SOCCER
LaLiga Santander goal average the lowest in all of Europe’s top leagues
The Spanish league currently has the worst goals per game average of the top European leagues.
La Liga is experiencing its worst scoring streak in more than 30 years. And that data comes out looking even more stark when compared to the rest of Europe’s top leagues.
The Spanish competition has recorded the worst goal average so far this season, with 2.42 goals per game (581 goals in the 240 games played so far). Not since the 1991/1992 season has such a poor record been seen in Spain. That is 913 goals in the 380 games played, at a rate of just 2.40 goals per game.
There are still 140 games to fix this average, but the trend is not positive, as could be seen in the last match day: four of the ten games ended 0-0. LaLiga has seen 17 goalless draws this season.
However, the lack of goals is not synonymous with quality, at least in the fight for the title, since the Spanish competition has the second most prominent leader of the main European leagues: Barça lead nine points ahead of Real Madrid in second place. Only Napoli, the undisputed leader of Serie A, with 15 points more than Inter, have a greater advantage than the Catalans.
The Italian league has a reputation for having defensive approaches by many of the teams, but it now exceeds the Spanish League in average goals (2.52 per game). The Premier League (2.71), Ligue 1 (2.84) and, above all, the Bundesliga, which has 3.16 goals per game, surpass LaLiga. Other leagues like the Dutch Eredivise (2.99) and even the Portuguese Liga NOS (2.45) have better data. As for the Champions League and the Europa League, they both sit above LaLiga, on 2.6.
The German first division has beaten the rest and become the league with the highest goal average in recent years: since the 2018/2019 campaign it has always been above three goals per game, something that has not been seen in Spain so far in the entirety of the 21st century. In fact, to find an average as low as Spain’s this season, one has to look at the data from the French league during the 2010/2011 campaign, which ended on 2.34 goals per game.
Average goals per game
Bundesliga (Germany) 3.16 goals per game
Eredivise (Netherlands) 2.99
Ligue 1 (France) 2.84
Premier League (England) 2.71
Serie A (Italy) 2.52
Liga NOS (Portugal) 2.45
LaLiga Santander (Spain) 2.42