As of September 2024, Gareth Bale was the all-time record goal scorer for the Welsh national football team, with a total of ** goals. Ian Rush, the record goal scorer for Liverpool FC, ranked second, with a total of ** goals.

Ballon d'Or 2025 Nominees Dataset

This dataset provides comprehensive performance statistics for the 30 official nominees for the Men's Ballon d'Or 2025, covering the 2024-25 European football season (August 2024 to July 2025). The nominees were announced on August 7, 2025, by France Football and UEFA, with the ceremony held on September 22, 2025, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain) won the Men's Ballon d'Or for his standout season, including PSG's Champions League triumph.

Why This Dataset?

• Timely & Complete: All nominees' data in one place, including mid-season transfers (e.g., Khvicha Kvaratskhelia from Napoli to PSG).
• Rich Metrics: Standard stats (goals, assists) + advanced analytics (xG, progressive carries) for in-depth analysis.
• Use Cases:
  • Predict future winners using ML (e.g., regression on xG + assists).
  • Visualize league dominance (e.g., La Liga's Yamal vs. Premier League's Salah).
  • Compare positions (e.g., GK Donnarumma's unique row vs. FW Haaland).
  • Track young talents like 17-year-old Lamine Yamal (Kopa Trophy winner).

Data sourced from FBref.com, the go-to for football stats. Nominees list verified against official UEFA/France Football announcement.

Nominees Overview

• Total Rows: 32 (30 unique players; duplicates for transfers like McTominay and Kvaratskhelia).
• Leagues Covered: Premier League (England), La Liga (Spain), Bundesliga (Germany), Serie A (Italy), Ligue 1 (France), Primeira Liga (Portugal).
• Key Highlights:
  • Top Scorer: Viktor Gyökeres (39 goals, Sporting CP).
  • Most Assists: Mohamed Salah (18, Liverpool).
  • Highest xG+xAG/90: Dembélé (1.29, winner's edge).
  • Full Nominees: Achraf Hakimi, Alexis Mac Allister, Cole Palmer, Declan Rice, Denzel Dumfries, Désiré Doué, Erling Haaland, Florian Wirtz, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Harry Kane, João Neves, Jude Bellingham, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal, Lautaro Martínez, Michael Olise, Mohamed Salah, Nuno Mendes, Ousmane Dembélé, Pedri, Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski, Scott McTominay, Serhou Guirassy, Virgil van Dijk, Vitinha. (Missing from data: Fabián Ruiz, Vinícius Júnior—add via FBref if needed.)

Columns

Column	Description	Example
Rk	Player's rank in league stats table	228
Player	Full name	Achraf Hakimi
Nation	Country code + Full name	ma MAR
Pos	Position(s)	DF
Squad	Club name	Paris S-G
Age	Age during season	25
Born	Birth year	1998
MP	Matches Played	25
Starts	Matches Started	24
Min	Total Minutes	2066
90s	Full 90-minute equivalents	23.0
Gls	Total Goals	4
Ast	Assists	6
G+A	Goals + Assists	10
G-PK	Non-Penalty Goals	4
PK	Penalties Scored	0
PKatt	Penalties Attempted	0
CrdY	Yellow Cards	4
CrdR	Red Cards	0
xG	Expected Goals	2.9
npxG	Non-Penalty Expected Goals	2.9
xAG	Expected Assists	6.2
npxG+xAG	Non-Penalty xG + xAG	9.1
PrgC	Progressive Carries	93
PrgP	Progressive Passes	183
PrgR	Progressive Passes Received	273
GlsPer90	Goals per 90 Minutes	0.17
AstPer90	Assists per 90 Minutes	0.26
G+APer90	(G+A) per 90 Minutes	0.44
G-PKPer90	Non-PK Goals per 90	0.17
G+A-PKPer90	Non-PK (G+A) per 90	0.44
xGPer90	xG per 90	0.13
xAGPer90	xAG per 90	0.27
xG+xAGPer90	(xG + xAG) per 90	0.40
npxGPer90	npxG per 90	0.13
npxG+xAGPer90	npxG + xAG per 90	0.40
Matches	Link to match logs (FBref)	Matches
League	Competition	Ligue 1

Data Sources & Methodology

• Source: FBref.com (StatsBomb-powered data).
• Scraping: Python with BeautifulSoup, cloudscraper, and pandas (handles Cloudflare protection).
• Scope: Domestic league stats only (excludes internationals like EURO 2025 or Club World Cup). Season: 2024-25.
• Updates: Last refreshed September 26, 2025. Add international data for fuller analysis.
• Limitations: Goalkeepers (e.g., Donnarumma) have limited offensive stats. Some names use FBref formatting (e.g., "ma MAR" for Morocco).

Usage Ideas

• EDA: Plot goals vs. xG to spot over/underperformers.
• ML: Build a model to rank nominees (features: xG+xAGPer90, PrgC).
• Visuals: Heatmap of per-90 metrics by league.

Fork this dataset, create notebooks, and share your insights! Questions? Comment below.

Keywords: Ballon d'Or, football stats, soccer analytics, 2025 nominees, xG, player performance.

License: CC0 (Public Domain)—use freely!

Citations: UEFA.com , Olympics.com , Wikipedia .

This statistic presents the most influential soccer-related accounts on Twitter worldwide as of 2018. The influence ranking is based on a metric provided by Brandwatch, which scores Twitter accounts on an index value from zero to 100. A score of hundred represents the highest likelihood that the Twitter account is engaged with the respective audience on the social media platform through the various forms of communication. According to the findings, in terms of soccer-related Twitter accounts, professional goalkeeper for Porto, Iker Casillas, was at the top of the list as being the most influential with an audience influence score of ** out of 100 points. Alongside him at top, was the footballer for Liverpool FC and Egypt, Mohammad Salah who also had an audience influence score of ** points.

As of March 2025, Liverpool was classed as the strongest men's soccer team in the world, with a Power Ranking score of 100. Meanwhile, both Arsenal and Barcelona had scores of 98.5.