Own Goals in Europe’s Top Leagues: Who Tops the List?

Goals in football can come from the unlikeliest of places, from goalkeepers scoring last-minute winners to cruel own goals. Goals are the heart of the game, and usually the most memorable part of it. That’s why the players who score them end up as superstars and fan favourites.

It’s the forwards – the ones paid to attack and finish chances – that everyone knows, even people who barely follow football. You see them everywhere, from billboards and video game covers to online slots, which have become a popular form of entertainment for a lot of people. Many licensed casinos now carry football-themed games, and some even feature real stars. For example, Playtech’s “Top Trumps Football Stars” slot shows the faces of famous scorers like Neymar, Messi, and Ronaldo. For more info on which licensed operators offer the biggest game libraries, check out sites like Legalcasino, which break down the platforms and what they provide.

However, not every goal gets a roar from the crowd. Own goals, for example, often stand out because they are so dramatic, and crushing for the players who have scored one. But how often do they appear in football matches on average?

Own Goals In The Premier League

The number of goals in the Premier League has been going up in the last few seasons. There were, incredibly, 14 more of them in the 2023/24 season compared to the 2021/22 season. However, the 2024/25 season produced just 33 own goals, the lowest total seen in the league over the past five years. So it’s clear these numbers can swing from season to season.

When looking at statistics, it is helpful to look at averages rather than individual seasons. That’s because there can easily be outliers in a single season that defies the normal trends, such as the considerably low tally in 2024/25.

•  2024/25 – 33
•  2023/24 – 49
•  2022/23 – 46
•  2021/22 – 35
•  2020/21 – 42

From the five completed seasons above, there was an average of 41 own-goals per season. Out of the 1900 matches (380 per season) in total from those five campaigns, an own goal occurred roughly once every nine matches on average.

Given that there are ten matches per round of Premier League action, punters can, at best, expect one to happen roughly every round.

The Wider European Picture

In the 2024/25 German Bundesliga season, there were 25 own goals. With only 306 matches in a full Bundesliga campaign, that works out at roughly one every 12.2 games.

In Spain’s La Liga, there were 26 own goals, which is about one every 14.6 matches, while in Italy’s Serie A, there were 37, or roughly one every 10.3 games. So if you’re looking at own goals as part of your goals markets, Serie A edges it on frequency, while the Premier League still sits in the mix based on its recent five-season average.

European Championships

Of the first six goals scored at the Euro 2024, five were own goals. There were a total of ten own goals at the tournament, which was more than the first fifteen European Championship editions combined.

The main reason cited was that more teams were playing with low blocks, a tactical set-up that crowds a penalty box, making deflections more common. But sheer bad luck is the biggest cause of own goals.

World Cup

There have been 2,720 goals scored at all World Cups, and only 54 have been own goals. The tournament, like all do, goes through changes with an average of around 3.5 own goals per tournament between 2002 and 2014 inclusive. But Russia 2018 had a staggering 12 own goals before things calmed down dramatically with just two at Qatar 2022.

The Probability of Own Goals

To get an overview of the probability of an own goal, let’s refer back to last season’s Premier League, which had an extremely high tally.

•  There were 33 own goals in the 2024/25 Premier League season from 380 matches
  
•  33 own goals / 380 matches = 0.0868 own goals per match
  
•  0868 × 100 = 8.68% chance of an own goal in a Premier League match
  
•  In implied probability, that equates to roughly 11.52 decimal odds

In Summary

Own goals are one of football’s most unpredictable moments, and they rarely follow a clean pattern from match to match. An attack-minded team who are taking on an opponent that’s likely to sit in a low block could give rise to the potential of one happening. But a goalkeeper error, a deflection from a defender protecting a direct free kick or a simple miss-kick into their net, can happen to anyone at any time.