An analysis of C League goal-scoring
Football is a game of goals but the rarity of goals - the transformative event in a match - is one of the beauties of football. In no other major sport is scoring some rare.
In the worlds top leagues rates of goal-scoring are remarkably consistent - the mean number of goals per match is about 2.5 with around 50% of games having 2 or fewer strikes. The table below shows this information from the top five European leagues last season.
In ASEAN leagues, as the quality of football declines, the number of goals increases. The table below shows the data from this year from four ASEAN leagues including here in Cambodia.
Football is a game of goals but the rarity of goals - the transformative event in a match - is one of the beauties of football. In no other major sport is scoring some rare.
In the worlds top leagues rates of goal-scoring are remarkably consistent - the mean number of goals per match is about 2.5 with around 50% of games having 2 or fewer strikes. The table below shows this information from the top five European leagues last season.
| Goals Per Match | >2.5 goals | >3.5 goals | |
| EPL | 2.57 | 48% | 26% |
| Italy | 2.69 | 51% | 29% |
| Spain | 2.66 | 48% | 27% |
| France | 2.49 | 45% | 24% |
| Germany | 2.75 | 51% | 32% |
In ASEAN leagues, as the quality of football declines, the number of goals increases. The table below shows the data from this year from four ASEAN leagues including here in Cambodia.
| Goal Per Match | >2.5 goals | >3.5 goals | |
| Thailand | 2.57 | 46% | 24% |
| Vietnam | 2.95 | 56% | 34% |
| Malaysia | 3.1 | 55% | 39% |
| Cambodia | 4 | 70% | 50% |
Outside Thailand, which shows patterns very similar to the top European leagues, ASEAN is a region of goals and Cambodia a Kingdom of Goals. More than half the matches in this years Metfone C League have had 4 or more goals - twice the total from the goal-shy Ligue 1.
The number of goals per team in the C League, with the league mean of 4 indicated and teams organised based on league position, also shows an interesting pattern:
The teams at the top and bottom of the league have goal-filed games - presumably filling their boots (or getting thrashed) when they meet each other - as epitomised by Boeung Ket's 12-2 victory over bottom side Kirivong. Teams in the middle of the table have less goals in their games with National Police fans seeing just 2.6 goals per game.
The most common score-line this season so far has been a fairly conventional 2-1 (13% of matches) but it is the large number of abnormal score-lines 3-3 or above that causes the C League goal-skew. Eleven games - 14% of matches so far this season - have had 7 or more goals compared to just 6 (1.6%) in the 2014/2015 English Premier League. In addition to the 12-2 mentioned above we have had a 9-5, a 6-4, 5-3 and more whilst only 4 matches (5%) have finished goal-less.
As, and when, the quality of the C League improves and the gap between teams at the top and teams at the bottom narrows it is likely that the number of goals per game will decrease. For the moment, however, if goals are your thing and matches more resembling basketball games than Catenaccio excite the Cambodian league has something for you,
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