No jeopardy but loads of fun – Champions League sets new goals record
The revamped Champions League, introduced at the start of the 2024-25 season, is delivering more matches, more teams and, most notably, more goals. So far this campaign has produced 187 goals, an average of 4.16 per game, the highest scoring rate in the competition’s history. By comparison, the Premier League averages 2.9 goals per match, La Liga 3.03 and the Bundesliga 3.69. Remarkably, there have been no goalless draws in the tournament to date.
Former Manchester United winger Ashley Young praised the goal‑fest on BBC Radio 5 Live, saying, “Look how many goals have been scored, it’s phenomenal. The attackers are being clinical.” Former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock called the tally “incredible”.
Statistically, this season’s goals‑per‑game figure is the third‑best ever in European Cup history, trailing only the 1959-60 season (4.19) and the 1955-56 season (4.38). Tuesday’s nine matches produced 40 goals, while the previous Wednesday saw 46 goals, the third‑highest‑scoring day ever, surpassed only by the final league‑phase matchdays of 2024-25 and 2025-26 when 18 games were played. The combined 78 goals from those two days set a new record for the highest‑scoring matchday, eclipsing the 69 goals scored on matchday one, which had been the second‑best tally since the new league phase began.
Will the record be broken again this week? It is already halfway there.
The format change that sparked this surge was first announced by UEFA in 2021 and took effect for the 2024-25 season. The competition has evolved from a six‑team invitational in 1955-56 to a 32‑team knockout tournament in 1967, and finally to the Champions League format launched in 1992. A group stage was added later, with the last 16 entering knockout rounds; a brief experiment with two group stages was abandoned after the 2003-04 campaign, returning to a single group stage.
Under the new system, the traditional 32‑team group stage has been replaced by a 36‑team league phase. Each club plays eight single‑match fixtures instead of the previous six games against three opponents. The eight highest‑placed teams progress directly to the knockout stage, while those finishing ninth to 24th enter a two‑legged play‑off. The bottom 12 are eliminated, meaning that after eight matches, 24 clubs remain in contention. Critics argue that the reduced risk of elimination encourages teams to adopt a more open, attacking approach.
The Times’ football writer Tom Allnutt offered a nuanced view on BBC Radio 5 Live: “I think the entertainment has gone up, although I’m not sure the quality has gone up. If I’m looking at the games it’s brilliant to watch and thrilling because the football itself is fantastic – but what do they mean? The lack of jeopardy, why would PSG and Barcelona play for a draw, why not go for it? If you need five wins from the eight games you know you’ve got some margin there. If you lose it’s OK. I think the format allows all the teams to loosen up. The entertainment value is there but I think you come away from these matches sometimes and still think ‘what does it all mean?’ The lack of jeopardy early on does deliver entertainment.”
Fans can catch highlights of every Champions League match from 22:00 on Wednesday on BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and the app. A Champions League Match of the Day will also be broadcast on BBC One from 22:40 to 00:00.