MiTi takes stock of the fastest penalty kick in history: Tanzania scored 5 seconds against Madagascar in 2021

Recently, "Gazzetta dello Sport" took stock of the fastest penalty kicks in history. Among them, Tanzania's 5-second penalty against Madagascar in September 2021 became the fastest penalty kick in official records.

In a game between Turin and Roma nearly forty years ago, a penalty kick opportunity appeared only 24 seconds into the game. At that time, Bonetti fouled Junior, causing the referee to award Turin a penalty kick. This could be one of the fastest penalties in Serie A history. However, this record was broken in Sassuolo's game against Pisa: Kander brought down Toure just 5 seconds into the game and created a lightning penalty. This record now seems almost impossible to be surpassed. In fact, it may have been the quickest penalty in football history.

It is important to note that official records for the fastest penalties do not exist, as timers (especially in lower leagues and elapsed time) are not always completely reliable. However, Sassuolo's game against Pisa is as important a page in history as Tanzania's game against Madagascar in September 2021. In that game, after Mvousa took possession of the ball, the visiting team goalkeeper Adrian fouled in the penalty area. The referee awarded Tanzania a penalty kick only 5 seconds into the game. The contact between Mvousa and Adrian became the quickest penalty incident, at least on record.

The case second only to Sassuolo and Tanzania was the match between Witton Albion and Chester in the 2016 English FA Cup. Only six seconds into the game, a confrontation between Hudson and Omotola resulted in a penalty kick for the home team. In addition, there are some similar cases in Northern Europe: penalty kicks occurred within 8 seconds in the games between Heerenveen and Kambur (November 2014) and Hamburg against Paderborn (February 2015). There is another interesting detail in Hamburg's match against Paderborn: Van der Vaart scored this penalty for Hamburg.

Although there is no official time record, local reports show that a penalty kick was awarded in less than 10 seconds in the Swedish Super League game between Angelholm and AIK Solna in July 2010. In the Bucharest derby in November 2016, Staya also received a penalty kick at 9 seconds against Dynamo because the visiting team goalkeeper Penedo fouled De Amorin. In March 2014, during a friendly match between Montenegro and Ghana, Adi fouled Kasarica, resulting in Montenegro receiving a penalty kick in the 10th second.

Going back to Bonetti’s foul against Junior, in recent years in Italy there have been some cases where penalty kicks were awarded within one minute. Although these cases are much later than foreign records, in the 2015 match between Naples and Milan, De Sciglio's foul on Hamsik was awarded a penalty kick at 42 seconds.

In October 2022, during Spezia's match against Lazio, Ampadu fouled Immobile, resulting in Lazio receiving a penalty kick at 39 seconds. Finally, it is worth mentioning that all records were broken at Mapai Stadium. The fastest penalty kick in Serie A occurred in the same stadium, where Leo set the record for the fastest goal in Serie A five years ago (6.76 seconds), but the time it took for him to score the goal turned out to be longer than the time for Kander's foul.