What is Total Goals? Total Goals Explained in 2 minutes
Mike Goodpaster Last Verified
19/04/2026
What is Total Goals?
The term total goals refers to the amount of goals scored in a football match. Although it is obviously related in a way to the outright football betting markets the selection purely concentrates itself with the goals scored.
How is Total Goals used in Sports Betting?
Betting on total goals can initially seem like a fairly random market to bet on but punters will be able to do their research into the two teams playing a match – as well as other variables such as what the weather is like – to come up with their prediction.
There are a number of different ways that a bettor can pick the total goals market. The most popular relates to an over/under amount in which prices are offered for more or fewer than a certain amount – such as 2.5. But some bookmakers may also offer odds on the precise number of goals scored in a single match, or even by a particular team.
There is also sometimes the possibility of betting on total goals odd or even. This may seem even more random than the other ways but with some research into the probability of a set of different results bettors are able to discover whether there is value to found in an offered price.
Did You Know...
Since the 1995-96 season there have been 380 matches in an English Premier League campaign and it was in 2011-12 that the most goals per game were recorded at 2.80. An upturn in recent years was reversed last season when that figure dropped to 2.68. That may seem surprising considering the amount of Premier League records Manchester City smashed on their way to claiming the title.
