By Martin Cloake
11 seconds. That’s all it took for Turkey’s all-time top goalscorer Hakan Sukur to score the fastest goal in World Cup history on 29th June 2002.
The goal came in the third-place play-off as Turkey played co-hosts South Korea. South Korea kicked off and played the ball back towards their back three, who tried to play the ball along the line to give everyone an early touch.
It proved a touch too early for Hong Myung-Bo, who got the ball caught under his feet, dithered, and lost the ball under pressure from Ilhan Mansiz.
Mansiz fed Sukur, who slotted home to write himself into the record books. It was the first goal Sukur had scored in the entire tournament, and remains the most famous of the 51 the man nicknamed ‘The Bull of the Bosphorus’ scored for his country.
Turkey went on to win the game 3-2. The 2002 World Cup was Sukur’s last, although he continued playing international football for another five years.
The record, as it happens, remains unbeaten.
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