Advertisement
English Premier League returns with rich history of goal-scoring records
20th August, 2026 06:26 AM
The 2026 FIFA World Cup may have only just ended, but the football calendar is already moving rapidly. Europe’s leading domestic competitions are returning, with the English Premier League set to begin its 35th campaign on Friday, August 21, 2026.
Ahead of the new season, a look through the competition’s history reveals a remarkable collection of goal-scoring milestones involving some of the biggest names and clubs in English football.
First Premier League goal
The Premier League began in 1992 after replacing the old First Division. Its inaugural matches were played on August 15 that year, with Sheffield United striker Brian Deane creating history just four minutes into his side’s meeting with Manchester United.
Deane headed Sheffield United into the record books by scoring the first-ever Premier League goal. His team eventually won 2-1, although Manchester United would go on to claim the first league title of the new era.
Since then, thousands of goals have been scored. Tottenham Hotspur forward Les Ferdinand registered the competition’s 10,000th goal in 2001, while Aston Villa’s Marc Albrighton scored the 20,000th nine years later.
The 35,000th Premier League goal was reached on Wednesday, January 7, 2026 when Manchester City’s Erling Haaland converted a penalty against Brighton.
Haaland has rapidly established himself among the competition’s most prolific scorers since arriving in England in 2022. During his first Premier League campaign, he set the record for the most goals by an individual in a 38-game Premier League season, scoring 36 times in only 35 appearances.
Premier League’s leading scorer
Haaland has already accumulated 112 Premier League goals in four seasons, but he remains well short of Alan Shearer’s all-time record of 260.
The former England striker scored 112 times for Blackburn Rovers before adding another 148 goals during his spell with Newcastle United. That achievement also places him among a select group of players, alongside David Jack and Jimmy Greaves, to have scored more than 100 goals for two different clubs in England’s top division.
Craig Bellamy, who previously played alongside Shearer, also owns a unique Premier League record. The Welshman found the net for seven different clubs during his career between 2000 and 2014.
Those teams were Coventry City, Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers, Liverpool, West Ham United, Manchester City and Cardiff City, giving Bellamy the record for scoring for the highest number of different clubs in Premier League history.
Frank Lampard holds another notable record. The former Chelsea, Manchester City and West Ham midfielder scored against 39 different Premier League clubs, the highest total recorded in the competition.
Youngest and oldest scorers
Arsenal youngster Max Dowman added his name to the history books last season when he scored against Everton following a late counter-attack.
The goal came when Dowman was only 16 years and 73 days old, making him the youngest player ever to score in the Premier League.
At the opposite end of the age spectrum is Teddy Sheringham. The former England forward was 40 years and 268 days old when he scored for West Ham United against Portsmouth in 2006, a mark that remains the record for the oldest Premier League goalscorer.
Single-season scoring benchmark
At club level, Manchester City produced the most prolific Premier League campaign by a team when they scored 106 goals during the 2017/18 season.
City also finished that campaign with an extraordinary goal difference of plus-79.
However, when total Premier League goals are considered across the entire competition’s history, Manchester United remain ahead. City have scored 1,997 goals during the Premier League era, while United’s 2,365 goals represent the competition’s highest team tally.
Season with most goals
The 2023/24 campaign currently holds the record for the highest number of goals scored in a single Premier League season.
A total of 1,246 goals were recorded across the campaign, producing an average of 3.28 goals per match.
That surpassed the previous record of 1,222 goals, set during the inaugural 1992/93 season. That campaign featured 22 teams and therefore had 82 more matches than the modern Premier League format.
One factor behind the remarkable increase in scoring during 2023/24 was the amount of additional time being played at the end of matches. Substitute players also contributed significantly, scoring 159 goals, another competition record.
With the 2026/27 Premier League season about to begin, there is every possibility that another remarkable chapter will be added to the competition’s long list of goals, records and memorable moments.
