A soccer season is the time period in which different soccer teams, within an organized soccer league, can play each other.
At the end of a soccer season, teams will have played each other in an orderly manner to ultimately determine the winner out of them all.
The length of the season and the amount of teams playing each other varies from league to league, as there are many different soccer leagues that include different teams from different places.
The thing about a soccer season is that it needs to allow each soccer team to play all other soccer teams in the league, at least once.
After all, the ultimate winner of the season needs to have been the best team out of them all and therefore has to be proven against all the other teams. So, how many games are there exactly in a soccer season?
There is no straight answer to this question. The number of games in each soccer season completely depends on the soccer league and the amount of teams that belong to it.
The more soccer teams, the more games there will have to be in order to ensure that they’ve all had the chance to play against each other, and so on.
Instead, we’ll take a look at how to determine the number of games for each soccer season. We’ll also look at the number of games that are played for each soccer season of the topmost important soccer teams around the world! Let’s get right into it!
How is the number of games determined in a soccer season?
So, the number of games in a soccer season varies according to the number of teams that are within the soccer league hosting the season.
Essentially, there have to be enough soccer games to give all the teams the chance to compete against all others, so that it’s a fair and equal system when evaluating the outcome and choosing the ultimate winning team.
This suggests that the way the number of games is determined, is by the number of teams within the league, right? But that’s not all! It also depends on the format of the league’s competition and how the season works.
Let’s take a look at both:
The format of the competition:
Different leagues will use different competition formats for their soccer seasons. The competition format determines the way and method in which they will pit the different teams against each other, in their journey to find the overall winning team.
The competition format covers things such as how many times two teams will play each other, and whether they will play at one team’s home or the other’s, or both.
The competition format is very important, as it’s designed to ensure that every team has an equally fair chance at coming up on top and winning. It can be quite complicated when lots of teams belong to the league, so usually, most main leagues will use the same competition format for their soccer seasons.
The most commonly used competition format is the ‘double round-robin tournament’. This competition format makes it so that each soccer team plays every other competing team twice. That way, the teams get to play against each other team in two different ways: at home and away.
So, for example, the first time you play against the team you will play at your home stadium, and the second time you play against them it will be at their home stadium.
Why do this? Well, statistics show that soccer teams have a higher chance of winning when they’re playing at their home stadium. This could be for many reasons: they’re more familiar with the terrain and weather conditions of the stadium, they have more support as that is where most of their fans will be located, and they’re more motivated by defending the pride of their home base!
In fact, there are some teams that have never lost a single game played in their home stadium!
So in order to make the tournament fair, each team will play each other at home and away, for an equal chance of winning.
The number of teams within the league:
The number of teams within the league is the other factor considered when determining the total number of games played in a single soccer season.
Once you know the competition format, you simply calculate it by using the number of teams that will be competing against each other.
For example, if we’re calculating the number of games in a season that uses the double round-robin tournament method, and there are a total of 22 teams within the league, we need to calculate how many games a single team will play.
In this case, a team will have to play all the other 21 teams, twice. 21+21=42, so there will be 42 games in total for each team, leading to an overall total of 924 soccer games throughout the entire season.
The games can then be spread out and timed depending on how long the season lasts! But as this is the easiest competition format, it’s the one that almost all soccer leagues use!
The number of games in the different main important soccer seasons:
Now that you know how the number of games in a soccer season is determined, you might be able to calculate the total of games for each main soccer game by yourself, without looking it up.
But just in case you want to know for sure, we thought we’d look at the different main soccer leagues and their seasons.
We’ve listed them in order, from the least amount of games to the most. Take a look:
Argentine Super League (in Argentina)
The Argentine Super League season takes place in Argentina, and it counts with the participation of 24 different soccer teams.
It uses the competition format of a single round-robin tournament, which is slightly different from the double system, so let’s calculate the total number of games:
- Each team plays the other 23 teams once: 23 games per team
- If each team plays 23 games, and there are 24 teams: 23x24= 552
There are a total of 552 games played throughout the Argentine Super League soccer season. The games for each season are spread out between June and December of the same year.
Major League Soccer - MLS (in the US)
The Major League Soccer season takes place in the United States, and it counts with the participation of 18 different soccer teams.
It uses the competition format of a double round-robin tournament, so let’s calculate the total number of games:
- Each team plays 17 other teams twice: 17+17= 34
- If each team plays 34 games, and there are 18 teams: 34x18= 612
There are a total of 612 games played throughout the MLS soccer season. It runs every year, with the games spread out in between March and December.
Primeira Liga (in Portugal)
The Primeira Liga season takes place in Portugal, and it counts with the participation of 18 different soccer teams. It uses the competition format of a double round-robin tournament, so let’s calculate the total number of games:
- Each team plays 17 other teams twice: 17+17= 34
- If each team plays 34 games, and there are 18 teams: 34x18= 612
There are a total of 612 games played throughout the Primeira Liga soccer season. In each season, the games are spread out in between August and the May of the following year.
Dutch Eredivisie (in the Netherlands)
The Dutch Eredivisie season takes place in the Netherlands, and it counts with the participation of 18 different soccer teams. It uses the competition format of a double round-robin tournament, so let’s calculate the total number of games:
- Each team plays 17 other teams twice: 17+17= 34
- If each team plays 34 games, and there are 18 teams: 34x18= 612
There are a total of 612 games played throughout the Dutch Eredivisie soccer season. In each season, the games are spread out in between August and the May of the following year.
Bundesliga (in Germany)
The Bundesliga season takes place in Germany, and it counts with the participation of 18 different soccer teams. It uses the competition format of a double round-robin tournament, so let’s calculate the total number of games:
- Each team plays 17 other teams twice: 17+17= 34
- If each team plays 34 games, and there are 18 teams: 34x18= 612
There are a total of 612 games played throughout the Bundesliga soccer season. In each season, the games are spread out between August and the May of the following year.
English Premier League (in England)
The English Premier League season takes place in England, and it counts with the participation of 20 different soccer teams. It uses the competition format of a double round-robin tournament, so let’s calculate the total number of games:
- Each team plays 19 other teams twice: 19+19= 38
- If each team plays 38 games, and there are 20 teams: 38x20= 760
There are a total of 760 games played throughout the English Premier League soccer season. In each season, the games are spread out between August and the May of the following year.
La Liga (in Spain)
La Liga season takes place in Spain, and it counts with the participation of 20 different soccer teams. It uses the competition format of a double round-robin tournament, so let’s calculate the total number of games:
- Each team plays 19 other teams twice: 19+19= 38
- If each team plays 38 games, and there are 20 teams: 38x20= 760
There are a total of 760 games played throughout La Liga soccer season. In each season, the games are spread out between August and the May of the following year.
Serie A (in Italy)
The Serie A season takes place in Italy, and it counts with the participation of 20 different soccer teams. It uses the competition format of a double round-robin tournament, so let’s calculate the total number of games:
- Each team plays 19 other teams twice: 19+19= 38
- If each team plays 38 games, and there are 20 teams: 38x20= 760
There are a total of 760 games played throughout the Serie A soccer season. In each season, the games are spread out between August and the May of the following year.
Ligue 1 (in France)
The Ligue 1 season takes place in France, and it counts with the participation of 20 different soccer teams. It uses the competition format of a double round-robin tournament, so let’s calculate the total number of games:
- Each team plays 19 other teams twice: 19+19= 38
- If each team plays 38 games, and there are 20 teams: 38x20= 760
There are a total of 760 games played throughout the Ligue 1 soccer season. In each season, the games are spread out between August and the May of the following year.
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (in Brazil)
The Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A season takes place in Brazil, and it counts with the participation of 20 different soccer teams. It uses the competition format of a double round-robin tournament, so let’s calculate the total number of games:
- Each team plays 19 other teams twice: 19+19= 38
- If each team plays 38 games, and there are 20 teams: 38x20= 760
There are a total of 760 games played throughout the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A soccer season. The games for each season are spread out between May and December of the same year.
In Conclusion
A soccer season is the time period in which a soccer league of importance hosts the many different games between the different teams within the league, to ultimately determine the overall winner of the season.
The number of games that are played during each season isn’t a fixed quantity, as it varies from league to league depending on how they compete and the number of teams competing.
Therefore, the two main factors used to determine the number of games played in a season is the format of the competition and the number of teams.
Usually, leagues will use the double round-robin tournament competition format, in which each team plays all other soccer teams twice: once in their own home stadium, and once in the other team’s home stadium. This means that you need to calculate the number of games that each team will play, and then multiply it by the number of total teams that are participating in the season.
For example, a league with 20 participating teams will have each team playing against the other 19 teams twice. This results in each team playing 38 games. If we then multiply this amount of games by the number of total teams playing, we get a result of 760 games that are played in total throughout the entire soccer season.
Of course, this will vary if the league uses a different competition format and if there is a different number of competing teams.
So essentially, the answer to ‘how many games are in a soccer season’, is pretty much a variable that needs to be calculated for each specific soccer season in turn!
