Goals for minus Goals Against = Goals Difference. ”Quick Maths” as Big Shaq would say. Manchester City currently have a +31 goals difference. If they keep up their current rate of scoring plenty and conceding few, they could be hitting +100 goals difference this season.
The current record for highest goals difference in England’s top flight is held by Chelsea. Ancelotti’s brilliant Blues banged in 103 goals in season 2009/10 and conceded only 32. A tally of +71 which is yet to be surpassed.
However, the more impressive feat of +100 or more has actually been achieved in another major European league. It has happened in Germany twice, and rather surprisingly, Bayern Munich are not in the conversation. In the 1936/37 season, Schalke finished with +119, while in 1942/43 Dresdner SC tallied up a goals difference of +136.
Other notable record holders for goals difference in various leagues include: Spanish La Liga – Real Madrid +89 (Season 2011/12), French Ligue 1 – PSG +83 (2015/16) and Italian Serie A – Torino +92 (1947/48).
In all the examples listed, the teams ended up champions of their leagues. That is not shocking at all. However, there are have been teams who manage to win league titles while finishing with very low goals difference.
In a previous edition of Fun Fact x Trivia, I mentioned the AIK team who managed to win a league title in Sweden by scoring only 25 goals in 26 games. I now present a league champion from Ghana who did even ‘better’ and ended with a goals difference of only +9, seven years ago.
Aduana Stars were a newly promoted team in the Ghana Premier League in season 2009/10. They one-cornered the trophy by scoring only 19 goals in 30 matches (!), while conceding just 10. All other 15 teams in their league scored at least 7 more goals than they did. I reckon the fans, players and management of Adauna Stars hardly gave two hoots when the trophy was being lifted though.
Oladimeji Sapoloso
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