April 2009). "Top five thunderbolt strikes of all time". The Telegraph.
Bradford (2006), p. 480.
(31 March 2010). "Vote for your greatest QPR goal!". Queens Park Rangers.
Motson (2010), p. 91.
Clough (2009), p. 231.
(5 July 2011). "Villa's Fab 50 top player countdown: 21 Tony Morley". Aston Villa.
Lepkowski, Chris. (15 January 2008). "Albion legends – Cyrille Regis". [[Birmingham Mail]].
(15 January 2011). "Cyrille Regis: An Iconic Footballer Tells His Story". Cross Rhythms.
Pye, Steven. (9 September 2014). "The 10 goals of the season in the 1980s". [[The Guardian]].
Smyth, Rob. (14 April 2011). "FA Cup semi crackers, great cricket spats and the best BMX stunt ever". The Guardian.
Macdonald, Neil. (27 September 2011). "Mersey Derby Memories: Graeme Sharp's screamer gives Everton FC Anfield victory in 1984". [[Liverpool Echo]].
(20 May 2016). "Golden goal: Keith Houchen for Coventry City v Tottenham (1987)". Guardian.
Auclair (2009), p. 203.
(5 December 2011). "Was it too early to be Goal of the Season?". [[Daily Mirror]].
Edwards (2011), p. 45.
Le Tisser (2009), p. 117.
(7 December 2011). "Ask Albert – Number 8". BBC Sport.
(20 May 2011). "Swindon Town confirm Paolo di Canio as new manager". BBC Sport.
(15 May 2001). "Bartlett wins Goal of the Season". BBC Sport.
(30 March 2010). "Champions League Special: Thierry Henry's Top 10 Greatest Moments For Arsenal". Goal.com.
(14 October 2012). "Goal of the Season 2003/04 Premiership ITV Goal 8".
(31 May 2005). "Goal of the season". BBC Sport.
(31 May 2006). "Goal of the season". BBC Sport.
(6 June 2007). "Goal of the season". BBC Sport.
(5 June 2008). "Goal of the season". BBC Sport.
(9 June 2009). "Goal of the season". BBC Sport.
(29 September 2010). "Fig gets goal gong". Wigan Today.
(5 December 2011). "Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney and Neymar shortlisted for Fifa Puskas Award for goal of the year". The Telegraph.
(14 May 2012). "Alan Hansen and Alan Shearer choose Papiss Cisse's goal for Newcastle against Chelsea as @BBCMOTD's goal of the season".
(28 May 2014). "Wilshere goal voted best of 2013/14 Barclays Premier League season". Premier League.
(16 May 2016). "Dele wins Match of the Day's Goal of the Season". Tottenham Hotspur.
Walker, Ed. (22 May 2017). "Liverpool's Emre Can wonder goal against Watford is officially THE Goal of the Season".
(14 May 2018). "Jamie Vardy wins Match of the Day's goal of the season – how fans reacted".
"Match of the Day on Twitter". BBC.
(27 July 2020). "Match Of The Day Name The Premier League Goal Of The Season". Sportbible.
"Match of the Day on Twitter". BBC.
(22 May 2022). "Match of the Day, plus vote for goal of the season". BBC Sport.
"Match of the Day on Twitter". BBC.
(19 May 2024). "💥 The winner is ALEJANDRO GARNACHO 🤩 His spectacular overhead kick against Everton is the 2023-24 Goal of the Season 👏 #MOTD".
(26 May 2025). "Congratulations, Kaoru Mitoma! 🙌 His strike against Chelsea is awarded the 2024-25 goal of the season 🏆⚽ 👏 #MOTD".
Simon Rice. (25 May 2015). "Jack Wilshere wins Match of the Day Goal of the Season award after Arsenal fans hijack vote". The Independent.
Pete Smith. (26 May 2015). "Stoke City: Charlie Adam denied goal of the season by Arsenal fans in MOTD shambles". The Stoke Sentinel.
Alan Pattulo. (26 May 2015). "Arsenal fans rob Charlie Adam of goal of the season". The Scotsman.
Mark Brus. (25 May 2015). "Wilshere goal of the season: Meaningless Arsenal goal should not have won ahead of this Manchester United". Caught Offside.
Sean Kearns. (14 May 2016). "Match of the Day change rules on goal of the season award to stop Arsenal fans from hijacking vote". Metro.

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