Sportradar Analyzes Goals from Europe’s Top Leagues Over the Last 20 Years

Switzerland – May 30, 2025 – www.zonadeazar.com – Sportradar has analyzed more than 98,000 goals scored in the five major European football leagues over the past 20 years. The goal of the company—global leader in sports data and technology—was to discover which league delivers the most excitement to fans.

The company used average goals per game as the main criterion to assess the excitement level of matches. For this, they examined over 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 global football and over 100 sports organizations, including FIFA, UEFA, AFC, and CONMEBOL. In addition, the company has exclusive data access and is responsible for the industry’s largest distribution of football content.

Despite having the highest average goals in a single season over the past 20 years (3.28 in 2023/24), the Premier League does not lead in excitement. According to Sportradar’s AI-powered analysis, that title belongs to Germany’s Bundesliga.

Since the 2005/06 season, over 18,000 goals have been scored in the Bundesliga—even though the league only has 18 teams. As a result, it played between 1,000 and 1,500 fewer matches than other top European leagues during the same period.

Consequently, Bundesliga fans have seen an average of 2.96 goals per game over the past two decades. This figure surpasses the averages of 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 spans 20 seasons or 100 individual league campaigns, also raises questions of interest to any football fan. Questions like: Which league is becoming more exciting? And which one is seeing fewer goals?

Other Highlights

  • Ligue 1 has emerged as one of the most thrilling competitions in Europe, with its average goals per game rising from 2.13 (in 2005/06) to 2.96 (in 2024/25).

  • La Liga has experienced a decline in goal production. In 2005/06, it averaged 2.46 goals per game, similar to the Premier League. That figure grew in the following decade, peaking at 2.94 in the 2016/17 season—during the prime of stars like Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Neymar, and Cristiano Ronaldo. Since then, the average has dropped to 2.62 goals per game in the 2024/25 season.

Editor: @_fonta – www.zonadeazar.com

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