GOLDEN GOALS

Today is the anniversary of the first EVER international match.

The Golden Goal wasn't used to decide a match result then, unsurprisingly,  but in 1994 it was introduced to the Auto Windscreens Trophy, Second Round tie between Huddersfield Town and Lincoln City. Iain Dunn of Town was the first player to score a "golden goal" in the 107th minute of the match. Later in the Final, Birmingham City succeeded with the Golden Goal when they beat Carlisle Utd at Wembley.


A Golden Goal was employed in the first Youdan Cup (1868) in Sheffield, described above, when the tie, having been drawn goals at full time was decided by the number of "ROUGES" scored by each team. The goal was also 4 yards wide and on either side of the posts was a rouge flag 4 yards away from each goalpost. The ball had to be touched down behind the "rouge" goal line whereas a goal could be scored by passing the ball through the two goalposts. (Imagine an Aussie Rules set of goal posts, but not as tall!
In the Youdan Cup Final, two areas in the city won their way through to the final from a starting number of 12 Sheffield clubs. Hallam beat Norfolk (2-0 in rouges) after a 0-0 draw. 

The Youdan Cup handed over to the Cromwell Cup, in 1868, a tournament sponsored by the local Alexander Theatre, the World's second ever cup competition.



Golden Goals have been employed in a variety of tournaments over history. Decided by the FA to enable the decider in cup ties, in 1993, the Golden Goal, this was preferred to  "sudden death" goals for obvious reasons.
Birmingham City beat Carlisle Utd  1-0 by the Golden Goal, scored by Paul Tait, in the 1995 Football League Cup.
In 1996, Germany beat the Czech Rep in the European Championship Final, 1-0 by the GG. Oliver Bierhoff snatching the winner.
In 1998, the World Cup tie between France and Paraguay in the Round of 16, was won by Laurent Blanc after 114 mins.
In 2001, Liverpool beat Deportivo Alaves, in a UEFA Cup Final after an own goal by Delfi Geli,
resulting 5-4.
The last Golden Goal in a World Cup match was in June 2002, a quarter-final between Turkey and Senegal 1-0, the goal coming in 94 minutes.
In 2003 the Women's World Cup between Germany and Sweden was decided 2-1 in the 98 minute by the Golden Goal.

Since then, as you know, it goes to extra time and then penalties.

You might remember the "Silver Goal" which was decided during extra time; who ever was leading after 15 minutes, would win and if no goals then the game carried on.