LONDON: Real Madrid were awarded more penalty kicks than any other club in 2024-25 according to a review of the top European leagues. This is ironic since the club have made such a fuss about a perceived refereeing bias against them in LaLiga.

The analysis, by SportingPedia, shows that Madrid were awarded 14 spot kicks and also finished with the best net penalty balance at +11. At the other end of the scale France’s Saint-Etienne had the most penalties awarded against them, with 15 in a single campaign.

Alaves topped the list for most penalties in matches involving a single team – 22 in total, split evenly between those awarded in their favour and those against. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Almere City’s Eredivisie campaign was a complete anomaly: not a single penalty was awarded for or against them.

The German Bundesliga stood out as the league with the lowest overall penalty conversion rate at 69pc. Freiburg contributed heavily to that statistic, missing all four of their penalties. St Pauli also shaped the data, as they faced five penalties and conceded just once.

Another curious revelation is the rare perfect defensive record belonging to Everton, who had two penalties awarded against them, both missed by the opposition.

Key Takeaways:

The Bundesliga had the lowest penalty conversion rate across the 7 leagues, at just 69.23pc, while Eredivisie led with 87.5pc;
La Liga saw the highest number of penalties awarded overall (130), while Eredivisie (72) and Bundesliga (78) recorded the fewest, though both leagues played fewer rounds than the others;
Alaves saw the most penalties in their matches (22 total);
Real Madrid received the most penalties (14);
Saint-Etienne conceded the most penalties (15);
Out of the teams with 10+ penalties, only Sporting Lisbon had a perfect penalty conversion rate, scoring all 13;
Of the teams with minimum 5 awarded penalties, Stuttgart had the worst conversion rate with just 33.33pc accuracy;
Southampton, Genoa, Como, and Freiburg each failed to score from at least 2 awarded penalties, resulting in a 0pc conversion rate;
Everton saw all penalties against them missed or saved;
Wolverhampton and Almere City did not receive a single penalty all season;
Ajax and Almere City went through the season without conceding a penalty;
Real Madrid had the best penalty balance (+11) across the season.
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Full report: https://www.sportingpedia.com/2025/07/03/penalty-kick-statistics-for-the-2024-25-season-across-major-european-leagues/

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