How Many Points Is A Goal Worth In Soccer?

Most of the popular sports around the world have their own unique scoring system. However, one thing that many of the scoring systems of these popular sports have in common is that they reward a different number of points for each successful action during a match in the sport.

For example, Basketball rewards the team a different number of points based on where the player threw the ball from. However, soccer is completely different when it comes to the scoring system.

How many points for a soccer goal then?

In soccer, only 1 point is awarded for each goal scored, and this point is simply referred to as a “goal”. The scoring system in soccer is extremely simple. One goal equals one point no matter how the goal was scored.

So in simple words, the type of goal scored in soccer does not give any extra reward to the team who scored it no matter how hard it was to score the goal. 

A penalty goal, which is one of the easiest ways to score a goal in soccer, has the same effect on the overall score of the game as a goal scored from an overhead kick for example. 

Even though it’s much harder to score a goal from an overhead kick than scoring a goal from a penalty kick, both of the goals contribute the same amount of points to the overall score of the game.

Soccer overhead kick
Overhead kick

You can learn a lot more about overhead kicks in this article if you are interested.

However, there are some types of goals in soccer that are worth a little bit more than other goals, and these goals are called the “away goals” and they are only significant during a two-legged match in soccer.

If you do not know what a 2 legged match is, and what an away goal is, then you should check this article to learn about them or none of the next few sentences might make sense to you.

But here is a quick and simple explanation for you.

In simple words, a 2 legged match is a match between 2 soccer clubs where the winner is determined using the aggregate results of two soccer matches instead of just one match. Each of the 2 competing teams get to play one match on their own soccer field.

An “Away goal” is a goal scored by a team on their opponent’s soccer field. These goals have more significance when it comes to 2-legged matches.

Now that you know more about 2-legged matches, it’s time to address the main question of this article.

How many points is an away goal worth in 2-legged soccer matches?

An away goal during a 2-legged match is still only worth one point when it comes to calculating the number of points on the scoreboard for each of the competing teams. However, the number of away goals can determine the winner of the 2-legged match if the aggregate of some of the matches is a tie.

In simple words, if the aggregate sum of the 2 matches in a 2-legged match is a tie between the competing teams, then the team who has scored more “away goals” wins the 2-legged match.

This means that the away goals have more significance than regular goals during a 2-legged soccer match.

You can check the article linked above to learn more about what happens if both teams end up having the same number of away goals. With that said, let’s move on to the next section.

What is the advantage of only awarding one point per goal in soccer?

The main advantage behind only awarding one point for each goal scored is that the small soccer teams get a better chance at winning a game against a much stronger opponent.

But how exactly?

A small soccer team might not have the budget to bring in extremely great strikers or midfielders who are capable of scoring brilliant goals.

However, these small teams can still get a good chance of winning a game if they defend their net very well and if they score a simple and an easy goal from a counter attack for example.

Big soccer teams with big soccer players are capable of scoring brilliant goals. They can score from a distance and they can score using different techniques and so on.

If these types of goals are rewarded more points, then the weaker soccer teams will have a smaller chance of winning a game against an excellent team because they might not always be capable of scoring the types of goals that give them more points than the regular goals.

On a related note, you can check this article that offers some tips to beat a stronger opponent in a soccer match.

What are the disadvantages of only awarding one point per goal in soccer?

Only rewarding one point per goal in soccer no matter how good the goal is comes with a list of disadvantages too, with the main disadvantage being that comebacks are harder during the last minutes of a soccer match.

For example, let’s say that a soccer game only has a few minutes left till the end, and one of the competing teams is winning by a goal difference of 2. 

Under the current scoring system in soccer, it’s very hard for the losing team to make a comeback during the last few minutes of the game because scoring 2~3 goals in a few minutes is not an easy thing to do and sometimes is considered impossible.

For this reason, the drama of who the winner will be ends as soon as one of the competing teams score an enough number of goals to kill the hopes of their opponent team.

However, if soccer rewards more points based on how a goal is scored, then the losing team might keep pushing for a last minute comeback because they know that if they attempt to score one goal that gives them a large number of points, then they can still win the game.

So in simple words, only rewarding a single point per goal in soccer takes away the drama of last minutes comeback which is usually enjoyed by the audience.

Note that this doesn’t mean that comebacks are not possible, however, they are just less common in soccer than in other popular sports. 

Why do soccer players bother to score brilliant goals if they are only worth one point?

A valid question that might come to mind when we talk about the way the soccer scoring system works is that why do soccer players sometimes risk themselves just to score a brilliant goal that is only worth one point in a match?

The answer is quite simple. A great soccer goal is worth a lot to the player who scored it and is appreciated a lot by the fans of the player and their club.

Soccer players who score brilliant goals are very well appreciated and supported by the soccer fans. The more awesome goals a soccer player scores, the more recognition they get from the media and the fans of the game.

Also, it’s always good to keep in mind that soccer is all about entertainment, and it’s the players’ job to entertain the audience and always bring them back to watch more games.

But how do soccer players properly entertain the audience? They entertain them by putting their best efforts in order to score great goals that keep the audience on their toes.

Goals that are scored from a very large distance or goals that are scored from great acrobatic moves (like the overhead kick for example) are very well appreciated by the fans. 

These types of goals in soccer give the “beautiful game” its meaning. Both the soccer players and the soccer clubs know that in order to keep soccer entertaining, they’ll need to give it their all no matter what the soccer rules encourage them to do.

With that said, I will end the article here. Here is a summary of what you have just read

SUMMARY

Unlike in many other popular sports, a goal in soccer is only worth one point no matter how it was scored. Goals that are hard to score do not give the team who scored them any advantage other than increasing their score count during the game by one.

Away goals in soccer have more significance than other goals during 2-legged soccer matches. If a 2 legged soccer match ends in a tie, then the number of away goals scored by each team can act as the tie breaker.