InEnglish football, theGoal of the Season is an annual competition and award given on BBC'sMatch of the Day, in honour of the most spectacular goal scored that season. It is typically contested between the winners of the preceding tenGoals of the Month, although the goal can and has come from any game in the regular season, including international qualifiers and friendlies—potentially from the opening league games of the season to the end of the European seasonUEFA Champions League final. In several instances, the goal has come in the final game of the domestic season, the FA Cup final, the most recent example of which isSteven Gerrard'slast-minute goal in 2006. However, in 1980–81, for example, the superb goal scored byRicky Villa in theFA Cup final replay forTottenham Hotspur againstManchester City could not be considered as voting had already taken place.[1]
In general, the winning goal has occurred for an English side within the domestic English league or cups, although there are no particular rules;Kenny Dalglish's goal in 1982–83 for Scotland being an exception. The goal usually comes from competitions to which the BBC holds television rights and which are shown under the Match of the Day banner; at present Premier League highlights and FA Cup live matches and highlights, although some have come from the equivalentSportscene broadcast byBBC Scotland. Due to the lack of BBC European club football coverage, held predominantly byITV,Sky andBT Sport, no goal of the season has ever been scored in European club competition despite many contenders.
Due to a transfer of broadcast rights, the entries for the 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2003–04 seasons were decided onITV'sThe Premiership, which have been subsequently recognised by the BBC. When the BBC previously could not show league footage from 1988–89 to 1991–92, the winning goal in each season was scored in the FA Cup which they held the rights to. League rights holder ITV had its own competition during these seasons for Goal of the Season, broadcast on theSaint and Greavsie show. Previously the channels had shared league and cup rights (showing different matches to each other) and for many years ITV broadcast its ownGolden Goals competition as an equivalent of Goal of the Season. From 2013–14 season onwards, the Goal of the Season has been chosen by aTwitter poll and the BBC Sport website.
Jack Wilshere is the first player to win Goal of the Season in consecutive seasons (2013–14 and 2014–15) since the start of the Premier League[2] and is only the second player overall to have achieved this afterJohn Aldridge, who won the award in both 1987–88 and 1988–89 (which pre-dated the Premier League era) seasons.Wayne Rooney is the only player to achieve this accolade for two different competitions (FA Cup andPremier League), as well as the only player to receive the award three times. The 1987–88 competition was unique in that all 10 goals shortlisted were scored byLiverpool players.[3] To date, this is the only occasion where the contenders were made up entirely of goals scored by players for one club.
For several years in the late 2000s, the winner was not subject to public vote due to the 2007phone-in scandals. The winning goal was instead decided by pundits in the studio.
The following table lists the number of wins by players who have at least two goals named as BBC Goal of the Season.
| Awards | Player | Country | Seasons |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Wayne Rooney |  England | 2004–05,2006–07,2010–11 |
| 2 | John Aldridge |  Ireland | 1987–88,1988–89 |
| Dennis Bergkamp |  Netherlands | 1997–98,2001–02 | |
| Jack Wilshere | England | 2013–14,2014–15 |
| Country | Players | Total |
|---|---|---|
| England | 24 | 28 |
| Ireland | 2 | 3 |
| Netherlands | 2 | 3 |
 Scotland | 3 | 3 |
 Germany | 2 | 2 |
 Wales | 2 | 2 |
 Argentina | 2 | 2 |
 Belgium | 1 | 1 |
 Egypt | 1 | 1 |
 France | 1 | 1 |
 Ghana | 1 | 1 |
 Honduras | 1 | 1 |
 Italy | 1 | 1 |
 Paraguay | 1 | 1 |
 Senegal | 1 | 1 |
 South Africa | 1 | 1 |
 South Korea | 1 | 1 |
 Togo | 1 | 1 |
| Competition | Players | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Premier League | 25 | 28 |
| FA Cup | 14 | 15 |
| First Division | 8 | 8 |
| Euro qualifiers | 1 | 1 |
| Friendly | 1 | 1 |
| Second Division | 1 | 1 |
| Commentator | Total |
|---|---|
| John Motson | 16 |
| Barry Davies | 7 |
| Steve Wilson | 6 |
| Tony Gubba | 4 |
| Guy Mowbray | 4 |
| Clive Tyldesley | 4 |
| Simon Brotherton | 2 |
| Jon Champion | 2 |
| David Coleman | 2 |
| Steve Bower | 1 |
| Martin Fisher | 1 |
| Alan Green | 1 |
| Alan Parry | 1 |
| Jonathan Pearce | 1 |
| John Roder | 1 |
| Gerald Sinstadt | 1 |
On 24 May 2015, the final day of the 2014–15 season,Match of the Day held an online vote at around 11 pm GMT for the Goal of the Season award. Users were able to vote via the BBC website or Twitter. The poll was quickly skewed byArsenal supporters, many from theFar East, resulting inJack Wilshere winning the award for his final day strike againstWest Bromwich Albion, despite not being the favourite.[47] HostGary Lineker expressed surprise as he read out the winner, and punditAlan Shearer suggested thatCharlie Adam should have won the award for his 66-yard effort againstChelsea, while fellow punditDanny Murphy felt formerFulham teammateBobby Zamora should have won.
The incident was labelled a "shambles" by Pete Smith ofThe Stoke Sentinel[48] who also thought Stoke's Adam should have won, and a "concerted campaign by Arsenal fans" by Alan Pattullo ofThe Scotsman,[49] who also felt the Scottish midfielder was deserving of the award. Mark Brus, ofCaught Offside, also criticized the choice arguing that a goal in a meaningless game should not have won Goal of the Season and thatJuan Mata's acrobatic effort againstLiverpool was worthy of the award.[50]
The following season, before the final episode of that season'sMatch of the Day, the programme's producers changed the rules to prevent a similar situation. The Goal of the Season award has since been decided by the pundits on the show, who will choose the winner based on the top three goals voted for by the public.[51]
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