The 2024/25 Bundesliga's biggest trends | OneFootball

Goals galore and super subs: The 2024/25 Bundesliga's biggest trends

Goals galore, super subs and strength on the road - bundesliga.com takes a look back at some of the biggest trends from the 2024/25 campaign.

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Goals galore

In the 306 2024/25 Bundesliga games, 959 goals were scored. While that was 26 fewer than the 2023/24 term, it was the seventh season in a row that there have been more than three goals per game on average (3.1). Between 1988 and 2018, there were only two campaigns that reached the three-goals-per-game mark.

Unsurprisingly, games involving Bayern Munich were the most lucrative with 131 goals - the champions struck 99 times themselves.

Watch: All of Harry Kane's Bundesliga goals in 2024/25

Patrik Schick was particularly dangerous from open play. (IMAGO/Taisei Iwamoto)

Kane and Olise shine

Harry Kane was again the Bundesliga's top goalscorer, netting on 26 occasions, and broke two new records in the process. Never before has a player topped the German top-flight's goal charts or scored more than 25 in each of their first two seasons.

As the England captain inspired Bayern to the title, the first major trophy of his career, he also provided eight assists, meaning the 34 goals he contributed too directly were another league-high. Still, it was his teammate Michael Olise who sat top of the pile in terms of assists with 15.

Watch: Kane and Olise - Bayern's deadly duo

Xabi Alonso says goodbye to Leverkusen fans after his final away game at Mainz. (JM)

Open play rules

This term, a huge 752 goals were scored from open play in the Bundesliga, the highest tally since records began! However, that had an affect on the dead-ball-goal haul: only 207 were netted from such situations, or around 22 percent.

If just goals from open play counted, Patrik Schick would lead the way. Of his 21 efforts, 18 came from in-play situations, while he only converted a single penalty. Kane, meanwhile, bagged 17 from open play in comparison - in contrast, he found the back of the net with nine spot-kicks.

Serge Gnabry was the Bundesliga's most prolific super sub in 2024/25. (Oliver Hardt/Bundesliga)

Away day glory

In 2024/25, there were almost as many away wins (111) as home victories (118) - only 2019/20, the campaign disrupted by COVID-19 had more (115).

For the second season in a row, Bayer Leverkusen were unbeaten on their Bundesliga travels - that is a new league record. Matchdays 24 and 25 were particularly successful for the teams in unfamiliar surroundings, with not a single home triumph recorded across those 18 fixtures.

Head coaches more secure

Bundesliga clubs changed head coach six times during the season, a comparitively low number in comparison to other terms. Although Dieter Hecker, Christian Ilzer and Zsolt Lőw were unable to turn their tide at VfL Bochum, Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig respectively, Union Berlin's Steffen Baumgart and Borussia Dortmund's Niko Kovač had a positive impact.

The latter even managed to lead Die Schwarzgelben to UEFA Champions League qualification thanks to seven wins and one draw from their last eight outings. That means that, for the first in Bundesliga history, a team in the bottom half after 27 matchdays ended up in the top four.

Watch: Celebration time in Dortmund as top-four spot delivered

Super subs

Coaches were able to make a combined total of 3,060 subsitutions, with a record 2,796 (since available substitutions increased from three to five) ultimately being used.

Of the 145 goals scored by players who started matches on the bench, Bayern's Serge Gnabry was the most prolific, striking five of his seven efforts for the season as a replacement.

Fewer fouls, but more dismissals

The number of fouls fell to 6,272, the lowest number since the collection of such data started in 1992. For context, around the turn of the millenium there were, on average, 12,000 fouls committed.

Yet, despite fewer impediments, red card offences remained high. There were 54 dimissals in total, almost as many as 2023/24 (55). In the three seasons before that, the number was considerably smaller.

One of the referees who often let the game flow, Dr. Felix Brych, said goodbye to the Bundesliga on the final matchday. He ends his career after 21 years and 359 matches amongst the German elite, with his six German Referee of the Year awards surpassed only by Dr. Markus Merk (seven).

Penalty-saving heroes

Fewer fouls meant fewer penalties - just 83 in 2024/25, to be exact, the lowest total in five years. And only 58, or 70 percent, of them ended up in the back of the net, a 14-year low.

Noah Atubolu has kept out each of his last four across the last two terms, a new Bundesliga record, while Frederik Rønnow and Nikola Vasilj saved a quartet of spot-kicks apiece. On top of that, Rønnow and Vasilj are the first to keep out four penalties in a season since Ralf Fährmann in 2016/17 - the record belongs to ex-1860 Munich shot-stopper Thomas Zander, who saved six in 1979/80.

Watch: Noah Atubolu's penalty heroics for Freiburg

Slight drop in attendance

Last season's promoted sides Holstein Kiel (15,034) and St. Pauli (29,546) have rather small capacities. For example, Cologne, one of the sides they replace, can hold up to 50,000 spectators at their RheinEnergieSTADION. As such, the average attendance in the Bundesliga this campaign stood at 38,652, the lowest number for 20 years beside the COVID-19 term.

Having said that, Kiel and St. Pauli still sold out 12 and 15 times respectively, with their capacity almost at 100 percent for the remaining matches.

Dortmund were one of the teams who played in front of a packed house in each of their 17 matches, setting a new record in the process. A total of 1,383,205 people saw their games, the highest ever in the top flight.

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