What is the earliest season goal after Dom Ballard’s 22 August backheel?

Dom Ballard scored a backheel volley for Bristol City at Birmingham on 22 August in gameweek two of the Championship. The strike has been described in the article as an outrageous finish and as a Puskás contender and a strong candidate for the 2026-27 Championship goal of the season.

Ballard’s 22 August effort prompted a search for earlier season goals that went on to win honours: Marco Matias scored a comparable strike for Sheffield Wednesday at Leeds United on the same calendar date 11 years earlier, although that was in gameweek four of 2015-16 and Matias was later awarded goal of the season in April 2016. The earliest Championship goal of the season located by the piece was Ismaïla Sarr’s halfway-line strike for Watford on opening day, 8 August 2022, which came 12 minutes into the match.

The article contrasts Sarr’s early strike with other famous long-range goals on opening days: David Beckham’s lob for Manchester United against Wimbledon in 1996-97 occurred on the opening day but 11 days after Sarr’s goal and fell in the 87th minute — described in the piece as 75 minutes later in the match than Sarr’s effort.

In Scottish football, Kieran Tierney’s 2017-18 SPFA goal of the season for Celtic versus Kilmarnock is recorded as occurring on 8 August 2017 in the League Cup; the article notes that tie happened three days after Celtic’s opening league fixture on 5 August 2017. The piece also records that Jota scored for Celtic against Aberdeen on 31 July 2022 (game one) and that the strike won goal of the month for August despite falling in July.

The write-up includes an earlier, atypical example from Schalke: the club’s 2013 goal of the year came on 27 July in a pre-season friendly, but with three caveats — it was a friendly, the scorer was not on Schalke’s books at the time, and it was a tap-in. The article explains that Raúl, having joined Al‑Sadd, agreed to play the first half for Al‑Sadd and the second for Schalke on 27 July 2013, and that he scored twice for Schalke, the first a two-yard finish assisted by teenage Julian Draxler.

The piece then addresses a separate question about player-managers winning international caps, citing several high-profile British examples: Kenny Dalglish became Liverpool player-manager in the summer of 1985 and continued to play for Scotland, including the first leg of their World Cup playoff win against Australia; Dalglish won his 100th cap against Romania in March 1986 and was initially selected for the World Cup squad before withdrawing because of a knee injury picked up in the FA Cup final, with his final two caps coming in autumn 1986. Graeme Souness was appointed Rangers manager in April and played the first two games at Mexico 86 before being left out of the final group match against Uruguay, and Johnny Giles served as player-manager of the Republic of Ireland from May 1973 until March 1980 while also holding player-manager posts at club level and selected himself for 24 of his 59 international appearances.

The article lists additional instances of players earning international caps while serving as player-managers: Andy Aitken won caps while player-manager of Middlesbrough (1907-08) and Leicester Fosse (1910-11); Orvar Bergmark played 41 internationals for Sweden while player-manager of Örebro between 1958 and 1961; Gunnar Gren earned 17 caps as player-manager of Örgryte IS in 1957-58; Stuart Pearce was capped twice for England in 1997 during his caretaker player-manager spell at Nottingham Forest; Fanny Vágó made 19 appearances for Hungary while player-manager of Ferencvárosi TC from 2021 to 2023; Elisha Scott won four caps for Northern Ireland while player-manager of Belfast Celtic between 1934 and 1936; John Toshack made six appearances for Wales as Swansea City player-manager in 1979; and Jim Platt played twice for Northern Ireland in 1984 as Ballymena United player-manager and once more as Coleraine player-manager in 1986 and was a member of Northern Ireland’s 1986 World Cup squad.

The article invites readers to submit any earlier examples from elsewhere and other questions, asking them to mail in their questions and answers.