Out of over 2600 goals scored in matches at the 22 final tournaments of the FIFA World Cup,[1] only 54 have been own goals.[2][3] In 1997, FIFA published guidelines for 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", and excludes "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".[4]
No player holds the dubious distinction of having scored multiple own goals. Mexico's players have scored own goals on four occasions each, while France has benefited on six occasions from opponents scoring own goals. Of the 54[n 1] matches with an own goal, ten have ended as wins for the team scoring the own goal, and eight have ended as draws.[n 2] All but 13 own goals have been scored in the first stages of the tournament.
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Player's team won the match | |
Player's team drew the match |
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