In Jamal Musiala, Youssoufa Moukoko and Mathys Tel, the Bundesliga boasts some record-breaking teenagers, while more goals have been scored in Germany’s top flight than in any of Europe’s top leagues so far in 2022/23. But how else does it stack up against the continent’s best?
bundesliga.com takes a closer look…
Goals galore
A total of 431 goals have been scored across the 135 fixtures in the Bundesliga’s 15 matchdays so far this season, for an average of 3.19 per game. That is by far the highest of all of Europe’s top five divisions, per UEFA’s coefficient ranking.
France’s Ligue 1 is next (2.96 goals per game), followed by the Premier League (2.87), Serie A (2.58) and LaLiga (2.54). It is no accident – in fact it is the confirmation of a trend in recent years, in which the Bundesliga has regularly averaged more than three goals per game. Entertainment is guaranteed on these shores.
That goes hand-in-hand with the quality of the finishing. The Bundesliga also leads the way in this category, with 16 per cent of chances tucked away – level with Ligue 1. In terms of aerial ability too, players in Germany come up trumps: on average 0.52 headers are scored per game, compared to 0.42 in Ligue 1 and 0.41 in the Premier League. The total number of headers scored (70) is consequently higher in the Bundesliga than anywhere else.
Teenagers to the fore
The Bundesliga has long been known as a hotbed for talented youngsters, with teenagers regularly thrown in at the deep end. A great many of those not only manage to survive, but also thrive – Bayern Munich starlet Musiala chief among them. With nine league goals already this term (not to mention six assists!), he has more than double the tally of all Premier League teenagers in 2022/23 and more than any other U20 players in Europe.
Dortmund’s Moukoko is second in that particular chart with six goals (plus three assists), while Jude Bellingham and Mathys Tel are also in the top five with three apiece. All of which has contributed to 25 goals being scored by teenagers in the Bundesliga this season, considerably more than in France (17), Spain (nine), Italy (eight) and England (four).
Watch: The best of Musiala
Moreover, Moukoko and Tel are among the youngest scorers in the senior game in Europe. Tel became the youngest player ever to hit the net for Bayern when he scored against VfB Stuttgart on Matchday 6 at the age of 17 years and 136 days, placing him second continent-wide this season, behind Desire Doue of Stade Rennes (17 years, 144 days).
Moukoko, the Bundesliga’s all-time youngest ever scorer at 16 years and one day, is third among greenhorns this term. His first goal of the campaign, in the 3-1 win over Freiburg on Matchday 2, arrived when he was 17 years, 265 days old.
Bundesliga – the place to be:
- Fair play: with 23.4 fouls per game on average, the Bundesliga is second only to the Premier League (20.6) this term for the fewest fouls per match.
- Trigger happy: with an average of 25.8 shots per game, only Serie A comes close (25.7).
- Set pieces: 30 per cent of all goals scored in the Bundesliga come from dead-ball situations. Only Ligue 1 has more (32 per cent).
- Only 3.7 per cent of all Bundesliga games have ended 0-0 – a quota only Ligue 1 (4.7 per cent) comes close to matching.