
BTTS Stats for Smaller European Leagues: 10 Divisions Compared
Ten smaller European top flights, one market. Switzerland and Norway lean towards goals at both ends, while Ireland, Russia and Romania lean the other way, even when the favourite is short.
- 60.4%BTTS Yes in the Swiss Super League, the highest
- 44.9%BTTS Yes in the League of Ireland Premier, the lowest
- +15.5 ptsspread between highest and lowest league
The smaller European leagues get lumped together as one goal-friendly blur, and that habit costs bettors money. I wanted to know how often both teams actually score in the Scandinavian, Swiss, Austrian, Irish and Eastern European top flights. I also wanted to see whether a short-priced favourite changes the picture the way most people assume it does.
The headline answer is that BTTS Yes landed in 52.2% of 19,901 matches between 2016 and 2024, which sounds like a coin flip until you split it by league. The gap between the top and bottom division is +15.5 pts, and that gap matters far more than the average. This is the groundwork behind my today's BTTS picks page, so treat it as the map rather than the route.
01Swiss Super League tops the BTTS table, Ireland props it up
The bars rank all ten leagues by how often both sides found the net. The Swiss Super League leads at 60.4%, with Eliteserien on 57.4% and the Danish Superliga on 56.4% close behind. At the other end sit Romania's Liga I on 47.5%, the Russian Premier League on 47.0% and the League of Ireland Premier on 44.9%.
What I see here is a split in conduct, not just in quality. The leagues at the top tend to produce open, stretched games where the trailing side keeps committing bodies forward. The bottom three look like divisions where one team, usually the visitor, settles for shape and rarely gets out of its own half with real intent.
View the data: btts rate in ten smaller european leagues
| Both teams scored, 2016–2024 | |
|---|---|
| Swiss Super League | 60.4% |
| Eliteserien | 57.4% |
| Danish Superliga | 56.4% |
| Austrian Bundesliga | 53.7% |
| Allsvenskan | 53.6% |
| Ekstraklasa | 51.7% |
| Veikkausliiga | 50.8% |
| Romanian Liga I | 47.5% |
| Russian Premier League | 47.0% |
| League of Ireland Premier | 44.9% |
Allsvenskan on 53.6% sits right around the pooled figure, which tells me that Swedish games need more individual reading than Swiss or Irish ones. A league average is a starting point, and the further it sits from the middle, the more weight I give it.
02Short-priced favourites barely dent BTTS in Switzerland or Norway
The heatmap tests the common belief that a heavy favourite shuts the market down. Pooled across all ten leagues, BTTS landed in 49.2% of 4,317 matches with a favourite under 1.60, against 53.0% of 6,303 with a favourite at 2.20 or longer. So the effect exists, but it is gentler than most punters assume.
League identity overrides price. In the Swiss Super League, BTTS still came in 61.5% of the time with a favourite under 1.60, which is higher than its own rate in the longest-priced band. In the League of Ireland Premier the same short-favourite band produced only 41.4%, and the Ekstraklasa dropped to 44.9% there too.
View the data: does a strong favourite kill btts?
| Favourite <1.60 | Favourite 1.60–2.19 | Favourite 2.20+ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swiss Super League | 61.5% | 60.7% | 58.9% |
| Eliteserien | 57.1% | 56.8% | 58.4% |
| Danish Superliga | 55.8% | 57.1% | 55.8% |
| Austrian Bundesliga | 51.9% | 53.5% | 56.2% |
| Allsvenskan | 49.1% | 55.3% | 54.9% |
| Ekstraklasa | 44.9% | 53.1% | 51.8% |
| Veikkausliiga | 49.5% | 51.3% | 50.6% |
| Romanian Liga I | 43.5% | 48.7% | 48.2% |
| Russian Premier League | 43.2% | 46.2% | 50.6% |
| League of Ireland Premier | 41.4% | 45.9% | 47.6% |
My read is that a dominant Swiss or Norwegian side often wins three-one rather than two-nil, because their opponents keep attacking. In Ireland, Poland and Romania, a strong favourite is far more likely to keep its back door locked. The smallest cell holds 294 matches and every other holds more, so these are not thin samples.
03Fair BTTS prices and failure-to-score rates for each league
The table turns each league's frequency into a break-even price with no bookmaker margin. The Swiss Super League's fair Yes price is 1.66, while the League of Ireland Premier's fair No price is 1.81. If a market offers you less than those numbers, history says you are paying the margin with nothing in return.
The blank columns are where I spend most of my time. Away sides failed to score in 34.6% of Irish matches but only 24.2% of Swiss ones, and that single difference explains a lot of the gap between the two leagues. Russia stands out for the home side too, with home teams blanking in 26.4% of matches.
| League | Matches | BTTS Yes | Fair Yes | Fair No | Home blank | Away blank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swiss Super League | 1,642 | 60.4% | 1.66 | 2.52 | 20.4% | 24.2% |
| Eliteserien | 2,124 | 57.4% | 1.74 | 2.35 | 18.7% | 29.4% |
| Danish Superliga | 1,933 | 56.4% | 1.77 | 2.29 | 22.4% | 27.6% |
| Austrian Bundesliga | 1,666 | 53.7% | 1.86 | 2.16 | 24.6% | 28.0% |
| Allsvenskan | 2,142 | 53.6% | 1.86 | 2.16 | 22.7% | 30.2% |
| Ekstraklasa | 2,567 | 51.7% | 1.94 | 2.07 | 24.0% | 32.5% |
| Veikkausliiga | 1,560 | 50.8% | 1.97 | 2.03 | 26.2% | 31.2% |
| Romanian Liga I | 2,560 | 47.5% | 2.11 | 1.90 | 27.4% | 35.0% |
| Russian Premier League | 2,129 | 47.0% | 2.13 | 1.89 | 26.4% | 36.2% |
| League of Ireland Premier | 1,578 | 44.9% | 2.23 | 1.81 | 28.7% | 34.6% |
One caveat sits over all of this. These are historical frequencies, not a forecast, and they come with a pandemic-disrupted 2020, an incomplete 2024 and league formats with splits and playoffs that differ from country to country.
BTTS checklist
- Start from the league. Anchor your estimate on the league rate before looking at the fixture. A Swiss match starts near 60.4% and an Irish one near 44.9%, and that difference is bigger than most team-level adjustments.
- Don't overrate the favourite. Across all ten leagues a favourite under 1.60 only pulled BTTS down to 49.2% from 53.0% in the longest band. Check the league row first, because in Switzerland that short-favourite band still produced 61.5%.
- Price against the blanks. Compare the offered price with the fair figure, 1.66 for Swiss Yes or 1.81 for Irish No, and then look at the away blank rate. A visitor that fails to score in roughly a third of games, as in Ireland at 34.6%, is what usually turns a fixture into a No.
Quick answers
Which smaller European league has the most BTTS?
The Swiss Super League had the highest BTTS rate in this study at 60.4% of 1,642 matches. Eliteserien followed on 57.4% and the Danish Superliga on 56.4%.
Which league is best for BTTS No?
The League of Ireland Premier had the lowest BTTS rate at 44.9% of 1,578 matches, which gives a fair No price of 1.81. The Russian Premier League on 47.0% and Romania's Liga I on 47.5% also leaned towards No.
Does a heavy favourite make BTTS No more likely?
Slightly, on average: BTTS landed in 49.2% of matches with a favourite under 1.60 across all ten leagues. It depends heavily on the league, though, ranging from 61.5% in Switzerland to 41.4% in Ireland in that same price band.
