List of winners
- Source [4]
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. [1]
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.
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 [2] 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. [3] 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.
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 | Wayne Rooney |  England | 2004–05, 2006–07, 2010–11 |
| 2 | John Aldridge |  Ireland | 1987–88, 1988–89 |
| Dennis Bergkamp |  Netherlands | 1997–98, 2001–02 | |
| Jack Wilshere | England | 2013–14, 2014–15 |
| Country | Players | Total |
|---|---|---|
| England | 24 | 28 |
| Ireland | 2 | 3 |
| Netherlands | 2 | 3 |
 Scotland | 3 | 3 |
 Germany | 2 | 2 |
 Wales | 2 | 2 |
 Argentina | 2 | 2 |
 Belgium | 1 | 1 |
 Egypt | 1 | 1 |
 France | 1 | 1 |
 Ghana | 1 | 1 |
 Honduras | 1 | 1 |
 Italy | 1 | 1 |
 Paraguay | 1 | 1 |
 Senegal | 1 | 1 |
 South Africa | 1 | 1 |
 South Korea | 1 | 1 |
 Togo | 1 | 1 |
| Club | Players | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Liverpool | 7 | 8 |
| Arsenal | 4 | 6 |
| Manchester United | 4 | 6 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 4 | 4 |
| Aston Villa | 2 | 2 |
| Coventry City | 2 | 2 |
| Leeds United | 2 | 2 |
| Queens Park Rangers | 2 | 2 |
| Southampton | 2 | 2 |
| Blackpool | 1 | 1 |
| Brighton & Hove Albion | 1 | 1 |
| Charlton Athletic | 1 | 1 |
| Chelsea | 1 | 1 |
| Crystal Palace | 1 | 1 |
| England | 1 | 1 |
| Everton | 1 | 1 |
| Fulham | 1 | 1 |
| Hereford United | 1 | 1 |
| Leicester City | 1 | 1 |
| Manchester City | 1 | 1 |
| Newcastle United | 1 | 1 |
| Norwich City | 1 | 1 |
| Nottingham Forest | 1 | 1 |
| Portsmouth | 1 | 1 |
| Scotland | 1 | 1 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 1 | 1 |
| West Ham United | 1 | 1 |
| Wigan Athletic | 1 | 1 |
| Wrexham | 1 | 1 |
| Competition | Players | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Premier League | 25 | 28 |
| FA Cup | 14 | 15 |
| First Division | 8 | 8 |
| Euro qualifiers | 1 | 1 |
| Friendly | 1 | 1 |
| Second Division | 1 | 1 |
| Commentator | Total |
|---|---|
| John Motson | 16 |
| Barry Davies | 7 |
| Steve Wilson | 6 |
| Tony Gubba | 4 |
| Guy Mowbray | 4 |
| Clive Tyldesley | 4 |
| Simon Brotherton | 2 |
| Jon Champion | 2 |
| David Coleman | 2 |
| Steve Bower | 1 |
| Martin Fisher | 1 |
| Alan Green | 1 |
| Alan Parry | 1 |
| Jonathan Pearce | 1 |
| John Roder | 1 |
| Gerald Sinstadt | 1 |
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. [47] 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 [48] who also thought Stoke's Adam should have won, and a "concerted campaign by Arsenal fans" by Alan Pattullo of The Scotsman , [49] 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. [50]
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. [51]
The 2002–03 FA Premier League was the 11th season of the Premier League, the top division in English football. The first matches were played on 17 August 2002 and the last were played on 11 May 2003.
Ian Edward Wright is an English television and radio personality and former professional footballer.
Match of the Day is a football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights, during the Premier League season. The show's current presenter is former England international striker Gary Lineker, with regular analysis from fellow former players Alan Shearer and Ian Wright, and occasional relief analysts such as Micah Richards, Danny Murphy, Martin Keown, and Dion Dublin.
John Walker Motson was an English football commentator. Beginning as a television commentator with the BBC in 1971, he commentated on over 2000 games on television and radio. From the late 1970s to 2008, Motson was the dominant football commentary figure at the BBC, apart from a brief spell in the mid-1990s.
Theo James Walcott is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. He represented England at the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2012 and won 47 caps, scoring eight goals.
Jonathan Martin Champion is a British sports commentator currently working as an association football commentator for ESPN and NBC Sports. Champion is a well-established and experienced commentator who has also worked for the BBC and ITV over the last 20 years. Champion currently covers the FA Cup for ESPN, the Premier League for NBC Sports, and the 2024 national USA women's soccer team at the Olympics for USA/Peacock, sharing commentating duties with prior Olympic gold medalist Julie Foudy.
Clive Tyldesley is an English television sports broadcaster. He was ITV's senior football commentator from 1998 until 2020. In that role, he led the ITV commentary team at five World Cups and five European Championships and was lead commentator on seventeen UEFA Champions League finals and nine FA Cup finals for ITV.
Alexandra Virina Scott is an English sports presenter, pundit, and former professional footballer who mostly played as a right-back for Arsenal in the FA WSL. She made 140 appearances for the England national team and represented Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
The 2005 FA Cup final was a football match played between Arsenal and Manchester United on 21 May 2005 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was the final match of the 2004–05 FA Cup, the 124th season of English football's primary cup competition, the FA Cup. Arsenal became the first team to win the FA Cup via a penalty shoot-out, despite being outplayed throughout the game, after neither side managed to score in the initial 90 minutes or in 30 minutes of extra time. The shoot-out finished 5–4 to Arsenal, with Patrick Vieira scoring the winning penalty after Paul Scholes' shot was saved by Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.
The Goal of the Month is a monthly segment on BBC's Match of the Day television programme, in honour of the best goal scored each month. The segment has been featured on the programme since the 1970–71 season. Typically, a selection of eight or ten goals from the month are shown before the Goal of the Month is decided. Until the 2006–07 season, viewers were given the chance to win a prize by selecting the correct winner and the winner would be decided by a vote firstly by post then by text and phone votes. For the majority of the 2007–08 season, the BBC did not allow any competitions due to a money-for-competitions-entry scandal, but towards the end of the season and for the goal of the season competition, normal service was resumed. When Match of the Day moved to Match of the Day 2 when Colin Murray presented the winner was decided by the subjective opinion of one of the pundits, such as Alan Hansen, Mark Lawrenson or Alan Shearer. From October 2013, BBC Match of the Day 2 viewers have picked the Goal of the Month in a poll conducted by voting on the BBC Sport website or sending the hashtag of the viewers favourite goal via Twitter.
The 1998 FA Cup final was a football match between Arsenal and Newcastle United on 16 May 1998 at the old Wembley Stadium, London. It was the final match of the 1997–98 FA Cup, the 117th season of the world's oldest football knockout competition, the FA Cup. Six-time winners Arsenal were appearing in their thirteenth final, whereas Newcastle United, having also won the competition six times, appeared in their eleventh final. It was the third time both teams faced each other in a FA Cup final; Newcastle won the previous two encounters in 1932 and 1952.
The 2008–09 FA Cup was the 128th season of the world's oldest football knockout competition; the FA Cup. A record 762 clubs were accepted for the competition; one club, South Normanton Athletic, folded before the fixtures were released, leaving 761 clubs to appear in the draw. Two more clubs, Brierley Hill & Withymoor and Stapenhill, folded after the draws for the early rounds were made, giving their opponents a walkover.
Jack Andrew Garry Wilshere is an English football coach and former professional player who played as a midfielder. He is the head coach of the Arsenal under-18 team.
The 1970–71 FA Cup was the 90th season of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup. First Division champions Arsenal won the competition for the fourth time, beating Liverpool 2–1 in the at Wembley. In doing so, Arsenal were the fourth team to complete a double of League and Cup victories, following Preston North End, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.
Alexander Mark David Oxlade-Chamberlain is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Süper Lig club Beşiktaş. He earned 35 caps for the England national team between 2012 and 2019.
Ross Barkley is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Aston Villa.
The 2013–14 season was Arsenal Football Club's 22nd season in the Premier League and 88th consecutive season in the top flight of English football. Arsenal participated in the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and the UEFA Champions League, after finishing fourth in the previous Premier League season. Despite an opening day 1–3 league defeat at home to Aston Villa, which exacerbated underlying anger at the club's inactivity in the transfer market, Arsenal's league campaign got off to a strong start. Early pace-setters in the title race, Arsenal led the table for much of the season, spending more time on top of the league than any other side. However, a combination of injuries to key players and heavy defeats away from home against other title challengers saw the Gunners' title ambitions evaporate by late March. Nonetheless, Arsenal achieved success in the FA Cup with a dramatic 3–2 win over Hull City in the 2014 Final, ending a nine-year trophy drought.
The 2014 FA Cup final was an association football match between Premier League clubs Arsenal and Hull City at Wembley Stadium in London, England, on 17 May 2014. It was the 133rd FA Cup final overall and the showpiece match of English football's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, organised by the Football Association (FA). Hull made their first appearance in an FA Cup Final, while Arsenal equalled Manchester United's record of 18 final appearances.
The 2014–15 season was Arsenal's 23rd season in the Premier League and 89th consecutive season in the top flight of English football. The club participated in the Premier League, FA Cup, Football League Cup, FA Community Shield and the UEFA Champions League. Arsenal finished third in the Premier League and won both the FA Community Shield and the FA Cup.
The 2015 FA Cup final was an association football match played between Arsenal and Aston Villa at Wembley Stadium, London, on 30 May 2015. Organised by the Football Association (FA), it was the 134th final of the Football Association Challenge Cup, the world's oldest football cup competition. En route to the final, Arsenal defeated Hull City, Brighton & Hove Albion, Middlesbrough, Manchester United and Reading. Aston Villa secured victories over Blackpool, Bournemouth, Leicester City, West Bromwich Albion and Liverpool in the rounds before the final.
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)