Wikiwand AI

List of international goals scored by Gareth Bale

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gareth Bale is a Welsh former professional footballer who represented the Wales national team as a forward from 2006 to 2022. He made his debut appearance for Wales on 27 May 2006, during a friendly against Trinidad and Tobago; at 16 years and 315 days old, Bale was the youngest ever player to represent the side at the time.[1] In October 2006, during his third appearance for Wales, he scored directly from a free kick in a 5–1 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying defeat against Slovakia to become the nation's youngest ever goalscorer.[2] With 41 goals in 111 appearances, is the country's all-time top goalscorer.[3]

A football player wearing a dark football kit with neon trim.
Bale playing for Wales in 2016

On 13 October 2015, Bale scored his nineteenth international goal in a 2–0 victory over Andorra during Wales' final qualifying match for UEFA Euro 2016, helping secure the nation's first appearance at a major international tournament since the 1958 FIFA World Cup.[4] Bale was Wales' top scorer in their successful qualifying campaign, finishing with a tally of seven goals.[5] During the final tournament in France, Bale scored in all three group matches at the tournament, against Slovakia, Russia, and England, as Wales topped their group and would go on to reach the semi-finals.[6] Bale's opener from a free kick in his side's first group game against Slovakia was the first goal at a major international tournament by a Welsh player since Terry Medwin scored against Hungary in 1958.[7] Bale became the Welsh national team's all-time top goalscorer on 22 March 2018, after scoring a hat-trick in a friendly against China at the China Cup.[8] Bale entered the match on 26 goals, two short of fellow countryman Ian Rush's record tally, having not scored an international goal in eighteen months since November 2016.[9] He scored twice in the first half of the game to equal Rush's record, before surpassing it with his third goal in the second half. He also became the first Welsh player to score a hat-trick at international level since Robert Earnshaw in 2004.[10] He scored his second hat-trick in a fixture in September 2021, during a 3–2 victory over Belarus.[11]

Bale played for Wales in the qualifying campaigns of every FIFA World Cup and European Championship from UEFA Euro 2008 to the 2022 World Cup, as well as in the finals of Euro 2016, where the side reached the last four before being knocked out by eventual champions Portugal.[12] He also featured in the finals of Euro 2020, where Wales reached the round of 16, but Bale failed to score a goal.[13] At the 2022 World Cup, he scored Wales' only goal of the tournament against the United States.[14] Bale scored more times in qualifying matches than in any other format with 28 goals (14 in Euro qualifiers and 14 in World Cup qualifiers). His other goals included six in friendly matches (including three in the China Cup), three in the European Championship finals, three in the UEFA Nations League and one in the World Cup finals.[6] He scored more times against China, Belarus, Andorra and Austria than any other opponent, with three goals each against the sides.[6]

Goals

Wales' score listed first, score column indicates score after each Bale goal.[6][15]
More information No., Date ...
International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition Ref.
1 7 October 2006Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales3 Slovakia1–21–5UEFA Euro 2008 qualification [16]
2 28 March 2007 Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales6 San Marino2–03–0 [17]
3 12 October 2010St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland27  Switzerland1–11–4UEFA Euro 2012 qualification [18]
4 7 October 2011Liberty Stadium, Swansea, Wales312–02–0 UEFA Euro 2012 qualification [19]
5 11 October 2011Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria32 Bulgaria1–01–0 UEFA Euro 2012 qualification [20]
6 12 November 2011Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales33 Norway1–04–1Friendly [21]
7 11 September 2012Karađorđe Stadium, Novi Sad, Serbia36 Serbia1–21–62014 FIFA World Cup qualification [22]
8 12 October 2012Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales37 Scotland1–12–1 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification [23]
9 2–1
10 6 February 2013Liberty Stadium, Swansea, Wales39 Austria1–02–1Friendly [24]
11 26 March 2013 Liberty Stadium, Swansea, Wales41 Croatia1–01–22014 FIFA World Cup qualification [25]
12 5 March 2014Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales44 Iceland3–13–1Friendly [26]
13 9 September 2014Estadi Nacional, Andorra la Vella, Andorra45 Andorra1–12–1UEFA Euro 2016 qualification [27]
14 2–1
15 28 March 2015Sammy Ofer Stadium, Haifa, Israel49 Israel2–03–0 UEFA Euro 2016 qualification [28]
16 3–0
17 12 June 2015Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales50 Belgium1–01–0 UEFA Euro 2016 qualification [29]
18 3 September 2015GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus51 Cyprus1–01–0 UEFA Euro 2016 qualification [30]
19 13 October 2015Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales54 Andorra2–02–0 UEFA Euro 2016 qualification [31]
20 11 June 2016Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France56 Slovakia1–02–1UEFA Euro 2016 [32]
21 16 June 2016Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens, France57 England1–01–2 UEFA Euro 2016 [33]
22 20 June 2016Stadium Municipal, Toulouse, France58 Russia3–03–0 UEFA Euro 2016 [34]
23 5 September 2016Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales62 Moldova3–04–02018 FIFA World Cup qualification [35]
24 4–0
25 9 October 2016 Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales64 Georgia1–01–1 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification [36]
26 12 November 2016 Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales65 Serbia1–01–1 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification [37]
27 22 March 2018Guangxi Sports Center, Nanning, China69 China1–06–02018 China Cup [8]
28 2–0
29 6–0
30 6 September 2018Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales71 Republic of Ireland2–04–12018–19 UEFA Nations League B [38]
31 16 November 2018 Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales73 Denmark1–21–2 2018–19 UEFA Nations League B [39]
32 6 September 2019 Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales78 Azerbaijan2–12–1 UEFA Euro 2020 qualification[40]
33 13 October 2019 Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales81 Croatia1–11–1 UEFA Euro 2020 qualification [41]
34 5 September 2021Central Stadium, Kazan, Russia98 Belarus1–03–22022 FIFA World Cup qualification [11]
35 2–2
36 3–2
37 24 March 2022Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales101 Austria1–02–12022 FIFA World Cup qualification [42]
38 2–0
39
[nb 1]		 5 June 2022 Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales103 Ukraine1–01–02022 FIFA World Cup qualification[46]
40 14 June 2022 De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands106 Netherlands2–22–3 2022–23 UEFA Nations League A[47]
41 21 November 2022 Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar109 United States1–11–1 2022 FIFA World Cup[48]
Close

Hat-tricks

See also: List of Wales national football team hat-tricks
More information No., Opponent ...
No. Opponent Goals Score Venue Competition Date
1  China 3 – (1–0', 2–0', 6–0') 6–0 Guangxi Sports Center, Nanning, China 2018 China Cup 22 March 2018
2  Belarus 3 – (1–0', 2–2', 3–2') 3–2 Central Stadium, Kazan, Russia 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification 5 September 2021
Close

Statistics

More information Year, Apps ...
Close

See also

Notes

  1. [1]
    UEFA marked this as an own goal by Andriy Yarmolenko, but FIFA technical experts awarded the goal to Bale.[43][44][45]

References

Related Articles

Timelines

Top Qs

Fact Checks