With the national leagues, the Champions League and the World Cup in Qatar, the football year 2022 had numerous highlights to offer – and also a lot of goals worth seeing. But the officially most beautiful goal of the year did not fall on the big stage.
The Pole Marcin Oleksy, who only has one leg, shot him. The goal, scored on November 6, 2022 in the Polish Leg Amputee League, was spectacular. Oleksy was in the air after a cross, caught the ball perfectly with an overhead kick, and hit the bottom right untenably. It is all the more remarkable that the striker plays with crutches. That didn’t stop Oleksy from scoring his dream goal – for which he has now been awarded the Fifa Puskás Prize.
The prize, named after the former exceptional Hungarian striker Ferenc Puskás, is awarded annually for the most beautiful goal of the year. In an online vote, Oleksy prevailed against prominent names. “It’s hard for me to imagine receiving this award. And yet I’m standing here in front of you and receiving this award for the most beautiful goal in the world,” he said at the gala in Paris.
The 36-year-old describes his spectacular action as follows: “The pass came from my teammate Dawid Novak. When I saw the ball coming, I knew that I would be the first to get the ball. I then hit it brilliantly. It was the perfect one Shot.” A dream came true for him at that moment: “I always wanted to score such a nice goal.”
Oleksy lost his left leg in a work accident at the age of 23. A heavy machine fell on the road construction worker’s leg and his lower leg had to be amputated. Until then, the Pole had played as a goalkeeper. After his recovery, he returned to the field: first as a goalkeeping coach, then as an amputee footballer with a sports prosthesis. With Poland he reached the round of 16 at the World Cup last year.
When voting for the Puskás Prize, Oleksy left two professionals of international standing behind: second and third place went to Frenchman Dimitri Payet and Brazilian Richarlison. Oleksy can now look forward to joining the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar, who have won the Best Goal of the Year award in previous years.
Sources: Fifa on Youtube / Fifa
