Because Florian Wirtz scored after seven seconds in the German national team’s 2-0 coup against runner-up France. The fastest and second fastest goals in men’s international match history were scored within one day, pushing previous record holder Christian Benteke into third place. According to the ORF sports archive, the Belgian scored against Gibraltar after 8.1 seconds in 2016.
Baumgartner’s world record quickly made the rounds and took its place in the international media. “The fact that I hit him like that and it’s a world record is of course sensational,” said the 24-year-old afterwards, but above all remained humble: “I’m particularly pleased that I was able to help the team. That’s the most important thing about the goal.”
Fastest goal in international history
The first of four test matches in the 2024 European Championship was scheduled for Austria’s national soccer team on Saturday. Ralf Rangnick’s team met Slovakia in Bratislava. And won the first European Championship test 2-0.
The ÖFB team’s victory in Slovakia, along with otherwise meager play, will probably not be remembered for as long as Baumgartner’s goal. The Leipzig legionnaire took over the kick-off from Michael Gregoritsch, left two Slovakians behind him in the center circle and shortly afterwards a third with a hook to the right before he took the ball with him twice and sent it flat with his right into the left corner from around 20 meters . Baumgartner broke the previous ÖFB record set by Stefan Maierhofer in 2009 (in the 3-1 win against the Faroe Islands) by 43 seconds.
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“Worth the entry fee alone”
Not all of the 9,912 spectators in the Slovakian national stadium were already in their seats; the numerous fans of the ÖFB team who had traveled with them had not even sat down when Baumgartner turned to them cheering. “This goal alone was worth the price of admission,” enthused ÖFB team boss Ralf Rangnick afterwards, but was anything but surprised by the early lead.
“We’ve been close before and had situations right from the start where we had chances. We should have gotten a penalty against Italy, but this time we did it. It was a special goal and we can only take our hats off and congratulate Baumi,” said the German. During his time as Red Bull Salzburg’s sports director, attacks immediately after kick-off were common practice.
ORF/Bernhard Kastler The calm after the storm: This gate in northeast Bratislava gained worldwide fame on Saturday
It’s no different in the national team, as Baumgartner reports. “We have done this many times before, that we send a signal with the kick-off.” Usually after the first dribble a pass comes into the half-space, but the Slovaks delivered it to him. “I thought to myself: I can’t withdraw either, now I’ll go ahead and just take the risk. In the worst case scenario, we lose the ball and we resort to counter-pressing. But the sequence of steps worked out perfectly,” Baumgartner analyzed after the test game.
Slovaks as a role model, Wirtz almost as quickly
Co-coach Peter Perchtold, who is responsible for standard situations in the ÖFB team, would always encourage him to try something right from the kick-off. “He told me today that the Slovaks are a bit ahead of us: they have already scored a goal in less than ten seconds. He really said that.” David Hancko scored after nine seconds in the European Championship qualifiers against Liechtenstein (3-0) last year.
Curiously, Florian Wirtz almost broke the world record again less than three hours later. But the young German star’s 1-0 win in France’s 2-0 came a second later. While Baumgartner’s goal was not planned (Marcel Sabitzer: “That was his instinct”), Wirtz’s was after an equally impressive assist from returnee Toni Kroos. “The kick-off was planned that way and was excellently prepared by the standard coach,” said coach Julian Nagelsmann, who can now look forward to the fastest goal in German international history.
Baumgartner as a man of special goals
However, the world record is currently and probably will be held in Austria for a long time. Baumgartner’s twelfth goal in his 35th international match was once again a special one. With the “Sole of Bucharest” in the 1-0 win against Ukraine, he shot the Austrians into the European Championship round of 16 for the first time in 2021, and last year he scored a brace against the Swedes in the European Championship qualification. Now there is another game with special meaning – he kept a jersey as a souvenir. “During the game I thought to myself, it won’t be that much faster – maybe it will be an Austrian record. But the fact that it really is a world record is of course something special.”
