Lightning goal against France
Florian Wirtz missed the world record by the blink of an eye
March 23, 2024, 9:12 p.m
Florian Wirtz gave the German national soccer team a dream start to the European Championship year: The offensive player scored for the DFB team after just eight seconds. He narrowly missed the world record, but he now holds the record in German international history.
What a start to the European Championship year for the German national soccer team: after just around 8 seconds, the DFB team took the lead against runner-up world champions France! Helped by returnee Toni Kroos, Florian Wirtz took heart with his first touch of the ball and shot the ball into the net from 21 meters over the bewildered goalkeeper Brice Samba, who had not yet found the right position in his goal.
The offensive jewel from league leaders Bayer Leverkusen scored the fastest goal in German international history. Lukas Podolski had held the previous record since 2013: the attacker – then working for Arsenal FC – needed nine seconds to score the opening goal in the German national team’s 4-2 win against Ecuador. For Florian Wirtz, the record goal was his first goal in a DFB uniform.
Curious: Christoph Baumgartner only broke the world record for the fastest international goal late in the afternoon. The Bundesliga professional from RB Leipzig scored for Austria against Slovakia after just seven seconds. Until the early seconds of the game in Bratislava, the world record holder was Christian Benteke, who needed 8.1 seconds to score his record goal for Belgium against Gibraltar.
National coach Julian Nagelsmann sent his best team onto the lawn of the Lyon stadium against France, led by superstar Kylian Mbappé, with the exception of the injured goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. He gave his team the message: “I want us to show a certain joy of life. I’m far from increasing the pressure. We want to bring joy of life to the pitch!” His team could hardly have implemented the requirement better.
Here you can follow the rest of the game in the live ticker.