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FIFA Clarifies Definition of an 'Own Goal' for 2006 World Cup
With only one day to go before the opening of the 18th FIFA World Cup, FIFA’s Technical Study Group (TSG) has clarified the definition of when a goal will be classified as an own goal. Holger Osieck, head of FIFA’s technical development department and Andy Roxburgh, Technical Director of UEFA, presented the new directives at the first daily media briefing held today at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. “Previous tournaments have been dotted with decisions about what constitutes an own goal which appeared to lack clear guidelines. On the basis of fairness, positive approach and player protection, the benefit of doubt should always be given to the attacker,” explained Holger Osieck, who was assistant coach to Franz Beckenbauer when Germany won the World Cup in 1990.
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Own goals are rare in FIFA World Cup™ finals – there were only 24 in the 644 matches in the tournaments from 1930 to 2002 – and they are often surrounded by confusion about whether the attacker should be awarded the goal or not. To help resolve these kinds of issues, FIFA published guidelines in April 1997 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. 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 are not considered as own goals.
Holger Osieck’s team of highly-experienced football experts have today issued the following standard as a guide for future situations that may involve a questionable goal as happened during the 2002 tournament in Korea/Japan:
If a goal-bound shot accidentally bounces off a team-mate into the opponent’s goal, the goal will be awarded to the player who struck the ball towards the target in the first place.
If a goal-bound shot is intentionally redirected into the opponent’s net, the goal will be credited to the player whose action produced the change of direction.
If a shot is going wide and is then deflected or redirected into the opponent’s goal by a team-mate, this player will of course be credited with the goal.
“The decision regarding who the credited player is can have a major impact on the winner of some of the FIFA awards but also on the total goals a player scores in his career. This is not a new regulation, only a clarification of the own-goal interpretation which FIFA published in 1997,” said Andy Roxburgh, who was also part of the 2002 TSG group.
The TSG’s duties are many and varied. For more than four decades, FIFA’s Technical Study Group has been observing international tournaments and identifying new trends in the game. The TSG’s priority is to observe teams in matches and training sessions. The resulting analyses are compiled in a report and DVD that are made available to the FIFA member associations for educational purposes and for use by coaches as an aid in their daily training.
On top of these duties, the TSG will also be responsible for the nominations for various awards among which are the Anheuser-Busch Bud Man of the Match and the compilation of a list of outstanding players from which journalists will ultimately choose the adidas Golden Ball winner.
For the 2006 event, the TSG will be made up of the following 13 internationally renowned football experts: Andy Roxburgh (Scotland), Roy Hodgson (England), Dr Jozef Venglos (Slovakia), Dr György Mezey (Hungary), Francisco Maturana (Colombia), Teofilo Cubillas (Peru), Jim Selby (Australia), Rodrigo Kenton (Costa Rica), Alvin Corneal (Trinidad & Tobago), Kim Chon Lim (Malaysia), Ka-Ming Kwok (Hong Kong), Kalusha Bwalya (Zambia) and Roger Milla (Cameroon), the latter making his debut in the TSG. Each of the 64 games will be observed by at least two members.
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