Halftime statistics

SoccerSTATS.com - updated on: 10 Jun 2020

Objective

Halftime statistics, and more generally first-half and second-half statistics, can be used to:

• narrow the scope of team statistics to either the first-half or the second-half of matches
• observe differences in match results depending on whether the team was leading or trailing at halftime

Description

The first-half table and the second-half table only consider goals that were scored in the corresponding match half and show for each team:

• Games played
• Matches won, Draws, Matches lost
• Goals scored, Goals conceded, Goal difference
• Points

Below is a view of some of the columns of the first-half table:

The following 1st-half/2nd-half tables are available for most leagues that are tracked at the goal-events level:

• 1st-half table, 2nd-half table
• 1st-half table (at home), 2nd-half table (at home)
• 1st-half table (away), 2nd-half table (away)
• Match goals stats at halftime
• Goals scored and conceded at halftime
• Leading at halftime
• Trailing at halftime
• Goals by half
• HT/FT at home, HT/FT away

Calculations

The 1st-half table and the 2nd-half table rank the teams by points, using goal difference and goals scored as tie-breakers.

The Match goals stats at halftime and Goals scored and conceded at halftime are calculated in the same way as their full-time equivalent tables, for example the main Total match goals stats table, except of course that the goals taken into account only include those scored before halftime.

Leading at halftime

This table aims at showing team statistics taking into account only those matches where the team was leading at halftime. The table shows the following for each team:

• Matches: number of matches where the team was leading at halftime
• Perc.: percentage of matches where the team was leading at halftime
• W: number of matches won after the team was leading at halftime
• D: number of draws after the team was leading at halftime
• L: number of defeats after the team was leading at halftime
• Goals: number of goals scored and goals conceded in matches where the team was leading at halftime
• Points: number of points picked up in matches where the team was leading at halftime
• Avg Pts: Points Per Game in matches where the team was leading at halftime

A similar table using the same structure is also displayed, only focusing on matches where the teams were trailing at halftime.

Halftime/full-time outcomes

These tables are similar to the Home table and Away table, but include a few additional columns to show for each team the number of matches that fit a particular result pattern in terms of halftime/full-time outcomes.

For example the "1/1" pattern means that the home team was leading at halftime and won the match. Another example, the "X/2" pattern means that the score was level at halftime and the visiting team ended up winning the match.

Such halftime/full-time outcomes allow to view for example which teams have been good at keeping a halftime lead, or at coming back from a losing position at halftime.

Example

You can view an example on the halftime stats page for the Bundesliga.

Avoiding pitfalls

Second-half statistics are not calculated within the same context as first-half statistics, in the sense that when the second-half is about to start, some teams may already be 1 or 2 goals behind and could decide to play in a different way than they would should the score be level at the break.

If we take the example of a team that is good at clinging to an early lead, without necessarily scoring a lot of goals in the second-half, their ranking in the second-half table could be relatively low, because all its goalless second halves would be counted as draws in that context.

Such a situation would not necessarily mean that the team is weaker in second halves, as it may also mean that the team has often done most of the job during the first-half, and has been spending most of its second halves defending their lead.

This is why, when looking at the second-half tables, it can be interesting to pay attention to the number of draws, and to keep in mind that draws in the second-half tables do not necessarily carry the same meaning as draws in the first-half table.

Related statistics

You can display an overview of the 1st-half/2nd-half tables for some of the main European leagues from the 1st half / 2nd half page of the Featured leagues overview section.