Comparing the Stats Across the Biggest Soccer Leagues
by Tyler Doty
Comparing the Statistics Across the Biggest Soccer Leagues in the World
This weekend is packed with big fixtures around Europe’s major leagues, along with the MLS Cup between LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls. It’s nearing the halfway point of the European season, so we have a sufficient sample to take a look at data.
In Serie A, we’ve got Atalanta hosting Milan and Lazio visiting league leaders Napoli. The Merseyside derby is Saturday’s early Premier League kick-off before Tottenham take on Chelsea on Sunday.
Villarreal head to San Mamés to face Athletic Club and Atletico Madrid welcome Sevilla in La Liga. Borussia Monchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund matchup in the headline Bundesliga encounter, and Eredivisie leaders PSV Eindhoven face in-form Twente.
Bundesliga: Home of Goals
The Premier League set a goals-per-game record in the 2023-24 campaign at almost 3.3.
Major League Soccer has averaged 3.12 goals per game in the 2024 campaign, including some high-scoring playoff matches. It is, however, the Bundesliga that boasts the most goals per game.
German football not only has 3.22 goals per game, but its 62% hit rate is the highest, too. MLS is only narrowly behind at 61%, with Ligue 1 and the Premier League seeing 56% of matches go over 2.5 total goals so far this season.
Interestingly, the Bundesliga shows a greater tendency for one-sided matches. Where the Premier League’s BTTS mark is seven percentage points higher than the over 2.5 rate, only 57% of Bundesliga matches have seen both teams score. This means a chunk of matches are hitting the over with one of the teams failing to score.
First-Half Value
Even more notably than their full-time goal totals, the Bundesliga is the home of high-scoring first halves.
Half of Bundesliga matches this season have seen over 1.5 first-half goals. This is often a longer-odds option compared to backing over 2.5 or over 3 goals.
This is where there’s a meaningful difference between Germany’s topflight and the other major leagues. Ligue 1 (43%) is the only other league hitting over 1.5 first-half goals in more than 37% of its matches.
Unsurprisingly, the longshot wager of both teams to score in both halves lands most often in the Bundesliga (10%).
At the other end of the spectrum, only 70% of La Liga matches have over 0.5 first-half goals.
Struggles on the Road
La Liga has the lowest away winning percentage. It shares the highest home-winning percentage with Ligue 1.
Spanish fans don’t tend to travel as much as their counterparts in England, Germany, and other Western European countries. This is partly down to a lot of evening kick-off times making travel difficult, but there are economic forces at play, too.
This isn’t all down to in-stadium support. The numbers are still in the same ballpark as the other leagues covered in the table below, but it’s not surprising to see La Liga teams finding it difficult to win on the road.
The 47% winning percentage for home teams further emphasizes this point – home teams are more likely to win in Spain than in England, Italy, Germany or the USA.
There is a meaningful gap in the number of draws with Ligue 1 (22%) at the bottom end and Serie A (29%) at the top end. Premier League and Serie A sides are the least likely to win at home, though it’s still early to be confident this is a season-long trend.
Statistics across Europe’s top five leagues and MLS
Below, you'll find a comparative table of the key statistics across the top five leagues. This will help guide you toward the league most likely to validate the types of predictions you favor.
| Stat | Premier League | La Liga | Serie A | Bundesliga | MLS | Ligue 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home Win % | 42% | 47% | 41% | 44% | 45% | 47% |
| Draw % | 28% | 26% | 29% | 24% | 25% | 22% |
| Away Win % | 30% | 27% | 30% | 32% | 30% | 31% |
| BTTS % | 63% | 54% | 49% | 57% | 63% | 55% |
| Over 2.5% | 56% | 49% | 51% | 62% | 61% | 56% |
| Over 1.5 HT % | 36% | 30% | 33% | 50% | 43% | 37% |
| Average Goals | 2.92 | 2.61 | 2.70 | 3.22 | 3.12 | 2.98 |
