Barbados 4 - 2 Grenada: The Most Bizarre Game in Football History

The 1994 Caribbean Cup produced one of the most bizarre games of football in history. 

It was the tournament’s sixth edition and, this time, there was a catch. The organisers introduced an unusual rule: any goal scored in extra time would end the game (golden goal) and count as two goals. 

Barbados and Grenada were drawn into a group of three with Puerto Rico. Going into the last group game, Barbados not only had to win, but they also had to win by two goals to go through to the final as Grenada led the group by three points.

In what looked like an easy game, Barbados took an early 2-0 lead. It looked as though it was all going to plan - that’s until the 83^rd minute when Grenada scored to make it 2-1. 

With seven minutes remaining, Barbados needed to score another goal to go through to the next stage. But it looked unlikely as Grenada deployed an ultra-defensive strategy. 

The clock was ticking, and Barbados were losing hope.

In a stroke of genius, one Barbadian striker remembered that a goal in extra-time counted as two goals. So, whilst winning 2-1, the striker took the ball and blasted it in his own net - making it 2-2. This would force the game to go to extra time and give Barbados another chance to achieve a two-goal lead.

Though stunned, the Grenada players realised that they could score an own goal too to prevent the game from going to extra-time. 

Chaos erupted. In the dying embers, the Grenadian players were trying to score an own goal and the Barbadian players were trying to prevent Grenada from scoring an own goal, and at the same time, trying to prevent them from scoring an actual goal. 

Before either side could score another, the referee blew his whistle for extra-time.

With the Grenada players exhausted, the Barbadian ingenuity was rewarded. Within four minutes of extra-time, their striker received the ball from an angle and volleyed it across goal. 

Barbados won the game but - most importantly - the goal counted as two. Grenada was knocked out of the tournament and Barbados went through to the final.

“I feel cheated, the person who came up with the rules must be a candidate for the madhouse,” said Grenada’s manager James Clarkson. “In football, you are supposed to score against your opponents in order to win, not for them.” 

While some stories are urban myths, fortunately, we have video evidence of this game here.