The value of soccer stats for fans of the game cannot be overstated. This is especially true for punters – statistics and deep knowledge of the teams are crucial if you want to find success. However, beginners are often stumped by all the numbers, abbreviations, and strange terms. After all, most soccer statistics are not quite general knowledge.
Stats aggregators and football league tables often feature three common football terms – GF (Goals For), GA (Goals Agains) and GD (Goal Difference.) You may be able to guess what they mean, but a true soccer betting strategy is not about guessing. It’s about knowing.
No worries, though – it’s nothing complicated, and we can explain GA for beginners.
This simple soccer betting guide will explain GA, GF, and GD in soccer. We’ll completely cover what GD means in football, how to calculate it, and how it can be useful in betting.
Before we get to the meaning of GD, though, we’ll have to cover GF and GA first.
GF Meaning (Goals For)
In soccer, GF stands for Goals For displays how many goals a team has scored in a given season. That’s all there really is to it.
For example, a GF score of 45 means that the team has scored a total of 45 goals up to that moment. However, it’s important to note that only goals scored during the regular 90-minute full time count. This includes stoppage time. However, it does not include goals scored during extra time or penalty shootouts.
So how important is GF for football teams?
Well, obviously, the team that scores more goals than their opponents wins the match. As a general rule, the more goals a team scores, the more games they win. However, it’s not a hard rule by any means. For instance, some teams play a very aggressive style and end up scoring a lot, but conceding even more.
GF in football is a somewhat solid indicator of how the team is performing, though. Teams with the most goals scored in a season tend to be near the top of the table. However, you must resist the urge to overvalue GF as well.
Put it this way – in a typical association football league structure, a team gets 3 points for a win….
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