The Fastest Goal in Soccer History (Ranked, With Every Level Verified)

The fastest goal ever recorded in soccer, at any level, is Gavin Stokes’ 2.1-second strike for Maryhill against Clydebank in a Scottish amateur match in 2017. At the professional top-flight level, the officially certified record belongs to Damian Mori, who scored in 3.69 seconds for Adelaide City in 1995 — a mark Guinness World Records recognizes because it is fully independently verified, unlike faster amateur and youth claims.

Timing a goal to fractions of a second is harder than it looks: it requires a fixed starting point (the referee’s whistle), continuous unbroken footage, and a match result that actually stands. Plenty of viral “fastest goal ever” clips fail one of those tests, which is why the record splits into an all-level list and a separate, stricter professional list. Here is the full ranked leaderboard, the disputed claims, and how the numbers hold up through the 2026 season.

The all-level leaderboard: the 10 fastest goals ever recorded

This table covers every level of the sport — amateur, youth, and lower-league — where a fast, camera-verified strike has been logged.

Rank	Player	Time	Match	Year
1	Gavin Stokes	2.1s	Maryhill vs. Clydebank (Scottish amateur)	2017
2	Vuk Bakic	2.2s	GSP Polet vs. FK Dorcol (Serbian youth)	2012
3	Ryan Hall	2.31s	Croydon vs. Cockfosters (London Senior Trophy)	2024
4	Jack Lyons	2.52s	Rusthall vs. Chatham Town (FA Youth Cup)	2023
5	Marc Burrows	2.56s	Cowes Sports Reserves vs. Eastleigh Reserves	2004
6	Ricardo Olivera	2.8s	Rio Negro Capital vs. Soriano Interior (Uruguay)	1998
7	Fred	3.17s	America Mineiro vs. Vila Nova (Brazil)	2003
8	Colin Cowperthwaite	3.55s	Barrow vs. Kettering Town (England)	1979
9	Richard Wetton	3.56s	Oakwood vs. Lingfield (Peter Bentley Cup)	2017
10	Bart van der Veer	3.6s	LTC vs. Oeverzwaluwen (Dutch fifth division)	2014

Every entry on this list is inside four seconds, and every one shares the same script: a team spots the opposing goalkeeper off his line the instant the whistle blows and shoots from the halfway line or beyond before a defender can close it down.

The official professional record: Damian Mori’s 3.69 seconds

Because amateur and youth-level goals aren’t always filmed and timed to the same standard, Guinness World Records maintains a separate, stricter record for men’s top-flight professional football: Damian Mori’s 3.69-second goal for Adelaide City against Sydney United in Australia’s National Soccer League on December 6, 1995. Teammate Bradley Hasell tapped the kickoff straight to Mori, who spotted goalkeeper John Perosh off his line and lofted it in from the halfway line. The match was filmed and the timing independently verified, which is why it stands as the professional benchmark even though ten amateur and youth goals on record are faster.

The disputed claim: Nawaf Al-Abed’s roughly two seconds

The most famous “fastest goal ever” clip belongs to Saudi Arabia’s Nawaf Al-Abed, who reportedly scored in about two seconds for Al-Hilal in a 2009 youth cup tie, shooting from the halfway line the instant the whistle sounded. The clip still circulates as the presumed record, but it fails both tests that would make it official: the match was later voided after several ineligible, over-age players were found to have taken part, and the strike lacks the timestamped, unbroken video evidence Guinness requires. It remains famous, but unofficial.

Fastest goals by top competition

Elite matches produce far slower “fastest goals” than amateur football, because organized professional defenses rarely leave a shooting lane open from kickoff. Here is how the record looks inside soccer’s biggest leagues and tournaments.

Competition	Player	Time	Match	Year
Premier League	Shane Long	7.69s	Southampton vs. Watford	2019
Serie A	Rafael Leao	6.2s	AC Milan vs. Sassuolo	2020
La Liga	Joseba Llorente	7.22s	Real Valladolid vs. Getafe	2008
UEFA Champions League	Roy Makaay	10.12s	Bayern Munich vs. Real Madrid	2007
FIFA World Cup	Hakan Sukur	11.0s	Turkey vs. South Korea	2002

Shane Long broke Ledley King’s 19-year-old Premier League record (9.82 seconds, set for Tottenham in 2000) with his strike against Watford. Sukur’s World Cup goal, scored off a flick from Ilhan Mansiz in the 2002 third-place playoff, remains untouched more than two decades later — some sources round it to 10.8 seconds, but FIFA and Guinness both list 11 seconds as the official figure. For a full breakdown of that goal and the fastest goal in Premier League history, and how it compares across England’s top flight, see our dedicated leaderboard, along with our deeper look at the fastest goal in World Cup history.

Why elite goals are always “slower”

The gap between the amateur record (2.1 seconds) and the World Cup record (11 seconds) is more than five times as long, and it comes down to defensive discipline. Lower-level and youth teams often defend kickoffs carelessly, leaving a goalkeeper stranded off his line for a team willing to gamble on an instant long-range shot. Top-flight and international squads drill kickoff shape specifically to prevent that, shielding the goalkeeper and denying a clean sightline. That is also why the fastest football goals in history leaderboard, when read across levels, tracks almost perfectly with how organized the defense was expected to be.

Is the record still being chased in 2026?

Yes. Because fast-kickoff goals depend on individual opportunism rather than skill development, they surface unpredictably every few years rather than trending toward a “peak.” Dean Sherwood’s 2.67-second goal for AFC Uckfield in England’s tenth tier in 2026 shows the amateur and semi-pro chase is still very much alive, and any similarly filmed strike under 2.1 seconds would immediately challenge Gavin Stokes for the all-level top spot. At the professional level, Damian Mori’s 3.69-second mark has stood since 1995 without a serious challenger, largely because it requires a defense to make an extremely rare kickoff mistake at the top-flight level. For more record-chasing context, browse SportsMonkie’s football and soccer coverage.

Bottom line

Gavin Stokes’ 2.1-second goal for Maryhill in 2017 is the fastest ever recorded at any level of soccer, while Damian Mori’s 3.69-second strike in 1995 is the official professional benchmark that Guinness World Records certifies. Nawaf Al-Abed’s roughly two-second goal remains the most cited claim but is unofficial and disputed. Shane Long (Premier League), Roy Makaay (Champions League), and Hakan Sukur (World Cup) hold the fastest marks in their respective competitions, and all figures here are verified as of the 2026 season.