| Updated: Goals win games, but the balance between scoring freely and defending efficiently often defines how dominant a side truly is. To identify where attacking firepower and defensive resilience are strongest across Europe, Sportingpedia examined 20 domestic leagues (excluding Norway and Sweden due to their different calendar cycles) and selected one team per league in two categories: the side with the most goals scored and the side with the fewest goals conceded. In cases of ties, attacking rankings were decided by fewer league games played, while defensive rankings were determined by more league fixtures completed.
One of the report’s most striking findings is that Bayern Munich set Europe’s attacking benchmark with 85 goals across 23 Bundesliga games, while Porto establish the strongest defensive standard after conceding just 7 goals in 23 Liga Portugal fixtures. True balance, however, is rare: beyond PSG and Bayern Munich, six more clubs across Europe manage to record both the highest goal tally and the lowest goals conceded within their respective leagues.
How Many Goals per Match Score the Teams with the Best Attack in each of Europe’s Top 20 Leagues
*Accurate as of February 23, 2026
Best Attacks in Each of Europe’s Top 20 Leagues
Bayern Munich set the pace across the full sample, with 85 goals in 23 Bundesliga matches, translating into a striking 3,70 goals per match. The next closest profiles still sit clearly below that level: Feyenoord record the Eredivisie’s highest total with 70 goals in 24 league games (2.92), while Midtjylland’s 58 goals in 21 Danish League fixtures keep them at 2.76. Barcelona post La Liga’s strongest attacking output with 67 goals in 25 league outings (2.68), followed by Sporting in Liga Portugal with 59 goals in 23 league encounters (2.57), placing Portugal’s best attack in the same high-output tier.
A tightly packed band sits around the mid-2s. Galatasaray and Omonia both score 55 goals in 23 league matches (2.39) in the Super Lig and Cypriot League respectively, while Inter record Serie A’s highest goal tally with 62 goals in 26 league games (2.38). PSG top Ligue 1 for goals scored with 53 in 23 league fixtures (2.30), just ahead of Thun’s 57 goals in 25 Swiss league outings (2.28) and Dinamo Zagreb’s 52 goals in 23 Croatian league encounters (2.26). Hapoel Beer-Sheva make the Israeli League’s best-attack selection with 54 goals in 24 league matches (2.25), while Levadiakos (49 goals in 22 league games, 2.23) and Slavia Prague (50 goals in 23 league fixtures, 2.17) top Greece and the Czech League in scoring.
The bottom end of the attacking spectrum shows how quickly the benchmark drops across the 20-league spread. RB Salzburg post Austria’s highest total with 42 goals in 20 league outings (2.10), Manchester City record the Premier League’s top scoring return with 56 goals in 27 league encounters (2.07), and ETO Gyor sit just above two per match with 47 goals in 23 Hungarian league matches (2,04). Club Brugge’s 49 goals in 26 Belgian Pro League games (1.88), Hearts’ 51 goals in 28 Scottish Premiership fixtures (1.82) and Jagiellonia’s 37 goals in 21 Polish league outings (1.76) complete the list – still the most productive attacks in their respective leagues, but far from the pace set by Bayern Munich at the top.
Five teams average more than 2.50 goals per game – Bayern Munich, Feyenoord, Midtjylland, Barcelona and Sporting – underlining how rare sustained high-end attacking production remains even among Europe’s strongest competitions.
How Many Goals per Match Concede the Teams with the Best Defences in Each of Europe’s Top 20 Leagues
*Accurate as of February 23, 2026
Best Defences in Each of Europe’s Top 20 Leagues
Porto set the defensive benchmark by conceding just 7 goals across 23 Liga Portugal matches, an average of 0.30 per game – the lowest figure in the dataset.
Olympiacos follow with 10 goals conceded in 22 Greek league fixtures (0.45 per game). Union SG allow 15 goals in 26 Belgian Pro League games (0.58 per game), while Roma concede 16 in 26 Serie A matches (0.62 per game).
Motherwell record 18 goals conceded in 27 Scottish Premiership outings (0.67 per game). Goztepe and Omonia each allow 16 goals in 23 league fixtures (0.70 per game). Dinamo Zagreb concede 17 goals in 23 Croatian league matches (0.74 per game), and Arsenal allow 21 in 28 Premier League games (0.75 per game).
Slavia Prague concede 18 goals in 23 Czech league fixtures (0.78 per game). Wisla Plock allow 18 in 22 Polish league matches (0.82 per game). PSG concede 19 goals in 23 Ligue 1 games (0.83 per clash). Real Madrid allow 21 goals in 25 La Liga fixtures (0.84 per match). Bayern Munich concede 21 in 23 Bundesliga matches (0.91 per outing).
Hapoel Beer-Sheva allow 23 goals in 24 Israeli league outings (0.96 per game). Altach concede 20 in 20 Austrian league fixtures (1.00 per game). ETO Gyor allow 24 goals in 23 Hungarian league meetings (1.04 per game). Aarhus concede 22 in 21 Danish league encounters (1.05 per game). Twente allow 26 goals in 24 Eredivisie fixtures (1.08 per game), while Thun concede 28 in 25 Swiss league outings (1.12 per game).
Nine teams concede 0.75 goals per game or fewer, highlighting how rare it is to sustain that level of defensive control over an extended domestic campaign.
Teams that combine elite scoring with elite defending
Only eight clubs appear in both the best-attack and best-defence selections. Beyond PSG and Bayern Munich, six more teams across Europe combine the highest scoring output with the lowest goals conceded in their respective leagues – Omonia, Dinamo Zagreb, Slavia Prague, Hapoel Beer-Sheva, ETO Gyor, and Thun – a rare domestic double.
Across Europe’s top 20 competitions, the data shows that elite attacking production and elite defensive control rarely coexist – making the few clubs that manage both particularly noteworthy.