Are you looking for free football statistics? Here’s the sites I recommend.
Article Contents
1. Fbref
Fbref is a website that collects statistics on football teams and players from around the world. The site is jam-packed with tables of data, covering every aspect of the sport — from match breakdowns to player transfers. The player and club profiles even go as far as to include Expected Goals xG (and Expected Saves PSxG for goalkeepers) for all individual players.
One of the most useful features of the site is the ability to export data tables for use in Excel — which makes Fbref more suitable to sports bettors than other alternative sites.
2. Transfermarkt
Transfermarkt is the go-to site for researching player market values and transfer records. But once you dig deeper through Transfermarkt you’ll discover that it’s an outstanding source of football stats its own right.
The site features scores, results, fixtures, achievements, form rankings, club statistics, record holders, team comparisons, detailed goal statistics, comprehensive player/manager/club profiles, and far more features than I can truly give justice to in a short blurb. I highly recommend taking a look.
3. Squawka
Squawka features an Opta-powered ‘Comparison Matrix’ which enables visitors to compare any team or player to their peers or competitors, using a vast range of data items and metrics. The tool is highly user-friendly.
Squawka has many applications — such as Fantasy Football, researching statistics for articles/blogs/punditry, settling debates, and general fan interest. It’s one of the stats sites that I’ve frequently returned to over the years.
4. WhoScored
WhoScored is one of the most recognised free football statistics websites. It provides live scores, match results and player ratings from the top football leagues and competitions.
The site gives simple, insightful, snapshots of upcoming games. It’s particularly interesting that the engine behind WhoScored is able to charaterise teams by the way they typically play — highlighting both their strengths and weaknesses.
5. Football-Data
Football-Data provides historical results & odds to help football betting enthusiasts to create a profitable system. The data is downloadable in Excel and CSV format. Over the years I’ve found this site an excellent resource for back-testing simple strategies at bookmaker prices.
6. Understat
Understat is one of the best free sources for Expected goals (xG) stats — the football metric that evaluates team and player performance based on the quality of goal scoring chances. More and more sports analysts turn to this advanced model in order to gain a more accurate insight into football matches. So this site is highly valuable for sports bettors.
7. SoccerStats
SoccerStats provides simple football statistics from all major leagues. It features match stats, form, head to heads, half time, goal minutes and first goal stats. I particularly enjoy the ‘analysis’ section of each recent fixture, which gives a detailed breakdown of the game, including a ‘surprise level’ — which measures how much the result can be considered an upset.
8. FootyStats
9. The Punters Page
ThePuntersPage features a Football Stats Centre which provides basic statistics for all the major leagues. It’s particularly useful for individual player stats detailing who has the most Goals, Offsides, Fouls, Assists, Penalties, Total Shots, Goal Involvements, Tackles, and Shots On Target for the current season.
10. FootStats
FootStats provides League Tables, Form Guides, team analyses, and forecasts for the main top flight football leagues. When I first visited FootStats I was immediately drawn to the referees section which highlights all of the most card-friendly officials!
Importance of Football Statistics
Football statistics have several applications — such as Fantasy Football, research for articles/blogs/punditry, and, of course, settling debates with other fans!
Stats also enable sports bettors to challenge what they think, and to base decisions around pure facts. Therefore it serves as a “sanity check” which helps to counteract many of the irrational views we hold as biased football fans.
The above list of sites serve as a great starting point for football betting research. By closely analysing players and teams you can begin to identify fan/media biases — and therefore price inaccuracies — in the betting markets. That’s one big step towards creating a profitable betting selection method, or football prediction model.
When Stats Are Most Effective
Football market inaccuracies are most common at the start of a new season, when players, coaches and teams haven’t fully settled in. At this time there’s more opportunity for bettors.
During the summer break, all fans really have to base their opinions around are the standings from the previous season, predictions from well-known pundits or journalists, the (typically hyped-up) summer transfers, and media speculation. There’s so much change and uncertainty before the season starts that the bookmakers and betting exchanges are unlikely to accurately price all odds.
Odds sharpen as the season progresses. Markets smarten up. It becomes increasingly difficult to find an edge in your bets. Therefore football stats are likely to have most effect at the beginning of the new season.
Always remember that football statistics and analyses can only be used a guideline for what to expect in the future. There are limitations to how much insight stats can give.
To learn more about what to look for in football betting, check out my Football Betting Guide.
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