Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner has broken the record for the fastest-ever international goal by slotting home against Slovakia inside seven seconds.
Baumgartner, 24, went into the record books during a friendly match in Bratislava on Saturday.
The Leipzig attacker drove through the home defence from kickoff before unleashing a 25-metre (82-feet) shot past Martin Dubravka in goal.
“We’ve done this variation before, sprinting from kickoff at full risk. The sequence of steps somehow worked out so that I made the run,” Baumgartner told Austrian public broadcaster ORF after the game in which his team won 2-0.
“Of course it’s really cool, I’m very happy. The fact that I hit it like that… it’s of course sensational.”
The Austrian FA described Baumgartner’s effort as the fastest goal in the history of international football.
Baumgartner’s strike broke the record of the seven seconds it took Lukas Podolski to score for Germany against Ecuador in 2013.
“Of course we got off to a really good start, that goal by itself was probably worth the price of admission,” said Austria coach Ralf Rangnick.
Meanwhile, later Saturday, Germany’s Florian Wirtz scored a goal inside seven seconds fast against France in a friendly in Lyon which Germany won 2-0.
The Leverkusen player beat goalkeeper Brice Samba with a superb shot under the crossbar.
“I don’t think anyone understood or realised what was happening. We were all quite surprised, but there was obviously a lot of joy,” Wirtz told German broadcaster ZDF after his first international goal.
“You can’t start a match any better.”
The fastest goal scored in a World Cup was by Turkey’s Hakan Sukur against South Korea in 2002 after 11 seconds.
