Sportradar has analyzed more than 98,000 goals scored in Europe’s top five leagues over the last 20 years. The aim of the company, a global leader in sports data and technology for sport, was to find out which one delivers the most emotion to fans.
The company used the average number of goals per game as a criterion to measure the level of emotion in matches. To do this, he analyzed more than 36,000 matches played in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain between the 2005/06 and 2024/25 seasons.
With more than two decades of experience, Sportradar works with the biggest names in world soccer and more than 100 sports organizations. These include FIFA, UEFA, AFC and CONMEBOL. It also has exclusive access to data and is responsible for the largest distribution of soccer content in the industry.
Even with the highest average number of goals in a season in the last 20 years (3.28 in 2023/24), the Premier League doesn’t lead in excitement. According to Sportradar’s artificial intelligence analysis, this position belongs to the Bundesliga in Germany.
Since the 2005/06 season, more than 18,000 goals have been scored in the Bundesliga, even with the 18-team league. As a result, because it has fewer teams, the league played between 1,000 and 1,500 fewer matches than the other major European leagues in the same period.
As a result, fans of the German league have seen an average of 2.96 goals per game over these two decades. The figure is therefore higher than the averages recorded in the Premier League (2.74) – England; Serie A (2.68) – Italy; La Liga (2.66) – Spain, and Ligue 1 (2.53) – France.
The analysis, which covers 20 seasons or 100 individual campaigns, also raises questions that interest any soccer fan. Questions like which league is getting more exciting? And in which of them have goals appeared less frequently?
Other highlights
• Ligue 1 has established itself as one of the most exciting competitions in Europe, with the average number of goals per game rising from 2.13 (in 2005/06) to 2.96 (in 2024/25).
– La Liga has seen a drop in the number of goals. In 2005/06, the average was 2.46 goals per game, similar to the Premier League. The average grew over the next decade, reaching a peak of 2.94 goals per game in 2016/17 – a time when the likes of Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo were at their peak. Since then, the average has dropped to 2.62 goals per game in the 2024/25 season.
