The quickest goal in World Cup history? Alphonso Davies scores after just 67 seconds

World Cup 2022
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Alphonso Davies scored Canada's first-ever World Cup goal against Croatia in Qatar, with the goal coming after just 67 seconds of play in the game.

The bullet header Davies produced is comfortably the quickest goal scored at World Cup 2022, with Cody Gakpo bagging the next-fastest at the 2022 tournament. The Netherlands forward bagged against Ecuador after five minutes, making Davies' goal coming a full four minutes beforehand.

However, it is by no means the quickest goal in World Cup history - far from it, in fact.

Indeed, Hakan Sukur holds the record for the fastest goal in the history of the World Cup, with the Turkish striker sticking the ball in South Korea's net after just 11 seconds at the 2002 World Cup. 

Place Davies' and Sukur's goal side-by-side, and you would have had time to watch the latter's from the referee's first whistle a full six times, and still have a second to spare afterwards. 

Perhaps surprisingly, though, is that Davies' 67-second finish isn't even in the top ten of fastest World Cup goals recorded, with the top five all coming within 30 seconds of a match. 

After Sukur comes Czech player Vaclav Masek, who scored after 16 seconds against Mexico in 1962. Germany's Ernst Lehner needed just 24 seconds to net against Austria in 1934, while Bryan Robson's against France in 1982 took just 27 seconds. 

Clint Dempsey's 30-second goal against Ghana in 2014 is the fifth-quickest ever, taking less than half the time it took Davies. 

In a World Cup final, the Netherlands' Johan Neeskens holds the record for the quickest goal. He converted a penalty after just 90 seconds in the game against West Germany in the 1974 final, but the Netherlands failed to hold onto the win and ended up losing 2-1. 

Ryan Dabbs
Staff writer

Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.