The traditional Big Five leagues, the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A, see the highest quality soccer in the world. But with ticket prices spiraling, do they still offer fans enough bang for their buck?
Well, at Time2Play we analyzed 15 of the top leagues across the world to see which one offers fans the most entertainment value. To do this, we compared the cost of attending a match with the average number of goals scored.
The results show that while the Big Five leagues might be home to the sport’s top talent, they don’t necessarily offer the best value for money.
Our key findings:
- The Premier League comes bottom of the table for value by a distance with $15.72 per goal, followed by La Liga with a cost of $11.89 per goal.
- Ligue 1 is the best value of the Big Five with a cost of $5.83 per goal.
- The Bundesliga is top for number of goals with an average of 3.20 per match.
- The Chinese Super League offers fans the best value for money with each goal costing just $2.83. It also comes in third for goal frequency with an average of three goals a game.
- The Scottish Premiership has the second-most expensive tickets of all 15 leagues we analyzed. Its average cost of $32.50 makes it more expensive than La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga.
Which league has the most goals per dollar?
Here are the full rankings for the value of the top 15 soccer leagues based on cost per goal.
| Rank | League | Goals per match | Cheapest ticket | Cost per goal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chinese Super League | 3.00 | $8.50 | $2.83 |
| 2 | Saudi Pro League | 2.97 | $9.50 | $3.20 |
| 3 | AFA Liga Profesional de Fútbol | 2.01 | $7.00 | $3.48 |
| 4 | Super League Greece | 2.66 | $11.00 | $4.14 |
| 5 | Süper Lig | 2.74 | $12.00 | $4.38 |
| 6 | Belgian Pro League | 2.82 | $16.00 | $5.67 |
| 7 | Ligue 1 ⭐ | 2.83 | $16.50 | $5.83 |
| 8 | Eredivisie | 3.14 | $19.50 | $6.21 |
| 9 | Bundesliga ⭐ | 3.20 | $21.00 | $6.56 |
| 10 | Liga Portugal | 2.71 | $18.50 | $6.83 |
| 11 | Serie A ⭐ | 2.53 | $24.00 | $9.49 |
| 12 | MLS | 2.97 | $30.00 | $10.10 |
| 13 | Scottish Premiership | 2.83 | $32.50 | $11.48 |
| 14 | La Liga ⭐ | 2.65 | $31.50 | $11.89 |
| 15 | Premier League ⭐ | 2.99 | $47.00 | $15.72 |
⭐ Europe’s traditional big five leagues
Best Value: Chinese Super League
The best value for fans when it comes to cost per goal is the Chinese Super League, with a cost of just $2.83 per goal. It’s a decent way ahead of the closest competition, the Saudi Pro League, where each goal costs fans $3.20.
The Chinese Super League also ranks third for the most goals, with an average of three per game. When the high number of goals scored is combined with the low ticket prices, which average just $8.50 per match, and you get the world’s best value league.
Worst value: Premier League
The worst value league for fans is the Premier League. England’s top flight has the most expensive tickets with an average cost of $47 to attend a match. For that, fans can witness an average of 2.99 goals a game, the fourth-most of all the leagues we examined.
Despite plenty of goals, high ticket costs mean the Premier League is left with an eye-watering average cost per goal of $15.72, making the world’s richest league also the worst value.
For the same price as one ticket to see a Premier League game, fans could see more than 16 goals in the Chinese Super League. The steep ticket price of $47 per game is almost seven times as much as the $7 the AFA Liga Profesional de Fútbol charges.
There’s been considerable increases in tickets in the Premier League above the 2.9% inflation level The average season ticket for 2026/27 costs £649 ($856), 4.40% more than the same ticket the season prior. 75% of clubs upped adult season ticket prices this season; Arsenal’s cheapest, for example, went up from £1,127 ($1,487) to £1,171 ($1,545).
MLS fourth-worst value for money
Fans of soccer here in the US, will be disappointed to learn that the MLS is one of the worst value options. It’s joint fifth for number of goals, with an average of 2.97 scored per game, but when we incorporate ticket prices, the picture looks very different.
The average ticket to attend an MLS match costs $30, making it the fourth-most expensive league. As a result, MLS ranks the fourth-worst for value with a cost of $10.10 per goal.
| Rank | Most goals per match | Goals | Rank | Cheapest tickets | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bundesliga ⭐ | 3.20 | 1 | AFA Liga Profesional de Fútbol | $7.00 |
| 2 | Eredivisie | 3.14 | 2 | Chinese Super League | $8.50 |
| 3 | Chinese Super League | 3.00 | 3 | Saudi Pro League | $9.50 |
| 4 | Premier League ⭐ | 2.99 | 4 | Super League Greece | $11.00 |
| =5 | MLS | 2.97 | 5 | Süper Lig | $12.00 |
| =5 | Saudi Pro League | 2.97 | 6 | Belgian Pro League | $16.00 |
| =7 | Ligue 1 ⭐ | 2.83 | 7 | Ligue 1 ⭐ | $16.50 |
| =7 | Scottish Premiership | 2.83 | 8 | Liga Portugal | $18.50 |
| 9 | Belgian Pro League | 2.82 | 9 | Eredivisie | $19.50 |
| 10 | Süper Lig | 2.74 | 10 | Bundesliga ⭐ | $21.00 |
| 11 | Liga Portugal | 2.71 | 11 | Serie A ⭐ | $24.00 |
| 12 | Super League Greece | 2.66 | 12 | MLS | $30.00 |
| 13 | La Liga ⭐ | 2.65 | 13 | La Liga ⭐ | $31.50 |
| 14 | Serie A ⭐ | 2.53 | 14 | Scottish Premiership | $32.50 |
| 15 | AFA Liga Profesional de Fútbol | 2.01 | 15 | Premier League ⭐ | $47.00 |
⭐ Europe’s traditional big five leagues
“=” marks joint positions
The Big Five has three of the worst value leagues
Outside of the Premier League, things don’t improve much for the Big Five as it’s home to three of the five worst value leagues. Although it’s almost $4.00 better value than the Premier League, La Liga is the second-worst value league we analyzed.
It comes 13th for the number of goals, with an average of just 2.65 scored per match. It’s also the third most expensive league with a cost of $31.50 for a ticket, which is behind only the Premier League and the Scottish Premiership.
Serie A isn’t much further up the rankings with a cost of $9.49 per goal. It’s even worse than La Liga in terms of the number of goals with an average of just 2.53 per game, ahead of only the Argentine league. It does do a little better when it comes to ticket price, ranking 11th with an average cost of $24.00, about half the cost of a Premier League ticket.
Price increases across Europe
It’s not just the Premier League which has seen an increase in ticket prices in recent seasons. The average Bundesliga ticket rose nearly 7% between the 2024/25 and 2025/26 seasons.
In Spain, 14 of the 20 clubs increased their ticket prices, and none decreased them. Real Betis, who are back in the Champions League, have increased their season ticket prices by a massive 10%.
Best value of the Big Five: Ligue 1
France’s Ligue 1 is the best value of the traditional Big Five leagues. Tickets are just over a third of the cost of the Premier League, with a cost of $16.50 compared to $47.00.
Despite only ranking third in the Big Five when it comes to number of goals, with 2.83 netted compared to the Bundesliga’s 3.2 and Premier league’s 2.99, Ligue 1 still comes out on top for value. The league boasts a cost of $5.83 per goal, slightly lower than the Bundesliga’s $6.56 and almost a third of the Premier League’s cost per goal of $15.72.
The final whistle
While more goals doesn’t necessarily mean better quality football, after all some of the very best matches are low-scoring nail biters, it can mean more entertainment. So if fans are looking for the most bang for their buck, they might want to look outside the traditional Big Five leagues.
The Bundesliga might serve up the most goals globally, but the Chinese Super League is the best value with a cost of just $2.83 per goal. Ligue is the best of the Big Five with a cost of $5.83 per goal, while the Premier League falls well behind in last place for value. So with ticket prices increasing across the Big Five leagues, fans might want to look beyond Europe for the most entertainment.
