Stoke City goalkeeper Asmir Begovic has been honoured with the official world record for the “longest goal scored in football’ after his stunning strike at home to Southampton last season.
The Bosnia-Hercegovina goalkeeper’s bizarre kick forward within just 13 seconds of his side’s 1-1 draw against Southampton in November- measured at 91.9 metres- or 301 feet, 6 inches- has been entered into the Guinness World Records 2015 Book.
“I feel amazing to be honoured in this way and as a goalkeeper I didn’t expect this to happen, not for this type of record anyway- I will take it though and enjoy it,” said the 27-year-old.
“I really do appreciate this award, and the certificate will certainly take pride of place on the wall at home.
“So thank you to everyone at Guinness World Records for presenting me with this wonderful award.”
The 2015 awards coincided with the 60th anniversary of the Guinness World Records Book- the world’s best selling copyright book.
Reigning Fifa Ballon d’Or winner and Uefa Best Player of the Year in Europe, Cristiano Ronaldo, is among the other sporting icons to feature in the 2015 edition. The Portuguese superstar bagged the recognition for the ‘Most Champions League goals in a calendar year’ after scoring 15 goals during 2013 and the ‘Most Twitter followers for an athlete’ which is now in excess of 25 million.
Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather Jr, Usain Bolt, Roger Federer, Rory Mcllroy and Tony McCoy also took home a mantle for their respective recognitions.
Swiss No. 1 Federer is now the Most powerful sports star in the world ranked No.8 on Forbes’ list taking the mantle from NFL quarterback Peyton Manning.
Federer is also recognised “for the Most Grand Slam singles titles (17), Most Grand Slam matches won (265) and Most week’s ranked world No.1 (302)”.
Unbeaten (super) welterweight boxer Mayweather’s fight with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in September 2013 is rated as “the Highest selling pay-per-view boxing match of all time”. The bout raked in a staggering $150,000,000 (£91,812,400) .
Nothern Irish golfer McIlroy “simultaneously broke the record for the Lowest score to par in a US Open, shooting 16-under” with a scorecard boasting 268 (65-66-68-69).
Jamaican sprinter Bolt remains the fastest man in the world.
This year’s edition features new Augmented Reality technology that enables the readers to bring record-breakers to life in stunning 3D.
