Goal (website)

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]

Goal

Type of site	Sports journalism
Available in	English French German Spanish Italian Arabic Thai Portuguese Dutch Turkish Indonesian Korean Japanese Hungarian Vietnamese
Founded	1998; 27 years ago (1998) (as a domain name)
Headquarters	London , England
Area served	Worldwide
Owner	Integrated Media Company (TPG Inc.) (majority) DAZN Group (minority)
Founder(s)	Chicco Merighi Gian Luigi Longinotti-Buitoni
CEO	Juan Delgado
Industry	Journalism
Services	Association football news
URL	goal.com
Launched	1998 (domain) 2005 (current state)
Current status	Active

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	Cristiano Ronaldo	Manchester United
2008–09	Lionel Messi	Barcelona
2009–10	Wesley Sneijder	Internazionale
2010–11	Lionel Messi	Barcelona
2011–12	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid
2012–13	Lionel Messi	Barcelona
2013–14	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid
2014–15	Lionel Messi	Barcelona
2015–16	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid
2016–17	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid
2017–18	Luka Modrić	Real Madrid
2018–19	Virgil van Dijk	Liverpool
2019–20	Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich
2020–21	Lionel Messi[10]	Barcelona
2021–22	Lionel Messi[11]	Paris Saint-Germain
2022–23	Lionel Messi[12]	Paris Saint-Germain Inter Miami
2023-24	Rodri	Manchester City

Women's winners

Season	Winner	Club(s)
2018–19	Megan Rapinoe	Reign FC
2019–20	Pernille Harder	VfL Wolfsburg Chelsea
2020–21	Alexia Putellas	Barcelona
2021–22	Alexia Putellas	Barcelona
2022–23	Racheal Kundananji	Madrid CFF
2023-24	Aitana Bonmatí	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	Youri Tielemans	Anderlecht
2016–17	Gianluigi Donnarumma	Milan
2017–18	Justin Kluivert	Ajax
2018–19	Jadon Sancho	Borussia Dortmund
2019–20	Rodrygo	Real Madrid
2020–21	Ansu Fati	Barcelona
2021–22	Jude Bellingham	Borussia Dortmund
2023–24	Lamine Yamal	Barcelona

Women's winners

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