One of the most frustrating things as a football fan and often as a trader is seeing a football match end 0-0…
The only positive to the 0-0 score line is if you are backing the draw, playing the unders or perhaps have a 0-0 correct score bet riding on the game.
In today’s article, we are going to delve into the statistics and see which leagues produce the most 0-0 score lines, along with how you can trade low-scoring games.
How Many Football Matches End 0-0?
Let’s take a look at data from the 2022/2023 football season.
| Leagues | Games | 0-0 score line | 0-0 as a % |
| Premier League | 380 | 23 | 6.05% |
| La Liga | 380 | 26 | 6.84% |
| Bundesliga | 306 | 15 | 4.9% |
| Serie A | 380 | 20 | 5.26% |
| Ligue 1 | 380 | 26 | 6.84% |
Looking at the major European football leagues the Spanish La Liga and French Ligue 1 both had equally the highest percentage of 0-0’s.
The league with the least amount of 0-0’s was the high-action German Bundesliga with only 4.9% of football games ending in 0-0 during the 2022/2023 football season.
Statistics from 2021/2022 Season
| Leagues | Games | 0-0 Score Line | 0-0 s a % |
| Premier League | 380 | 22 | 5.79% |
| La Liga | 380 | 43 | 11.32% |
| Bundesliga | 306 | 16 | 5.23% |
| Serie A | 380 | 22 | 5.79% |
| Ligue | 380 | 24 | 6.32% |
In the previous season, it was La Liga again that topped the numbers for the highest amount of 0-0’s in the season with a whopping 11.32% of games ending 0-0.
If you are looking at a strategy such as lay the draw or perhaps laying a first-half goal. Avoiding teams in La Liga that are historically producing these 0-0 score lines is a good approach.
Trading Games That Are Expected To Be Low Scoring
When it comes to trading games that are expected to be low scoring there are a couple of approaches.
Scalping:
Scalping involves getting in and out of the market as quickly as possible in order to take a small profit. Ideal scenarios for scalping are when play has been halted or one team are doing their best to stall play.
There are some teams that are specialists in holding on to a one-goal lead. If you are aware of these teams, backing the score line and profiting from time decay is another really good strategy. FootyStats is a great site to use for finding teams that are adept at holding on to a lead.
Backing The Draw
Another strategy to consider would be to look at backing the half-time or full-time draw. Lay the draw is an extremely popular football trading strategy however in the right instance backing the draw is a good option.
If you have identified an underdog that is quite happy to sit back soak up pressure and playing not to lose. Backing the draw can be the optimal pre-match bet.
Contrarian Approach
There are times when all the statistics point to a game being low scoring but the live picture tells a different story. It could be a managerial change, a new signing, could be a must-win game for one team.
When trading with live pictures the biggest edges often come when the live feed is telling a different narrative to the odds on offer. This is one of the big advantages of watching games live!
In this instance, you should be prepared to back what you are seeing and place a contrarian bet.
Two of the most profitable football traders in history Paulo Rebelo and Pyschoff are both big advocates of using live video to trade football.
Conclusion
Overall we have looked at a few different approaches to low-scoring games however if you are a trader that likes to trade around goals these games may best be avoided.