With today’s own goal against Hoffenheim, defender Nikolce Noveski tied a record in the German Bundesliga with six own goals.

The veteran Macedonian defender Nikolce Noveski tied an unfortunate record that was held by Manfred Kaltz.  Both players have now compiled six own goals in the German Bundesliga but the currently retired Kaltz accomplished the feat in 581 Bundesliga games while Noveski did it in only 173 games in the top division of Germany.

The own goal in today’s game came in the 9th minute after Hoffenheim player Boris Vukčević tried to make a cross but Noveski stuck out his left leg and the ball inadvertently went past the hapless Mainz keeper to the back of the net.  The keeper was anticipating a cross but the deflection threw him off and it resulted in an own goal.  The encounter between Hoffenheim and Mainz would end 1:1 after striker Mohamed Zidan scored the equalizing goal in the 29th minute.  Noveski, the Mainz captain, started in his usual left CB position and played the entire game.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=gQ4qES-jE7o

The last two own goals for Noveski have actually come against Hoffenheim,  Besides today, his last own goal came earlier this season when Mainz lost 0:4 at home against Hoffenheim.  As for the other four own goals by Noveski, two came in the same game against Eintracht Frankfurt during a 2:2 draw in 2005 (Noveski also scored one goal for Mainz so it was an unusual hat-trick) while the other two own goals occurred in games against Bayern München and Kaiserslautern.