Goal average is one of the important statistics used in football to be able to determine the overall standing of a team during a league or a game season. The number is derived by dividing the total number of goals scored by a team by the total number of goals conceded. This number was eventually replaced by the goal difference that allows teams to get a higher number compared to the usual goal average. The change from using the goal difference in ranking teams instead of the goal average also encouraged teams to focus on their attack plays while keeping the number of goals conceded low. The goal difference is the number of goals a team achieves in a season minus the total number of goals scored by their opponents.
Goal Average versus Goal Difference
The goal average was used for many years in professional football games. It has been mainly used in English leagues from 1888-89 as well as 1978-79. It was mainly used to tie breaks when finalizing the total team points during a major football season. It has been used for many years but was considered to be an inaccurate way to determine how strong or how week a team is. A team earning 8 goals and losing 3 to the competition gives them a goal average of 2.66. Meanwhile, a team that gets a total goal score of 3 and concedes a single goal to the opposing team gets a goal average of 3, regarded as a higher position, when in fact, scoring 5 goals is way better than scoring 3 alone. Thus, the goal difference was later introduced to replace the goal average and since then was used to determine ties between opposing teams in a league.
Titles Decided By Goal Difference
The goal difference was initially introduced in 1970 during the FIFA World Cup games. It was used to tie breaks for teams playing in the league. It was later adopted in England at the Football Leagues in 1975 and began spreading to many other professional football matches. It was used to replace the goal average, also known as the goal ratio. Several competitions were decided via the goal difference value. The Netherlands' top fights in 2007 when PSV Eindhoven fought with Ajax. 2012's match between Manchester City and Manchester United and the 2014 match between Debreceni VSC and Gyori ETO FC were all decided via the goal difference. Earlier matches decided via the goal difference were back in 1981-192 during the England League match between Portsmouth and Plymouth Argyle as well as the battle between Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday in 1983-1984.
