Average Fouls per Match by League (2025/26): Full Table, Home vs Away and First Half (9,545 Matches)

Quick answer: the average football match has 24.5 fouls. Across 9,545 league matches in 29 leagues from the 2025/26 season, away teams committed 12.45 fouls per match and home teams 12.03. The first half produced 11.70 and the second half 12.78. The median was 24, and six in ten matches finished with between 20 and 29 fouls.

Unlike corners, the league really matters here: Italy's Serie B averaged 29.93 fouls per match, the A-League only 20.80, and the Premier League 21.64.

Data: StatPair match database · 29 domestic leagues · 2025/26 season (2025 for leagues that run on the calendar year) · league matches only, no cups, friendlies or European competitions · Updated: 25 October 2026

TL;DR

• The average is 24.48 fouls per match (9,545 matches). The median is 24 and the most common total was 23.
• Away teams foul slightly more: 12.45 against 12.03, in 24 of 29 leagues.
• The second half is busier: 12.78 fouls against 11.70, in 28 of 29 leagues.
• Leagues range by more than nine fouls. Highest: Serie B (29.93), Greek Super League (28.88), Primeira Liga (27.52). Lowest: A-League Men (20.80), Bundesliga (20.93), Championship (21.44).
• The record in our sample is 55 fouls: Sampdoria 1-1 Virtus Entella in Serie B on 16 January 2026. The lowest was six.
• More fouls mean more cards, but not one for one. Matches with 29+ fouls averaged 5.35 yellows, those with 18 or fewer 2.84.

How we measured it

Which matches. The same selection as our corners by league table and yellow cards by league table: every domestic league with at least 150 matches in its latest completed season, league matches only. The sample runs from 23 January 2025 to 20 June 2026.

What counts. Fouls committed by each team over 90 minutes plus added time. Second-half fouls are the full-match total minus the first half. All 9,545 matches had full-time and first-half foul counts for both teams.

A check. The five big leagues in our fouls betting strategy guide (Serie A 25.3, Premier League 21.6 and so on) match this table once rounded. That guide explains how to build a fouls bet; this one gives you the baselines for 29 leagues.

Average fouls per match: full league table

Fouls committed per match; home and away are fouls committed by that side. "Over 23.5" is the share of matches with 24 or more. Argentina, both Brazilian leagues, MLS and the J1 League are the 2025 season; the rest are 2025/26.

The high-foul leagues

Serie B stands out: 29.93 fouls per match over 388 matches, and 45.1% of its games had more than 30. The Greek Super League (28.88) is next, then Portugal, Brazil's Série A and Turkey, all between 27.1 and 27.5.

The low-foul leagues

The A-League (20.80) and the Bundesliga (20.93) had the fewest, followed by the Championship (21.44), the Premier League (21.64) and the Eredivisie (21.73). All four English divisions sit below the overall average.

A bigger gap than corners

The range is 9.13 fouls per match, or 37% of the average. For corners, the gap between the top and bottom league was about 18% of the average. Only 12 of the 29 leagues sit within 1.5 fouls of the overall 24.48, so for fouls the league is a large part of the answer.

For comparison, the 2025/26 Champions League averaged 22.62 fouls (226 matches) and the Europa League 24.91 (195).

How many fouls are there in a match? The distribution

The most common total was 23 (6.9% of matches). The standard deviation was 5.96 fouls, so even an average match can easily land six fouls either side of the line. Only 130 matches (1.4%) had 12 fouls or fewer, and 93 (1.0%) had 40 or more.

Main lines and fair odds (all 29 leagues)

Fair odds = 100 ÷ probability. A 54.1% chance is worth 100 ÷ 54.1 = 1.85.

These are averages across all 29 leagues. Over 23.5 fouls landed in 86.6% of Serie B matches and only 25.6% of A-League matches, so use the league column from the main table. In the Premier League, 43.3% of matches had 20 fouls or fewer and only 4.5% more than 30; in Serie B it was 4.1% and 45.1%.

Most fouls in a football match: the records in our sample

Serie B holds the top three. The highest count for one team was Juventude's 32 fouls away at Grêmio on 26 October 2025. Inter committed 29 in their 1-0 win at Roma, so heavy fouling is no sign of a losing side. The lowest total was six fouls, in Sint-Truiden 1-3 Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium on 22 March 2026.

Home vs away fouls

Away teams committed 12.45 fouls per match and home teams 12.03. The away side committed more in 49.5% of matches, the home side in 43.0%. The away team fouled more in 24 of 29 leagues; the exceptions were both Brazilian divisions, the Segunda División, the Primeira Liga and Liga MX. The gap was widest in Argentina (12.04 home, 13.25 away) and League Two (11.03 against 12.25).

This isn't only losing away teams chasing the game. In the 2,854 matches the away team won, it still committed 12.60 fouls against 11.86 for the home side. Across all 7,023 matches with a winner, winners committed 12.31 fouls and losers 12.07. Close games had slightly more fouls: one-goal games averaged 24.80 (3,794 matches), wins by three or more 23.27 (1,300).

First-half vs second-half fouls

The first half produced 11.70 fouls and the second half 12.78, so 47.8% of fouls came before the break. The second half had more fouls in 54.7% of matches and the first half in 36.2%. The second half was busier in 28 of 29 leagues; only Israel's Ligat Ha'al had more fouls before half-time (13.67 against 13.18).

The most common first-half count was 11 (11.0% of matches). The split is much more even than for cards: only a third of yellows come before the break, but almost half of fouls do.

Most and fewest fouls by team

We looked at 470 teams with 30+ league matches in the sample. Göztepe (Süper Lig) committed the most fouls, 17.69 per match, while their opponents committed only 9.69: the biggest one-sided gap of all 470. Kifisia in Greece (17.08), Südtirol in Serie B (16.85) and Real Sociedad B in the Segunda División (16.60) were next.

Silkeborg (Denmark) committed the fewest, just 7.16 per match, followed by three Bundesliga sides: Köln (8.30), Bayer Leverkusen (8.59) and Bayern Munich (8.88). Catanzaro were fouled the most (17.79 per match against them). Sampdoria's matches had the highest totals (32.81) and Bayern's the lowest (18.09).

Fouls committed per match, 2025/26 league matches.

Possession sides foul least: Manchester City, Barcelona, Bayern, PSG and Milan are all near the bottom of their leagues. For the players behind these numbers, see our most fouled and carded players cheat sheet.

Fouls and cards

Across the 29 leagues, fouls and yellows per match had a correlation of 0.76. At match level it was weaker, 0.41, because referees and game state decide which fouls are punished. Matches with 18 fouls or fewer (1,507) averaged 2.84 yellows; those with 29 or more (2,332) averaged 5.35.

Overall, referees showed 1.70 yellows per 10 fouls, from 1.12 in the J1 League to 2.12 in Argentina. Serie B had the most fouls but only 1.49 yellows per 10 fouls, while the Bundesliga had almost the fewest fouls and 1.83. The yellow cards table has the card side in full.

Do fouls change through the season?

A little. Across the 21 European leagues in the table (7,021 matches from August to May), fouls peaked in September (25.54) and fell to 23.85 in March. That swing is modest next to the gap between leagues.

Across seasons, the summer-to-spring leagues averaged 24.07 fouls in 2024/25 (7,585 matches), 24.39 in 2025/26 (7,774) and 24.21 so far in 2026/27 (2,111 matches to 24 October 2026).

What this means for betting

• Start from the league, not from 24.5. The league average puts a Bundesliga or Premier League match at about 21.5 fouls and a Serie B or Greek match nearer 28.5. If a total fouls line looks generic, check the table first.
• Then move to the teams. Getafe committed 5.6 more fouls per match than Barcelona. Add both teams' fouls committed at the right venue; our fouls betting strategy guide has the formula and a worked example.
• Start the away side slightly higher in team fouls markets (0.42 more per match), except in Brazil, Portugal, Spain's second tier and Mexico.
• First-half lines start at 11.7, close to half the total. For cards, the first half only gets a third.
• Watch special fixtures. Derbies add about 8% to fouls, according to our derby data study, and the referee roughly ±10%. See how referees affect match statistics.

Method notes

• Source: StatPair match database (team and half-by-half statistics). No match had missing foul data or a team on zero fouls.
• Excluded: the Czech Liga (108 matches). Brazil Serie B data covers May to November 2025 only. Champions League figures include qualifying rounds.
• Fouls against a team are its opponents' fouls committed.
• Month figures: the 21 European leagues only, because calendar-year and southern hemisphere leagues follow a different season.
• No xG. StatPair doesn't provide xG; this study uses fouls, cards, goals and results.

How to check this with StatPair

1. Note the league baseline from the table above.
2. Open each team's match-by-match history and use the home/away filter to see fouls committed and suffered at the relevant venue.
3. Check the referee's stats for fouls and cards per match.
4. Switch the first-half / second-half filter before betting a first-half line, then check the AI predictions for fouls and the Trends Finder.

Try StatPair free for 7 days → · Fouls betting strategy → · Yellow cards by league →

FAQ

Q: What is the average number of fouls in a football match?
A: About 24.5. Across 9,545 league matches in 29 leagues in 2025/26, the average was 24.48 fouls per match and the median was 24. Away teams committed 12.45 fouls and home teams 12.03.

Q: Which league has the most fouls per match?
A: In our 2025/26 data, Italy's Serie B, with 29.93 fouls per match over 388 matches. The Greek Super League (28.88) and the Primeira Liga (27.52) were next. The A-League Men had the fewest (20.80), followed by the Bundesliga (20.93).

Q: How many fouls are there in a Premier League match?
A: 21.64 on average in 2025/26 (374 matches): 10.63 by the home team and 11.01 by the away team. Only 33.7% of matches went over 23.5 fouls. The Premier League was the fourth-lowest of the 29 leagues we analysed.

Q: How many fouls are there in the first half?
A: About 11.7. The first half averaged 11.70 fouls and the second half 12.78, so 47.8% of fouls come before the break. The second half was busier in 28 of 29 leagues, and the most common first-half total was 11.

Q: What is the most fouls in a football match?
A: In our sample of 9,545 league matches, the record was 55 fouls, in Sampdoria 1-1 Virtus Entella in Serie B on 16 January 2026. The highest total for one team was 32, by Juventude away at Grêmio in the Brasileirão.

Bottom line

The average football match has 24.5 fouls: 12.0 by the home team and 12.4 by the away team, with 11.7 before the break. Leagues range from 20.8 (A-League) to 29.9 (Italy's Serie B), a far bigger gap than for corners, so the league baseline does a lot of the work. Then adjust for the two teams, the venue and the referee.