“After watching Dom Ballard’s backheel volley for Bristol City against Birmingham in game week two of the Championship, it begs the question: what’s the earliest in a season a goal has gone on to win goal of the season?” asks Ricardio Sentulio.There is no doubting Dom Ballard’s outrageous flick for Bristol City at Birmingham City should be a Puskás contender, especially with his finish kissing the crossbar on its way in, and has a very good chance of being the best goal scored in the 2026-27 Championship season, even though there is a long way to go.Ballard’s wondergoal was scored on 22 August, on gameweek two. Eleven years ago to that day, Marco Matias notched this ridiculous effort for Sheffield Wednesday at Leeds United, although it should be said that Yorkshire derby was gameweek four, so technically later in the 2015-16 season than Ballard’s. Matias was given the goal of the season gong in April 2016.The earliest Championship goal of the season we could find was the 2022-23 effort from Ismaïla Sarr for Watford. The Senegalese, now at Palace, scored from the halfway line to stun West Brom on the opening day (8 August). It doesn’t get much earlier, especially as Sarr’s strike was just 12 minutes into the match.David Beckham’s famous goal for Manchester United against Wimbledon in 1996-97, lobbing Neil Sullivan from the halfway line – later voted the best of that Premier League campaign – was also on the opening day of the league season but came later in the year (11 days after Sarr) and also in the 87th minute (so 75 minutes later than Sarr in the match).A 21-year-old David Beckham, there, on his way to superstardom. Photograph: Tony O’Brien/Action Images/ReutersIn Scotland, the 2017-18 SPFA goal of the season was given to Kieran Tierney for Celtic versus Kilmarnock, also on 8 August (2017) in the League Cup. Even though that is the same date as Sarr’s strike, the cup tie actually came three days after Celtic’s opening league game, a 4-1 win over Hearts on 5 August 2017. We could also mention that Celtic’s Jota once scored a goal of the month (for August even though the goal was in July) for Celtic against Aberdeen (31 July 2022, game one).We finish with a goal that probably doesn’t quite fit into this category but is too good to ignore or forget. Schalke’s goal of the year (not season, it should be stated) in 2013 came as early as on 27 July but comes with three caveats: a) it was in a pre-season friendly; b) it was by a player that wasn’t even on Schalke’s books at the time of scoring; and c) it was a tap-in.After two successful years at Schalke, Raúl had joined Al-Sadd, with a pre-season friendly arranged as part of the deal. So when Al-Sadd travelled to Gelsenkirchen on 27 July 2013, Raúl agreed to play the first half for his new side and the second half for Schalke. The Spaniard scored twice for the latter, the first of which was a textbook right-place-right-time finish from two yards out. To understand why it was voted Schalke’s goal of the year, you are going to have to check out the assist from a teenage Julian Draxler. Have you any earlier examples from further afield? Mail us with your questions and answers.Spinning plates“Has a club’s player-manager ever been called up for an international cap, or travelled to play during an international break in the club season?” asks Frederick Sondheimer-Acosta.Let’s start with a couple of famous examples from the Scotland team of the mid-1980s. “Kenny Dalglish became Liverpool player-manager in the summer of 1985 and subsequently played a few games for Scotland, including the first leg of their World Cup playoff win against Australia,” writes Dom Miller. “He won his 100th cap against Romania in March 1986 and was initially selected for the World Cup squad but withdrew due to a knee injury picked up in the FA Cup final (there has always been a suspicion he didn’t go because his mate Alan Hansen wasn’t picked). Dalglish won his last two caps in the autumn of 1986.”Player-manager Kenny Dalglish (top right) and Liverpool celebrate winning the 1985-86 First Division at Stamford Bridge. Dalglish scored the winning goal to beat Chelsea and clinch the title. Photograph: David Cannon/Getty ImagesScotland, with Alex Ferguson in temporary charge after the tragic death of Jock Stein, did have a player-manager in their squad for the World Cup. Graeme Souness was appointed by Rangers in April and played the first two games at Mexico 86, when Scotland were a little unfortunate to lose to Denmark and West Germany. But Souness struggled with the altitude, saying he never felt worse on a football field than during the West Germany game, and Ferguson left him out of their final group match against Uruguay.Another mighty, all-purpose midfielder, Johnny Giles, went one better than Souness. “Perhaps uniquely, Giles held player-manager positions for club and country simultaneously,” writes Bruce Mair. “He was player-manager of the Republic of Ireland, a part-time post, from May 1973 until March 1980 while playing for Leeds United (1973-75) and serving as player-manager of both West Bromwich Albion (1975-77) and Shamrock Rovers (1977-80). Giles selected himself for 24 of his 59 international appearances.”Those are the most high-profile examples in Britain and Ireland, but there are dozens more cases – thanks to Bruce Mair, in particular, for doing so much work on this. We’ve picked some of the more interesting examples: