own goal

plural own goals · alternative own-goal

1. hobbiesA goal that results from a player putting the ball or puck into the goal of their own team; the resulting goal being scored for the opposition.

   It is 20 years to the day since Escobar was shot dead after scoring the own goal that effectively sealed Colombia’s elimination from USA ’94.

   2014 July 2, Jeremy Wilson, “Andrés Escobar murder: Colombia prepare for biggest ever World Cup match on 20th anniversary of death”, in The Daily Telegraph

   1 more example

   Madagascar's soccer authorities have banned Stade Olympique de L'Emyrne (SOE)'s coach and four of the team's players after they scored a world record 149 own goals in a match last month.

   2002 November 29, “Team punished for 149-0 own-goal farce”, in The Guardian

   Synonyms: self goal, autogoal

2. figurativelyA blunder that damages one’s own prospects.

   No doubt the buzz of army helicopters will sound again in the skies over Belfast tonight, as loyalists continue to score this series of bloody own goals.

   2011 June 22, Fionola Meredith, “Belfast riots are an own goal”, in The Guardian

   2 more examples

   In its penultimate year, for example, starting from when the Provos blew up Canary Wharf in February 1996, the IRA suffered its last 'own goal' when Wexford-born Ed O'Brien blew himself up on a London bus whilst transporting a bomb.

   2008, Henry McDonald, Gunsmoke and mirrors: how Sinn Féin dressed up defeat as victory

   These elections mark a personal humiliation for incumbent Ms. May, who ran a very personalized campaign as a “strong and stable” leader asking British voters to give her a clear mandate to negotiate Brexit. Ms. May scored an unforced own goal by reducing her party’s parliamentary seats and absolute majority.

   2017 June 9, Sotirios Zartaloudis, “Theresa May wins election, but ends up the biggest loser”, in The Globe and Mail