This is a list of all own goals scored during FIFA Men's World Cup matches (not including qualification games). In 1997, FIFA published guidelines for classifying an own goal as "when a player plays the ball directly into his own net or when he redirects an opponent’s shot, cross or pass into his own goal", and excludes "shots that are on target (i.e. goal-bound) and touch a defender or rebound from the goal frame and bounce off a defender or goalkeeper".[1]
Of the 2,720 goals scored at the 22 final tournaments of the World Cup,[2] only 54 have been own goals.[3][4] No player has scored multiple own goals. Mexico's players have scored own goals on four occasions each, while France has benefited on six occasions from opponents scoring own goals. Of the 53[n 1] matches with an own goal, nine have ended as wins for the team scoring the own goal, and eight have ended as draws.[n 2] All but 13 own goals have been scored in the first stages of the tournament.
Following the 1994 murder of Colombian Andrés Escobar by a fan who was angry that Escobar's own goal had led to their country's early exit from that year's World Cup, own goals at the tournament have been subject to intense scrutiny, to stave off accusations of collusion.[5] The 2018 World Cup, dubbed by The Washington Post as "among the cruelest in history" based on own goals mid-way through the group stages,[6] ended up doubling the previous record for number of own goals at a single tournament.[7]
List
Key
Player's team won the match
Player's team drew the match (a penalty shootout is recorded as a draw regardless of shootout results)
Own goals scored at the FIFA World Cup tournaments[1]
It is believed that the murder of Colombian footballer Andrés Escobar in the immediate aftermath of the 1994 World Cup was a retaliation for his having scored an own goal which contributed to his team's elimination from the tournament.[20]
^As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.