Austrian footballer scores fastest international goal

Christoph Baumgartner scored after six seconds to record the fastest ever goal in international football as Austria beat Slovakia in Bratislava.

The 24-year-old midfielder skipped past three challenges from the kick-off and fired a low shot past home goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.

His effort was a second quicker than Lukas Podolski's strike for Germany against Ecuador in 2013.

Andreas Weimann's late goal confirmed victory for Ralf Rangnick's side.

Baumgartner's remarkable effort was almost equalled later on Saturday evening when Florian Wirtz put Germany ahead in France, with a 25-yard effort that appeared to deflect off Dayot Upamecano before clipping the underside of the crossbar on its way in.

Meanwhile, Austria, who host Turkey in Vienna on Tuesday, have now won four consecutive matches as they build for this summer's Euros in Germany.

And they could hardly have had a better start in the Slovakian capital with the home fans looking on in complete disbelief as RB Leipzig's Baumgartner wheeled away to celebrate with his team-mates.

His goal was also two seconds faster than when Davide Gualtieri stunned England by scoring for San Marino after eight seconds in a World Cup qualifier in 1993 and Christian Benteke's goal for Belgium against Gibraltar in 2017.

The earliest goal ever recorded in the Premier League was by Shane Long for Southampton 7.69 seconds into their meeting with Watford in 2019.

Roy Makaay holds that distinction in the Champions League, finding the net for Bayern Munich 10.12 seconds into the second leg of their last-16 tie against Real Madrid in March.

Meanwhile, in February, Croydon FC's Ryan Hall scored a stunning goal straight from kick-off in their game against Cockfosters in the London Senior Trophy that was timed at 2.31 seconds by the non-league side.

However, Guinness World Records could not confirm that it was an official record for the fastest goal scored from kick-off as they do not monitor goals outside of professional football.

BBC