The strangest goals in Bundesliga history

07.12.2023

Amongst the thousands of goals scored in the Bundesliga since its inauguration in 1963, some stick with you the most for just how unusual they were.

With goal probability a stat that’s now commonplace in football, we know very quickly how likely a goal was to be scored in a given scenario – but sometimes goals come from the most unusual situations. You can watch some of the strangest goals ever seen in the Bundesliga above.

How about scoring from a clearance? That happened to Sebastian Langkamp in 2008/09 for the first of his just six Bundesliga career goals, sliding in to intercept a pass on the halfway line and somehow smashing it over everyone and into the net for what turned out to be the winner for Karlsruhe against Bayer Leverkusen.

A goalkeeper scoring a goal is an event in itself, although Hans-Jörg Butt did so 26 times from the penalty spot in the Bundesliga. However, it often meant a long way to run back, and one time he wasn’t quick enough. That allowed Schalke’s Mike Hanke to shoot into an open net straight from the kick-off with the Leverkusen goalkeeper still retreating back in 2003/04.

There’s something visually pleasing about seeing the ball go in off the post, but how about hitting the post three times before going in? That’s what Heinz Strehl did for Nuremberg back in the Bundesliga’s second season in 1964/65 as the ball twice rolled across the line off the woodwork before finally going over.

Nerves get the better of you at penalties? Not if you’re Andrej Kramarić. He’s so confident he doesn’t even need to face the right way, as he showed with a no-look penalty to score his fourth goal of the day in Hoffenheim’s 4-0 win away at Borussia Dortmund on the final day of 2019/20.