Who is scoring the goals in the Champions League?
We have put together a rather cool table, showing which nationalities have scored the goals in this season’s Champions League. As it is, it is pretty interesting to see who has been scoring the goals in the most lucrative club competition in the world, but what is most interesting is the pattern that you can see between the countries scoring the goals in these competitions, and the most successful national sides in the world. Certainly, it seems obvious that the most successful sides in Europe will buy the best players, but there also seems to be a pattern suggesting that having players in the Champions League improves the standard of a national team. And if you have players that can score goals at the highest level…
There are some surprising results. You would have thought that the most successful leagues - England, Spain and Italy - would have more players getting amongst the goals than other countries. Each of these countries has four representatives in the Champions League this season, and so there should be more opportunities for homegrown goals. However, it is surprising to learn that the Yellow Cowdenbeath - Brazil - have more goalscorers than any other nation- by a very long way. Argentina and the Netherlands are also well represented. We will make sure that we keep these tables up to date, so we can track just who the other winners of the Champions League are!
The table of goals, sorted by nationality
|
Nation |
Goals |
|
|
|
|
Brazil |
51 |
|
Italy |
24 |
|
Argentina |
22 |
|
France |
20 |
|
Spain |
20 |
|
England |
16 |
|
Netherlands |
15 |
|
Portugal |
14 |
|
Ivory Coast |
10 |
|
Germany |
9 |
|
Mali |
8 |
|
Sweden |
7 |
|
Serbia |
6 |
|
Scotland |
6 |
|
Czech Republic |
5 |
|
Romania |
5 |
|
F.Y.R. Macedonia |
4 |
|
Greece |
4 |
|
Montenegro |
4 |
|
Turkey |
4 |
|
Israel |
3 |
|
Paraguay |
3 |
|
Denmark |
3 |
|
Norway |
3 |
|
Chile |
3 |
|
Croatia |
2 |
|
Guinea |
2 |
|
Ukraine |
2 |
|
Mexico |
2 |
|
Senegal |
2 |
|
Uruguay |
2 |
|
Cameroon |
1 |
|
Finland |
1 |
|
Belarus |
1 |
|
USA |
1 |
|
Morocco |
1 |
|
Tunisia |
1 |
|
Nigeria |
1 |
|
Australia |
1 |
|
Peru |
1 |
|
Republic of Ireland |
1 |
This is even more interesting when you show the current World Rankings. Only two of the current Top 10 sides in the World are not present in the Top Scorers in the Champions League…(these sides are marked in red)
|
|
|
World Rankings (latest) top 50 |
|
|
|
1 Argentina |
|
2 Brazil |
|
3 Italy |
|
4 Spain |
|
5 Germany |
|
6 Czech Republic |
|
7 France |
|
8 Portugal |
|
9 Netherlands |
|
10 Croatia |
|
11 Greece |
|
12 England |
|
13 Romania |
|
14 Scotland |
|
15 Mexico |
|
16 Turkey |
|
17 Colombia |
|
18 Bulgaria |
|
19 Nigeria |
|
20 USA |
|
21 Paraguay |
|
22 Sweden |
|
23 Poland |
|
24 Russia |
|
25 Cameroon |
And finally, as a special treat. Which teams are scoring the goals this season? Who are the leading scorers in the Champions League? Teams still in the competition are in italics.
|
Club |
Goals |
|
|
|
|
Liverpool |
20 |
|
Sevilla |
19 |
|
Barcelona |
16 |
|
Arsenal |
15 |
|
Man U |
15 |
|
Real Madrid |
15 |
|
Roma |
14 |
|
Fenerbahce |
12 |
|
AC Milan |
12 |
|
Inter |
12 |
|
Lyon |
12 |
|
Chelsea |
12 |
|
Olympiakos |
11 |
|
Sporting |
9 |
|
Porto |
9 |
|
Lazio |
8 |
|
Werder Bremen |
8 |
|
Celtic |
8 |
|
Rangers |
7 |
|
Stuttgart |
7 |
|
Schalke |
6 |
|
CSKA Moscow |
6 |
|
Marseille |
6 |
|
Rosenborg |
6 |
|
Shakhtar Donetsk |
6 |
|
Benfica |
5 |
|
Slavia Prague |
5 |
|
Dynamo Kyiv |
4 |
|
Steaua Bucharest |
4 |
|
Besiktas |
3 |
|
PSV |
3 |
|
Valencia |
2 |
March 6th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
It is interesting that Liverpool are top. 20 goals seems impressive… but of course, 8 were against Besiktas. Take that freak result out and they are down with the masses. That leaves a clear winner: Sevilla.
Sevilla have just been eliminated… so what does that tell us? Perhaps goals conceded are as least as important as goals scored? This will delight Rafa and Fergie…