Ireland v Scotland in the British Home Championship 1892 An early ghost goal decided a
British Home Championship match between
Ireland and
Scotland in 1892. Goal nets were in use, precisely to aid the judgement of when a goal had been scored, but were still an experimental innovation, and confusion was caused when a Scotland shot went wide of the post, but the ball came to rest against the net and an Irish defender brought it inside the goal area to restart play. The referee, who had a poor view of the shot itself, assumed a goal had been scored and duly awarded what turned out to be the winner in a 3–2 result. The referee required protection from the angry supporters at full time.
1966 FIFA World Cup Final In the
1966 FIFA World Cup final played in London's original
Wembley Stadium between
England and
West Germany, 11 minutes of extra-time had elapsed and the score was level at 2–2.
Alan Ball put in a cross to England striker
Geoff Hurst, who swivelled and shot from close range. The ball hit the underside of the crossbar bouncing down towards the line and bounced off the ground before being cleared away by West Germany's defenders. The England players celebrated a goal, but referee
Gottfried Dienst was uncertain if they had indeed scored. He consulted his
assistant,
Tofiq Bahramov; after a brief conversation in broken English, the Swiss referee awarded the goal to the home team. The crowd and the audience of 400 million television viewers were left unsure whether the ball had crossed the line and whether the goal should have been given or not. England went on to win the match 4–2 and secure their first FIFA World Cup and only trophy so far.
Goals in association football are awarded when "the whole of the ball passes over the goal line". German players claimed to have seen chalk dust, which would indicate it was not a goal and that the ball had merely bounced on the goal-line. Those who consider that the linesman made the correct decision cite the good position of the linesman and the statement of
Roger Hunt, the nearest England player to the ball, who claimed he saw the ball bounce over the line, and therefore wheeled away in celebration rather than attempting to tap the rebounding ball in. When Bahramov wrote his memoirs, he stated that he believed the ball had bounced back, not from the crossbar, but from the net, so the further movement of the ball was already insignificant, and not visible for him either so it did not matter where the ball hit the ground anyway. Referee Dienst did not see the scene. Commentators such as Robert Becker of
Kicker magazine accused the assistant of
bias because the German team had eliminated the Soviets in the semi-final. In England, Bahramov became known as "the Russian linesman", as Azerbaijan was part of the Soviet Union at the time. Bahramov also became famous in his home land: Azerbaijan's
national football stadium was named after him and a statue was built. When England played the
Azerbaijan national team in a
FIFA World Cup qualifier in October 2004—in the stadium named after Bahramov—many England fans travelling to the game asked to be shown the grave of the official, who had died in 1993, so that they could place flowers on it, and before the match a ceremony honouring him was attended by Hurst and other footballing celebrities. In Germany, it led to the creation of the expression
Wembley-Tor ("
Wembley goal"), a phrase used to describe any shot that hits the crossbar, bounces on the ground and spins back into the penalty area. A study conducted by the engineering department at
Oxford University concluded the ball did not cross the line entirely and that it was at least away from being a goal. There exists colour footage of Hurst's goal, taken from another angle by an amateur cameraman situated in the stands and having a view almost parallel to the English goal line. This film material appears to show that the ball did not cross the goal-line in full.
Brazil v Spain at the 1986 FIFA World Cup On 1 June 1986, at the 52nd minute of the
opening match of Group D of the
1986 FIFA World Cup, following a corner kick play repelled from the Brazilian penalty box,
Míchel took control of the ball and shot from just outside the box. The ball hit the crossbar, bounced past the goal line and back out. Referee
Chris Bambridge did not award the goal, despite protests from the Spanish players. Spain went on to lose the match 1–0.
Bulgaria v Romania at Euro 1996 On 13 June 1996, during the group stage match between
Bulgaria and Romania, the ball of
Dorinel Munteanu crossed the goal line by about one foot, after which it bounced back. Referee
Peter Mikkelsen did not notice and did not award the goal. As a consequence, Romania lost the match 1–0.
England v Germany at the 2010 FIFA World Cup On 27 June 2010,
England were playing Germany in the knockout round of the
2010 FIFA World Cup in Bloemfontein. In the 38th minute, 53 seconds after
Matthew Upson had scored for England,
Frank Lampard shot the ball and it hit the underside of the crossbar, resulting in it crossing the line into the goal but bouncing back into the field of play due to backspin (without hitting the net). Neither the referee nor his assistant were in a position to award the goal. Had the goal been given, England would have drawn level at 2–2. Germany, where this goal was given names like "Wembley goal reloaded", "inverted Wembley goal" or "revenge for Wembley", went on to win the game 4–1.
England v Ukraine at Euro 2012 On 19 June 2012, on the final match day of the group stage of
UEFA Euro 2012,
the match between England and Ukraine featured a ghost goal by Ukraine's
Marko Dević; with co-hosts Ukraine trailing 1–0, Dević's shot was hooked clear from behind the England goal-line by John Terry under the eyes of a fifth official standing beside the goal. However, Dević's teammate
Artem Milevskyi was offside in the build-up to the incident, which also went unnoticed by the match officials. Despite that, the incident caused significant embarrassment for UEFA and its president
Michel Platini, who had argued several days prior that the goal-line official system that was introduced at the tournament would obviate any need for a technological solution. The following day,
UEFA and its chief refereeing officer
Pierluigi Collina admitted an error had been made and that Ukraine had been denied a legitimate goal, and FIFA president
Sepp Blatter called the use of goal-line technology "a necessity".
Panama v Costa Rica in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier On 10 October 2017,
Panama hosted
Costa Rica in the final round of
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification.
Johan Venegas opened the scoring for Costa Rica, before
Gabriel Torres headed the ball against the goal line. The ball did not cross the line, but referee
Walter López awarded a goal for Panama to level the match. In the 88th minute,
Román Torres scored for Panama to win the match, eliminating the
United States and condemning
Honduras to the
CONCACAF-AFC play-off against
Australia. If Gabriel Torres' goal was not given, Panama would have failed to qualify for the tournament, with Honduras automatically qualifying and the United States advancing to the intercontinental play-off. American press outlets speculated that
U.S. Soccer would appeal against Panama's ghost goal to the
Court of Arbitration for Sport. However, Michael Kammarman, the federation's press officer, stated "As far as I know there is no recourse. Decisions of the referee are final". The controversy renewed calls for goal-line technology to be used in all FIFA World Cup qualifying matches rather than only the tournament itself. Panama would go on to finish in last place the following year in Russia.
Serbia v Portugal in 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier On 27 March 2021,
Portugal were playing
Serbia in a
FIFA World Cup qualifying match at the
Rajko Mitic Stadium. After 90 minutes and with the score tied at 2–2, Portugal's
Cristiano Ronaldo scored what appeared to be a winning goal in stoppage time; the ball rolled into the post and crossed the line just before being kicked away by Serbia captain
Dušan Tadić. Despite replays clearly showing the ball completely crossing the line, there was no
goal-line technology or
video assistant referee present in the match, and the referee did not award a goal, which infuriated Ronaldo and prompted him to take off his
captain's armband in anger. The match finished 2–2 and Serbia would eventually go on to finish top of Group A and qualify directly for the tournament by beating the same Portuguese team in
Lisbon, whilst Portugal had to go through the
March 2022 play-offs in order to seal their ticket to
Qatar.
Italy vs France in the 2023 Under-21 UEFA European Championship In the
2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship,
Italy were playing
France in the first game of the group. In the 92nd minute, with France leading 2–1, Italy's
Raoul Bellanova scored a header, which was blocked by a French defender clearly over the line. However, due to the absence of
Goal Line Technology, the goal was not awarded. Considering the results of subsequent matches, if the goal had been awarded (making the result 2–2), France would have won the group regardless, while Italy would have advanced to the knockout stage as runners-up, instead of finishing third and therefore knocked out.
Qatar vs India in 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier In the second round of
2026 FIFA World Cup qualification for Asian teams,
Qatar took on
India in the
Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, in the final game of Group A in June 2024. India required a win to qualify for the third round of World Cup qualification for the first time in the nation's history. India were leading 1–0 until the 73rd minute, when a header was saved by
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, the ball hit a Qatari attacker, and rolled out of play for what should have been a goal kick. However, the ball was pulled back into play and
Yousef Aymen put the ball in the net. The referee awarded the goal, and due to the absence of
VAR, it could not be overturned either. Footage gathered from various angles from several cameras in the stadium saw the ball clearly cross the line for a goal kick. This made the game 1–1, and Qatar went on to score again in the 85th minute to win the match 2–1. This eliminated India from World Cup qualifying, as they needed a win to qualify for the next round. ==See also==