Soccer league tables explained

..to The Tap-Inn. Where you can tap into the world of soccer with me, your first-gen Irish Tap-Inn bartender, Joe.

No, I didn’t fall asleep on my keyboard again.

The above cocktail of characters actually represents the mysterious row of letters you see at the top of every league table. A table is a list of teams who all play each other in the same competition, ordered with the best performing teams at the top and the worst at the bottom.

Let’s tap in to how this really works.

• Played (Pl) - this number just tells you how many games a team has been through. Sometimes you’ll see it written as GP (Games Played), MP (Matches Played) or even just P (Played).
• Won (W) - this is how many times has a team been victorious in a game and earned themselves 3 points towards their league table position. Remember, that’s 3 points for a win.
• Drawn (D) - if a team plays a game that ends in a tie, it will be noted in this column. Yes, soccer has ties. And they earn you 1 solitary point. Get used to it, buster.
• Lost (L) - see a 2 underneath this column and that means your team has lost 2 games. See a 17 underneath this column and you should probably find yourself another team. A loss scores you a big fat 0 points.
• Goals For (GF) - the combined number of goals a team has scored in every game so far. Sometimes just written as F.
• Goals Against (GA) - the combined number of goals a team has had scored against them in every game so far. Sometimes just written as A.
• Goal Difference (GD) - if you guessed “GF minus GA” you’d be correct. This is the tiebreaker if teams are level on points. See Chelsea and Fulham in the table above, for example.
• Points (Pts) - the number that matters the most. Win more games, earn more points, place higher on the table.

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Example:

Arsenal currently sit top of the Premier League with 49 points from 21 games. 15 wins gave them 45 of those points (15 × 3 = 45), their four draw gave them four points (4 × 1 = 4) and their two losses gave them zero points (2 × 0 = 0). As you will see from your wristwatch calculator, 45 + 4 + 0 = 49.

What could be more simple than that???

pours heavy glass of whiskey

What team has the record for both the most points accrued and the most team goals scored in a single Premier League season? 🤔

Keep scrolling for the answer.

Phrase: “They won on aggregate”

Origin: Came into common use with the rise of two-legged knockout ties in European competitions, where teams play home and away legs with results from both games combined.

Definition: the total score over two legs of knockout football. Can you work out the first leg result in the image above?

Usage: “They just lost 1-0, why did they go through to the final?”, “The semi final was over two legs — they actually won 3-1 on aggregate”.

No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. S.C. Braga’s home turf rock — The Estádio Municipal de Braga— is indeed built into the side of an actual mountain. Cue “rocky defense” puns aplenty.

So granite was architect Eduardo Souto de Moura in bringing his vision to life, he only went and won the god-damn Nobel Prize of architecture in 2004 for his work. You’re a cut above the rest, Eddie.

Jan 16th 2010: Lionel Messi scores his 100th goal for Barcelona. At 22 years old, Leo became the youngest player in club history to reach the milestone in a 4-0 win against Sevilla.

A decent moment. Shame his career never really took off though…

As a result of City securing 100 points and 106 goals in the 2017/18 season, the team received the nickname "Centurions", and have been acclaimed by pundits and football journalists as being one of the greatest teams in Premier League history.

As good as they were though, it still took a 94th min Gabriel Jesus 1-0 winner against Southampton on the final day to secure the one hundred point mark. Praise jebus.

Thanks for stopping by The Tap-Inn.

I’ll be behind the bar every week, Monday and Friday, serving up soccer. Sláinte.

— Joe