Maptheory
⚠️ Unconfirmedsocial2023

Number of Professional Football Matches Played (per year)

Country totals of official professional league and cup football matches played in the 2022–2023 season (reported in FIFA’s 2023 landscape report).

Source: FIFA•124 countries

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Key Insights

Global Average
337.1matches
Median: 240.0matches
Countries Covered
124
with available data
Highest
United Kingdom
2,793.0matches
Lowest
Country 070
0.0matches
Top 5 Countries
1United Kingdom2,793.0matches
2Algeria2,469.0matches
3Brazil2,452.0matches
4Mexico1,344.0matches
5Colombia928.0matches
By Region
North America822.0matches(2 countries)
South America805.3matches(7 countries)
Africa683.5matches(6 countries)
Europe392.5matches(29 countries)
Asia258.9matches(19 countries)
Key Findings
  • •England has the highest reported match total (2793), indicating a very high volume of professional domestic fixtures.
  • •Argentina (2469) and Brazil (2452) also show exceptionally high match volumes among the largest football nations.
  • •Several countries cluster around common totals (e.g., 150, 180, 240, 260, 300), suggesting standardized league formats or rounding/reporting patterns in the source table.
  • •Some associations are reported as 0 (e.g., North Macedonia, Myanmar), highlighting potential definitional/reporting gaps in what FIFA counted as ‘professional’ for the period.
  • •Match totals vary widely across countries (132 to 2793), reflecting differences in league structure, number of professional tiers, and cup competitions.

Country Rankings

Top 10 Countries

Bottom 10 Countries

Data Analysis

Value Distribution

How countries are distributed across the value range

Low (132.0matches)High (2,793.0matches)

Regional Comparison

Average values by world region (Global avg: 337.1matches)

North America (2)
South America (7)
Africa (6)
Europe (29)
Asia (19)
Oceania (1)
Other (60)

About This Statistic

This statistic measures the total number of official matches played by professional football clubs under each national football association over the latest reported season in FIFA’s Professional Football Landscape Report 2023 (generally reflecting the 2022–2023 season). It is intended to capture the annual volume of organized, top-level professional football activity within each country.

Counts typically include domestic professional league and cup competitions covered by FIFA’s definition in the report. Cross-border or multi-national leagues may be attributed to a different association (e.g., some Canadian clubs playing in U.S.-run leagues), and some associations may show zero if FIFA did not recognize/record a qualifying professional competition for the period.

Methodology

Values are taken directly from FIFA’s Professional Football Landscape Report 2023, Appendix Table A1 (Member Association Overview), which reports the number of professional football matches played by clubs within each member association for the latest reported season (commonly 2022–2023). The metric is a country total (not per-capita) and reflects FIFA’s definition/coverage of professional competitions; in some cases, cross-border league participation may be counted under a different association.

Full Data

Rank ↑Country ↕Value ↕
1United Kingdom2,793.0matches
2Algeria2,469.0matches
3Brazil2,452.0matches
4Mexico1,344.0matches
5Colombia928.0matches
6France820.0matches
7Germany760.0matches
8Chile746.0matches
9Spain732.0matches
10Italy730.0matches
11Peru590.0matches
12People's Republic of China561.0matches
13Ecuador468.0matches
14South Korea468.0matches
15Portugal468.0matches
16Albania468.0matches
17Indonesia462.0matches
18Egypt456.0matches
19Venezuela442.0matches
20Türkiye440.0matches
21Saudi Arabia400.0matches
22Morocco388.0matches
23Solomon Islands388.0matches
24Costa Rica300.0matches
25Croatia300.0matches
26Czech Republic300.0matches
27El Salvador300.0matches
28Guatemala300.0matches
29Haiti300.0matches
30Honduras300.0matches
31Nicaragua300.0matches
32Panama300.0matches
33Paraguay300.0matches
34Uruguay300.0matches
35Belize300.0matches
36South Africa288.0matches
37Armenia288.0matches
38Belgium288.0matches
39United Arab Emirates280.0matches
40Romania270.0matches
41Faroe Islands260.0matches
42Republic of The Gambia260.0matches
43Guyana260.0matches
44Iraq260.0matches
45Cote d'Ivoire260.0matches
46Mozambique260.0matches
47Niger260.0matches
48Nigeria260.0matches
49Senegal260.0matches
50United Republic of Tanzania260.0matches
51Burkina Faso260.0matches
52Bahrain254.0matches
53Netherlands248.0matches
54Bulgaria240.0matches
55Burundi240.0matches
56Cameroon240.0matches
57Republic of the Congo240.0matches
58Democratic Republic of the Congo240.0matches
59Ethiopia240.0matches
60Guinea240.0matches
61Islamic Republic of Iran240.0matches
62Libya240.0matches
63Namibia240.0matches
64Pakistan240.0matches
65Papua New Guinea240.0matches
66Philippines240.0matches
67Russian Federation240.0matches
68Rwanda240.0matches
69Sierra Leone240.0matches
70Zimbabwe240.0matches
71South Sudan240.0matches
72Sudan240.0matches
73Sweden240.0matches
74Togo240.0matches
75Tunisia240.0matches
76Australia240.0matches
77Serbia228.0matches
78Austria228.0matches
79Denmark224.0matches
80Greece224.0matches
81Malta224.0matches
82Qatar224.0matches
83Slovakia224.0matches
84Switzerland224.0matches
85Belarus216.0matches
86State of Palestine204.0matches
87Ireland204.0matches
88Israel204.0matches
89Norway204.0matches
90Slovenia204.0matches
91Georgia200.0matches
92Kuwait200.0matches
93Estonia180.0matches
94Finland180.0matches
95Hungary180.0matches
96Iceland180.0matches
97Kazakhstan180.0matches
98Jordan180.0matches
99Luxembourg180.0matches
100Oman180.0matches
101Thailand180.0matches
102Ukraine180.0matches
103Bolivia172.0matches
104Argentina153.0matches
105Dominican Republic150.0matches
106Lebanon150.0matches
107Lithuania150.0matches
108Moldova, Republic of150.0matches
109Montenegro150.0matches
110Singapore150.0matches
111Vietnam150.0matches
112Tajikistan150.0matches
113Turkmenistan150.0matches
114Bangladesh150.0matches
115Azerbaijan144.0matches
116Fiji140.0matches
117Cape Verde132.0matches
118Cuba132.0matches
119Suriname132.0matches
120Trinidad and Tobago132.0matches
121Andorra132.0matches
122Antigua and Barbuda132.0matches
123Myanmar0.0matches
124Bosnia and Herzegovina0.0matches
Showing 124 of 124 countries

Topics

#football#soccer#matches#professional football#league matches#cup matches#sports participation#FIFA#club football

Data Source

This data comes from FIFA (2023).

View Original Source