Goal (website)

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Goal
Type of site
Sports journalism
Available in
Founded1998 (1998) (as a domain name)
Headquarters
London
,
England
Area servedWorldwide
Owner
Founder(s)
  • Chicco Merighi
  • Gian Luigi Longinotti-Buitoni
CEOJuan Delgado
IndustryJournalism
ServicesAssociation football news
URLgoal.com
Launched1998 (domain)
2005 (current state)
Current statusActive

Goal, stylized in all caps and alternatively known as Goal.com, is a website currently dedicated to the coverage of international association football. Currently owned by the Integrated Media Company (IMC) division of TPG Inc. since 2020,[1] it is published in 18 languages across 38 global regions and edited by over 500 contributors as of 2019.[2]

History

Sports statics company Perform Group acquired Goal.com for £18 million from its previous investors, which included Bessemer Venture Partners.[3][4][5] In 2012, the website was investigated by HM Revenue and Customs department of the UK government over the use of unpaid interns.[6]

In August 2016, Perform Group launched the online sports video streaming service DAZN. In September 2018 Perform Group was split into two companies: DAZN Group (named after its streaming service) for its consumer content operations, and Perform Content for its business-to-business services. Under this new structure, GOAL sat under DAZN. In March 2019, DAZN re-organized the Perform Media division into DAZN Media, which includes GOAL. In late 2020, GOAL, alongside Spox and Voetbalzone were packaged as a new company called FootballCo. Shortly after, a majority stake in FootballCo. was purchased by Integrated Media Company (IMC) which is a division of TPG Capital.[1]

As of mid-2023, Goal was the fifth most popular sports news website in the UK, with 1.5 million monthly British readers according to a report by Press Gazette. [7]

Awards

In 2017 and 2020, GOAL won the Best Sports News Site award at The Drum Online Media Awards.[8]

GOAL50

Since the 2007–08 season, the best 50 players of the respective season are selected by GOAL reporters and ranked as part of Goal's "Goal 50."[9] Starting from the 2018–19 season, the 50 players were divided into 25 men and 25 women, with a winner from both genders being crowned. In 2021 voting was changed, with the list of available players chosen by GOAL journalists and the ranking decided by a public vote.

Lionel Messi is the record winner of the award having won it 7 times overall.

Men's winners

Season Winner Club(s)
2007–08 Portugal Cristiano Ronaldo England Manchester United
2008–09 Argentina Lionel Messi Spain Barcelona
2009–10 Netherlands Wesley Sneijder Italy Internazionale
2010–11 Argentina Lionel Messi Spain Barcelona
2011–12 Portugal Cristiano Ronaldo Spain Real Madrid
2012–13 Argentina Lionel Messi Spain Barcelona
2013–14 Portugal Cristiano Ronaldo Spain Real Madrid
2014–15 Argentina Lionel Messi Spain Barcelona
2015–16 Portugal Cristiano Ronaldo Spain Real Madrid
2016–17 Portugal Cristiano Ronaldo Spain Real Madrid
2017–18 Croatia Luka Modrić Spain Real Madrid
2018–19 Netherlands Virgil van Dijk England Liverpool
2019–20 Poland Robert Lewandowski Germany Bayern Munich
2020–21 Argentina Lionel Messi[10] Spain Barcelona
2021–22 Argentina Lionel Messi[11] France Paris Saint-Germain
2022–23 Argentina Lionel Messi[12] France Paris Saint-Germain
United States Inter Miami
2023-24 Spain Rodri England Manchester City

Women's winners

Season Winner Club(s)
2018–19 United States Megan Rapinoe United States Reign FC
2019–20 Denmark Pernille Harder Germany VfL Wolfsburg
England Chelsea
2020–21 Spain Alexia Putellas Spain Barcelona
2021–22 Spain Alexia Putellas Spain Barcelona
2022–23 Zambia Racheal Kundananji Spain Madrid CFF
2023-24 Spain Aitana Bonmatí Spain Barcelona

NXGN

Since the 2015–16 season, GOAL has ranked the 50 best players aged under 19 for that respective season, with selections made by GOAL's network of journalists. The resulting list is known as the NXGN list, with the first-ranked players receiving the NXGN winner's award.[13]

Since 2020, a women's list and award has also been published and handed out.[14]

Men's winners

Season Winner Club(s)
2015–16 Belgium Youri Tielemans Belgium Anderlecht
2016–17 Italy Gianluigi Donnarumma Italy Milan
2017–18 Netherlands Justin Kluivert Netherlands Ajax
2018–19 England Jadon Sancho Germany Borussia Dortmund
2019–20 Brazil Rodrygo Spain Real Madrid
2020–21 Spain Ansu Fati Spain Barcelona
2021–22 England Jude Bellingham Germany Borussia Dortmund
2023–24 Spain Lamine Yamal Spain Barcelona

Women's winners

Season Winner Club(s)
2019–20 Germany Lena Oberdorf Germany SGS Essen
2020–21 Sweden Hanna Bennison Sweden FC Rosengård
2021–22 Haiti Melchie Dumornay France Reims

References

  1. ^ a b "IMC sign agreement to acquire Goal". Goal. 22 September 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  2. ^ "Goal". Perform Group. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  3. ^ Farey-Jones, Daniel (23 February 2011). "Perform challenges Sky with Goal.com acquisition". Campaign. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  4. ^ Wauters, Robin (23 February 2011). "Score! Perform Group Buys Goal.com From Bessemer To Go Direct-To-Consumer". TechCrunch. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  5. ^ Sweney, Mark (16 May 2012). "Perform buys data company RunningBall for £95m". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  6. ^ Malik, Shiv (23 December 2012). "Football site Goal.com investigated over use of 30 unpaid interns a week". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  7. ^ Majid, Aisha (13 July 2023). "Most popular websites for sports news in UK: updated ranking". Press Gazette. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
  8. ^ "The Drum: Best Sports News Site". The Drum. Archived from the original on 7 October 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  9. ^ "Cahill named in Goal 50 list". Socceroos. 29 July 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  10. ^ "GOAL50 2021: Messi and Putellas crowned winners after historic fan vote". Goal.com. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  11. ^ "GOAL50 2022: Messi, Putellas and Maradona crowned winners after global fan vote". Goal.com. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  12. ^ "GOAL50 2023: Lionel Messi beats Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham to men's award as Racheal Kundananji crowned women's winner after global fan vote". Goal.com. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  13. ^ "NxGn 2019". Goal. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  14. ^ "NxGn 2020: The 10 best wonderkids in women's football | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  • International edition site (in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Indonesian, Arabic, Hungarian, and Japanese)