20 Best FIFA World Cup Goals Ever

While there's no new goals, enjoy some of the all-time greats.

Michael Owen England Argentina
Sean Dempsey/PA Archive/Press Association Images

With football leagues around the world getting delayed or outright cancelled, fans are having to deal with a summer of isolating indoors without even the comfort of a major international tournament to while away the time.

In the absence of the likes of Euro 2020 or the Tokyo Olympics (both pushed back to next year) football fans can instead look back nostalgically to past classic moments on the big stages.

And there's no stage bigger than the World Cup.

Scoring a wonder goal at the World Cup means that a player will be remembered forever. The history of great World Cup goals includes the career pinnacles for some of the legends of the game and incredible efforts from lesser-known players who nevertheless etched their names into the record books with a single moment of magic.

Whether it's the winning goal in the final or just the one memorable moment of the superfluous third-place playoff, every part of the World Cup has played host to iconic strikes. From long range screamers and mazy solo runs to team efforts where every player works together to bring about a triumphant finish, these are the twenty greatest goals ever scored at the World Cup.

20. Joe Cole - England Vs Sweden (2006)

England's 2006 campaign was another case of underwhelming quarter-final elimination for the improperly named "Golden Generation". It did, however, offer up one of the all-time great England goals courtesy of Chelsea wide man Joe Cole.

With England having won their opening two group games, the match against Sweden was essentially irrelevant. But that didn't stop Cole from giving what was probably his finest performance in an England shirt.

Just over half an hour in, with the score still at 0-0, Sweden cleared the ball out of defence. Around 35 yards out and with seven Swedish players between him and the goal, it didn't look like a situation Cole could make much of. Yet he calmly chested the ball down and struck an incredible swinging volley that looped high in the air before dropping into the top right corner.

For just a moment it showed how gifted that supposed Golden Generation could be.

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