30 October 2011 - That's Not A Bad Consolation Prize

On 30 October 2011, defender Ryujiro Ueda scored with a header from his own half to lead Fagiano Okayama over Yokohama FC 1-0.

The teams met at Yokohama's Mitsuzawa Stadium in a Japanese second division league match. The game was scoreless until the 69th minute, when the Yokohama goalkeeper Kentaro Seki took a long goal kick, sending the ball over the midfield line. Ueda rushed forward to meet it in the air and headed it back toward Seki, who was caught well off his line.

The ball landed in front of Seki, then bounced over his head. He raced back toward his goal, but was unable to get a hand to the ball until after it crossed the line, giving the visitors the 0-1 lead. An unofficial measurement taken by the grounds staff set the distance of the strike at 58.6 meters, which would have made it a new world record for longest headed goal, beating the previous record of 58.13 meters set by Jone Samuelsen for Odd Grenland in a Norwegian league game the previous month. But an subsequent official measurement reduced the distance to 57.8 meters.

Still, while falling short of the record, Ueda's strike gave his team the win. Fagiano went on to finish the season in the table's thirteenth spot, five places above Yokohama.