After a four year wait, Qatar and Ecuador faced off in the inaugural World Cup match. The opening goal of the tournament came from Enner Valencia. It is the ideal moment to take a look at who scored the opening goal at the previous editions. Yuri Gazinskyi scored the first in 2018.
Enner Valencia scored the opening goal of the 2022 World Cup with a penalty for Ecuador against hosts Qatar. We take a look back at who scored the first goals at other World Cups. In 2018, Yuri Garzinskyi scored the first in a 5-0 victory over Saudi Arabia. Russia are now disqualified because of the war with Ukraine.
World Cup 2022: Enner Valencia penalty for Ecuador World Cup 2018: Yuri Gazinskyi header for Russia World Cup 2014: Marcelo own goal for Croatia World Cup 2010: Siphiwe Tshabalala with a left footed strike for South Africa World Cup 2006: Philipp Lahm with a right footed strike for Germany World Cup 2002: Bouba Diop on the rebound for Senegal World Cup 1998: Cesar Sampaio with his shoulder for Brazil World Cup 1994: Jürgen Klinsmann after a goalkeeping error for Germany World Cup 1990: Oman Biyik header for Cameroon World Cup 1986: Alessandro Altobelli with a shot at the far post for Italy World Cup 1982: Erwin Vanderbergh with a shot across the goalkeeper for Belgium World Cup 1978: Bernard Lacombe first minute header for France World Cup 1974: Paul Breitner with a shot outside the box for Germany World Cup 1970: Dinko Dermendzhiev after a rehearsed move for Bulgaria World Cup 1966: Pele free-kick for Brazil World Cup 1962: Hector Facundo after three minutes for Argentina World Cup 1958: Oreste Corbatta after two minutes for Argentina World Cup 1954: Milos Milutinovic after 15 minutes for Yugoslavia World Cup 1950: Ademir de Menezes after half an hour for Brazil World Cup 1938 Josef Gauchel for Germany. This was the last World Cup for 12 years World Cup 1934: Ernesto Belis in the third minute for Argentina World Cup 1930: Lucien Laurent with the first goal in World Cup history for France