A goalkeeper scoring a goal is one of football's most reliably thrilling curiosities.
It happens rarely enough to feel genuinely special, yet often enough that the sport has produced a small but remarkable collection of shot-stoppers who became almost as celebrated for their attacking exploits as their defensive ones.
Some built entire reputations around it, stepping up for penalties and free kicks with the confidence of a seasoned striker. Others did it once, in circumstances so dramatic or improbable that the moment defined their career. Here are fifteen of the most memorable.
Rogerio Ceni: The Record That May Never Be Broken
The record for most goals scored by a goalkeeper belongs, by a considerable distance, to Rogerio Ceni. His final tally of 131 places him tenth on Sao Paulo's all-time scoring list — an extraordinary feat for someone whose primary job was preventing goals.
Ceni spent more than two decades at Sao Paulo, making 1,237 appearances. Between 1997 and his retirement, he was their designated taker for both penalties and free kicks. His peak came in 2005, when he scored ten goals in a single season. That same year, he converted a penalty in the FIFA Club World Cup semi-final and helped Sao Paulo win the tournament, earning the Golden Ball as the competition’s best player.
Jose Luis Chilavert: Hat-Tricks and International Records
Second on the all-time list is Jose Luis Chilavert with 67 career goals, including a record eight for the Paraguayan national team. He was also the first goalkeeper ever to score a hat-trick in professional football, netting three penalties in a 6-1 win for Velez Sarsfield in 1999.
Jorge Campos: The Striker Who Became a Goalkeeper
Jorge Campos scored 35 career goals, almost all for UNAM (Pumas). In his first season, he actually played as a striker because the goalkeeper spot was taken. He scored 14 goals and nearly won the top scorer award. The following season he became the first-choice goalkeeper, but his attacking instincts never left him.
Rene Higuita: El Loco, the Scorpion Kick, and 43 Goals
Rene Higuita is best remembered for his famous scorpion kick clearance against England at Wembley, but he was also a prolific goalscorer with 43 career goals — all from penalties. The Colombian was a true sweeper-keeper who played with the confidence of an outfield player.
Dimitar Ivankov: Europe's Highest-Scoring Goalkeeper
Dimitar Ivankov scored 42 career goals, the highest total by any European-based goalkeeper. His most memorable moment came in the 2008 Turkish Cup Final, where he kept a clean sheet, saved four penalties in the shootout, and scored twice himself.
Hans-Jorg Butt: Buffon's Recurring Nightmare
Hans-Jorg Butt scored 26 penalties in the Bundesliga. He also scored three Champions League goals — all against Juventus and all with Gianluigi Buffon in goal. He achieved this remarkable feat while playing for three different clubs: Hamburg, Bayer Leverkusen, and Bayern Munich.
Asmir Begovic: Thirteen Seconds and a Record
On 2 November 2013, Asmir Begovic scored after just 13 seconds against Southampton — the fastest goal ever scored by a goalkeeper. His long wind-assisted clearance bounced over Artur Boruc and into the net. The goal was measured at 97.5 yards and held the record for the longest goal in football history for eight years.
Tom King: The Longest Goal in History
Tom King holds the official Guinness World Record for the longest goal in professional football history. In 2021, his 105-yard goal kick for Newport County against Cheltenham Town sailed over the opposition goalkeeper. The match ended 1-1.
Alyssa Naeher: One of Women's Football's Great Goals
While Michelle Betos became the first goalkeeper to score in the NWSL in 2015, Alyssa Naeher produced one of the most spectacular goals in women’s football history in 2025, earning the NWSL Goal of the Week and widespread acclaim.
Oscarine Masuluke: The Puskas Nominee
In 2016, South African goalkeeper Oscarine Masuluke scored a stunning bicycle kick in the final minute against Orlando Pirates to rescue a point for Baroka. The goal went viral and was nominated for the 2017 FIFA Puskas Award, finishing second in the fan vote.
Paul Robinson: Header, Shootout Save, and Legend Status
In a 2003 League Cup tie, Leeds United goalkeeper Paul Robinson charged up for a corner and scored a powerful header to force extra time. He then stayed in goal and saved a penalty in the shootout as Leeds won 4-3. One of the most complete individual performances in a cup tie.
Ivan Provedel: Two Last-Minute Equalisers, Three Years Apart
Ivan Provedel has scored only two career goals — both last-minute equalising headers from corners, three years apart. The first came in Serie B for Juve Stabia in 2020. The second came in the Champions League for Lazio against Atletico Madrid in 2023.
Jimmy Glass: Three Games and Eternal Gratitude
Jimmy Glass played just three matches on loan for Carlisle United in 1999. In the final game of the season, with Carlisle needing a win to avoid relegation to non-league, he came forward for a corner and scored the winner in the dying seconds. Carlisle survived, and Glass became a club legend forever.
Alisson: The Header That Secured Champions League Football
On 16 May 2021, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker scored a dramatic injury-time header against West Brom to win the match 2-1. The result helped Liverpool finish third and qualify for the Champions League the following season.
Paul Smith: The Most Sportsmanlike Goal in Football
In a League Cup match between Nottingham Forest and Leicester City, the game was abandoned at half-time after Leicester’s Clive Clarke suffered a cardiac arrest. When the fixture was rescheduled, both clubs agreed Forest should retain their 1-0 lead. Goalkeeper Paul Smith simply walked the ball into an empty net unopposed — one of the most unusual and sportsmanlike goals in football history.
Keepers Who Kept on Scoring
Goalscoring goalkeepers exist at the intersection of football's rarest pleasures: the genuinely unexpected. Whether it is Rogerio Ceni’s free kicks from thirty yards, Chilavert’s penalties, or Provedel rising to head home in the fifth minute of Champions League stoppage time, these moments work because they break the fundamental assumption of what a goalkeeper is for.
They have happened before. They will happen again. And when they do, football is briefly, brilliantly reminded of its own capacity for surprise.