Shot accuracy: Manchester United and Ajax at the top

Issue number 254 of the CIES Football

Weekly"> investigates InStat data to present the 20 clubs with the highest and lowest percentages of shots on target both in the five major European leagues and in 25 other domestic championships. The figures vary from 48.6% (Manchester United) and 28.9% (Cagliari) in the big-5, as well as from 50.4% (Ajax) and 31.7% (four different clubs) in the other competitions surveyed.

The study also presents the average distance of all shots attempted. The lowest values for clubs ranked in the top 20 tables were recorded for Bayern Munich (15.8 meters) in the five major European leagues and for the Dutch side PSV Eindhoven (also 15.8 meters) at the level of the remaining 25 leagues surveyed. Generally speaking, the higher the percentage of shots on target, the lower the distance from which they are taken.

The average percentage of shots on target for all clubs in the leagues studied is 37.6% (from 41.2% in the Dutch Eredivisie to 35.0% in the Russian Premier League), while the general shot distance is 18.5 meters (from 17

.4 meters in the English Premier League to 19.5 meters in the Serbian Super Liga). More pitch statistics at club level are available in the freshly updated CIES Football Observatory Performance Atlas.