BTTS Stats Down the English Pyramid: Championship to National League
Drop down the English pyramid and the both-teams-to-score rate barely moves. The detail sits in who fails to score, and how much single seasons swing.
- 53.1%BTTS Yes in the National League, the highest
- 51.1%BTTS Yes in the Championship, the lowest
- 1.94fair BTTS Yes odds, Championship to League Two
A common belief says the lower you go in English football, the looser the defending and the more often both sides find the net. I wanted to test that against the full record of the top five tiers, because it shapes how a lot of people approach my both teams to score predictions page. Across 25,013 matches, both teams scored in 51.9%. That figure is the baseline for everything below.
The headline answer is that the pyramid is remarkably flat. The National League tops the table at 53.1% and the Championship sits lowest at 51.1%, a gap of just +1.9 points. The divisions do differ, but the differences show up in how goals are shared between home and away sides and in how much the rate moves from one season to the next.
01BTTS rates sit within two points across five divisions
The bars show the share of matches in each division where both teams scored. The Premier League ran at 52.8%, League One at 51.5% and League Two at 51.6%, with the Championship and National League highlighted as the two ends of the range. Across the Championship, League One and League Two combined, the rate was 51.4% over 16,287 matches.
View the data: btts rate down the english pyramid
| Both teams scored, 2016/17โ2025/26 | |
|---|---|
| Premier League | 52.8% |
| Championship | 51.1% |
| League One | 51.5% |
| League Two | 51.6% |
| National League | 53.1% |
What I take from this is that the tier label carries little weight in this market. A bettor who backs BTTS Yes simply because a match is in League Two is leaning on a reputation the numbers do not support. The edge, if there is one, has to come from the two teams on the pitch.
02Away blanks and goalless draws shape the lower tiers
This chart splits every match into four outcomes: both scored, only the home side scored, only the away side scored, or neither did. The "only home scored" slice is consistently the largest single-sided outcome, ranging from 22.7% in the National League to 24.7% in the Championship. Away-only wins of the scoring battle hover around 17% everywhere.
The bottom slice is where the Football League tiers separate from the top flight. Neither side scored in 6.1% of Premier League matches but 7.5% of Championship matches, and League Two reached 8%. Those extra goalless games are a big reason the middle tiers sit a touch below the Premier League on BTTS.
View the data: how the goals were shared
| Both scored | Only home scored | Only away scored | Neither scored | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premier League | 52.7% | 24.2% | 17.0% | 6.1% |
| Championship | 51.1% | 24.7% | 16.7% | 7.5% |
| League One | 51.5% | 24.0% | 17.0% | 7.5% |
| League Two | 51.7% | 23.6% | 16.7% | 8.0% |
| National League | 53.1% | 22.7% | 17.2% | 7.0% |
This fits what I see on the pitch. Championship sides with a lead tend to sit deep and protect it, and visiting teams there often play for a point rather than carving out clear chances.
03Season swings dwarf the gap between divisions
The lines track each grouping across ten seasons, and the movement is far larger than anything in the tier chart. Premier League BTTS ranged from 48.9% to 61.6%, with the peak in 2023/24. The Championship to League Two group ran from 47.6% in 2020/21 to 54.2% in 2023/24, and the National League stretched from 47.6% to 59.2%.
The main caveat belongs here. The 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons were disrupted by curtailment and matches without crowds, the National League most of all, so those points need reading with care. These are historical frequencies, not a forecast, and no past pattern guarantees what comes next.
View the data: btts by season in english football
| Premier League | Championship to League Two | National League | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016/17 | 50.8% | 53.1% | 50.9% |
| 2017/18 | 48.9% | 51.9% | 52.5% |
| 2018/19 | 51.3% | 52.5% | 47.6% |
| 2019/20 | 51.3% | 52.8% | 55.4% |
| 2020/21 | 49.1% | 47.6% | 48.6% |
| 2021/22 | 50.0% | 50.2% | 50.2% |
| 2022/23 | 51.6% | 48.1% | 56.0% |
| 2023/24 | 61.6% | 54.2% | 59.2% |
| 2024/25 | 57.4% | 50.2% | 54.4% |
| 2025/26 | 56.1% | 54.0% | 56.3% |
For me, the useful signal is that recent seasons have trended higher in the Premier League and National League. Season context matters more than division when I set a baseline.
04Fair BTTS prices and failure-to-score rates by tier
The table turns each frequency into a fair price, meaning the break-even decimal odds with no bookmaker margin. Fair BTTS Yes runs from 1.88 in the National League to 1.96 in the Championship, with League One and League Two both at 1.94. On the other side, fair BTTS No sits at 2.05 in the Championship and 2.13 in the National League.
The blank columns are my favourite part. Away sides drew a blank in 32.1% of Championship matches, the highest of the five tiers, against 29.7% in the National League. Home blanks were tight everywhere, from 23.1% in the Premier League to 24.8% in League Two. Since these records hold no BTTS prices, this is a guide to value, not a measure of betting returns.
| Division | Matches | BTTS Yes | Fair Yes | Fair No | Home blank | Away blank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premier League | 3,800 | 52.8% | 1.90 | 2.12 | 23.1% | 30.3% |
| Championship | 5,518 | 51.1% | 1.96 | 2.05 | 24.2% | 32.1% |
| League One | 5,365 | 51.5% | 1.94 | 2.06 | 24.6% | 31.5% |
| League Two | 5,404 | 51.6% | 1.94 | 2.07 | 24.8% | 31.6% |
| National League | 4,926 | 53.1% | 1.88 | 2.13 | 24.2% | 29.7% |
BTTS checklist
- Ignore the tier reputation. With every division between 51.1% and 53.1%, the league alone tells you almost nothing. Judge the two defences and the two attacks in front of you.
- Compare prices to fair odds. If a quoted BTTS Yes price in the Championship to League Two range sits below the fair 1.94 after margin, the market already expects goals. Only take it when your read of both sides justifies a shorter number.
- Check the away attack. Away sides blanked in 32.1% of Championship matches, so a timid visitor is the usual way BTTS Yes fails. Look for away teams that keep committing bodies forward, not ones content with a point.
Quick answers
How often do both teams score in the Championship?
Both teams scored in 51.1% of 5,518 Championship matches, the lowest rate of the top five English tiers. That works out to fair BTTS Yes odds of 1.96 and fair BTTS No odds of 2.05.
Is BTTS more common in the National League than the Premier League?
Slightly. The National League produced BTTS in 53.1% of matches against 52.8% in the Premier League, a difference too small to bet on by itself.
What are fair BTTS odds in English football?
Across all five tiers, both teams scored in 51.9% of 25,013 matches. Fair BTTS Yes prices range from 1.88 in the National League to 1.96 in the Championship, before any bookmaker margin.
I'm Thandiwe Nkosi, based in Cape Town, and I write the both-teams-to-score tips at soccerbet.tips โ reading defensive frailty and real attacking intent rather than chasing the obvious high-scoring names.
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