The Isuzu UTE A-League is trending towards the highest scoring season in the history of the competition, with the Australian league ranking among some of the top divisions in the world for goals scored per game after six rounds.
According to a recent analysis from Professional Footballers Australia (PFA), the 2022-23 A-League Men campaign will be the highest scoring on record if current goal-scoring trends continue for the remainder of the season.
After six rounds, 107 goals were scored in 34 matches, at a rate of 3.15 per match (GPG), which will trump the 2015-16 season (3.12 GPG) as the highest scoring season in history.
This rate also makes the competition one of the top-scoring leagues in world football in comparison to some of the game’s biggest, with only the German Bundesliga (3.19 after 15 rounds) averaging more.
Among the leagues averaging less include the MLS (2.96 in 34 games), the French Ligue 1 (2.96 in 15), England’s Premier League (2.87 in 16), the Italian Serie A (2.58 in 15), Spanish LaLiga (2.54 in 14) and the J1 League in Japan (2.51 in 34).
However, these these leagues have been in season for longer or in the case of the MLS and J1 League, have concluded.
The PFA study also revealed that 77 players aged under 23 had made an appearance during the first six rounds of the season, which equates to around 32% of the 238 players to have featured thus far.
Perth Glory and Central Coast Mariners have utilised the highest number of Under-23 players – with 11 and 10 respectively, followed by Adelaide United (nine) and Newcastle Jets (eight).
The Mariners also have the lowest average age of players to have featured this campaign (23.2), with the next youngest being Wellington Phoenix (25).
Meanwhile, reigning champions Western United are the league’s oldest average age side at 29.1 – with the league average age of fielded players sitting at 26.1.
Also, players aged between 16 and 24 have played 34% of minutes available in the first six rounds of the season – with those aged 24 occupying the largest amount of match minutes played (6,011).
