goal difference

English

Noun

goal difference (plural goal differences)

1. (sports) The difference between the number of goals scored and the number of goals conceded, over the duration of a competition.
   • 2011 February 6, Alistair Magowan, “West Ham 0 - 1 Birmingham”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     The hosts went close on several occasions with Victor Obinna and Robbie Keane impressive in the first half, yet they had trouble carving out many clear openings and the defeat leaves them at the bottom of the Premier League on goal difference, two points from safety.

   • 2023 December 1, Emma Sanders, “England 3-2 Netherlands”, in BBC Sport‎^[2]:

     England will qualify for the semi-finals if they beat Scotland on Tuesday and the Netherlands drop points in their final match with Belgium.
     However, even if the Netherlands beat Belgium at home, England could still go through if they defeat the Scots by a sufficiently large scoreline to take their goal difference above the Dutch.

Translations

difference between the number of goals scored and the number of goals conceded

• Danish: målforskel c, måldifference c
• Dutch: doelsaldo (nl) n
• Hungarian: gólkülönbség (hu)
• Spanish: diferencia de goles f
• Swedish: målskillnad (sv) c
• Vietnamese: hiệu số bàn thắng thua