Open a league table, an FPL player history, or an eFootball stat sheet and you get a row of two- and three-letter codes with no key anywhere on the page. Worse, the same letters mean different things depending on who published the table — GS is "goals scored" on Fantasy Premier League and "games started" on ESPN. This is the key, grouped by what the numbers actually measure.
League table abbreviations
These are the columns you see on any standings table, from the Premier League to a Sunday league spreadsheet.
| Code | Stands for | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| P / Pld | Played | Matches the team has played |
| MP | Matches Played | Same as Pld; common on FIFA and Wikipedia tables |
| GP | Games Played | Same again; the usual North American label |
| W | Wins | Matches won |
| D | Draws | Matches drawn (shown as T for "ties" in US tables) |
| L | Losses | Matches lost |
| GF | Goals For | Goals the team has scored |
| GA | Goals Against | Goals the team has conceded |
| GD | Goal Difference | GF minus GA — the standard first tiebreaker |
| PTS | Points | 3 per win, 1 per draw, 0 per loss |
| PPG | Points Per Game | Points divided by matches played |
Attacking and scoring stats
| Code | Stands for | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| GLS | Goals | Goals scored by that player |
| G | Goals | Short form of GLS; used when the column is tight |
| A / AST | Assists | Final pass or touch before a teammate's goal |
| G+A | Goals plus Assists | Combined direct goal involvements |
| SH | Shots | Total shots attempted |
| SOT | Shots On Target | Shots that would go in without a save or block |
| SOG | Shots On Goal | Identical to SOT; the US broadcast label |
| PK / PEN | Penalty Kick | A penalty; often split into scored and attempted |
| PM | Penalties Missed | Spot kicks saved, missed, or hit off target |
| OG | Own Goal | Goal scored into the player's own net |
| MIN | Minutes | Minutes actually played on the pitch |
| SUB | Substitute | Appearances made from the bench |
| MOTM | Man of the Match | Awarded to the standout player |
Passing, creating and possession
| Code | Stands for | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| KP | Key Passes | Passes that lead directly to a shot |
| CMP% | Pass Completion | Share of attempted passes that found a teammate |
| CRS | Crosses | Balls delivered into the box from wide areas |
| DRB | Dribbles | Successful take-ons past an opponent |
| POSS | Possession | Percentage of the match a team had the ball |
| TCH | Touches | Every time a player makes contact with the ball |
Defending stats
| Code | Stands for | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| TKL | Tackles | Challenges that win the ball off an opponent |
| INT | Interceptions | Opposition passes cut out |
| CLR | Clearances | Balls hacked away from the defensive third |
| BLK | Blocks | Shots or crosses blocked by an outfield player |
| FC | Fouls Committed | Free kicks given away |
| FS | Fouls Suffered | Free kicks won |
| OFF | Offsides | Times the player was flagged offside |
Goalkeeping stats
| Code | Stands for | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| CS | Clean Sheets | Matches finished without conceding |
| SO / ShO | Shutouts | The US term for a clean sheet |
| SV | Saves | Shots on target the keeper stopped |
| SV% | Save Percentage | Saves as a share of shots on target faced |
| GC | Goals Conceded | Goals let in — the player-level version of GA |
| GAA | Goals Against Average | Goals conceded per 90 minutes; standard in NCAA soccer |
| PS | Penalties Saved | Spot kicks kept out |
Disciplinary stats
| Code | Stands for | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| YC | Yellow Cards | Cautions received |
| RC | Red Cards | Dismissals, straight or from two yellows |
| CrdY / CrdR | Yellow / Red Cards | The FBref spelling of the same two stats |
Advanced and expected stats
| Code | Stands for | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| xG | Expected Goals | Chance quality, 0 to 1, based on shot location and type |
| xA | Expected Assists | Likelihood a pass becomes an assist |
| npxG | Non-Penalty xG | xG with penalties stripped out, since a pen is worth ~0.79 xG |
| xGA | Expected Goals Against | Chance quality a team allows |
| PPDA | Passes Per Defensive Action | Pressing intensity — lower means a more aggressive press |
| Prog | Progressive Passes | Passes that move the ball meaningfully upfield |
For the tactical vocabulary behind these numbers — false nine, low block, gegenpress, VAR — the Football Glossary has plain-English definitions with Spanish translations alongside, and our xG and VAR explainer goes deeper on the two most misunderstood terms.
Fantasy Premier League's own key
FPL uses its own abbreviations in the player history table, and several clash with broadcast conventions:
| Code | Stands for |
|---|---|
| MP | Minutes Played (not matches played) |
| GS | Goals Scored (not games started) |
| A | Assists |
| CS | Clean Sheets |
| GC | Goals Conceded |
| S | Saves |
| B | Bonus points awarded |
| BPS | Bonus Points System score |
| ICT | Influence, Creativity, Threat index |
Abbreviations that trip people up
GA vs A. GA is goals against — a defensive number, always bad for the team it sits beside. A on its own is assists, an attacking number. They share a letter and nothing else.
GP vs MP vs Apps. All three mean games played. GP is the North American default, MP is common on European and Wikipedia tables, and "Apps" (appearances) is the British broadcast term. None of them tell you whether substitute cameos are included — most tables count any minutes on the pitch as an appearance.
GP in eFootball. In eFootball, GP is not a stat at all: it is the free in-game currency you earn by playing matches and completing events, as opposed to the paid eFootball Coins. If you searched "GP meaning football" after seeing it in the game, that is why the stat tables did not help.
xG vs G. G is what happened; xG is what a neutral striker would have been expected to score from the same chances. A player on 12 goals from 6.0 xG is finishing well above average — that gap usually shrinks over a full season. A team with high xG and low G created plenty and wasted it.
GS. Goals scored on FPL, games started on ESPN and most US college tables. Check whether the surrounding columns are counting events or appearances before you read it.
GF vs GD. GF is a raw total; GD is the difference. A side with 60 GF can still sit below a side with 45 GF if they concede heavily, because GD breaks points ties before goals scored does.
CS vs SO. Identical stat, different continent. Clean sheet in the UK, shutout in the US.
FIFA, EA FC and eFootball card ratings
Game stat sheets add a second layer of codes on the player cards themselves:
- OVR — overall rating, the single headline number
- POT — potential, the ceiling a young player can reach in career mode
- PAC, SHO, PAS, DRI, DEF, PHY — pace, shooting, passing, dribbling, defending, physical: the six face stats on an EA FC card
- WF / SM — weak foot and skill moves, both rated one to five stars
eFootball labels its equivalents differently — playing style, player skills and a level that rises as you train the card — but the six-attribute logic behind the ratings is the same.
Reading a stat sheet quickly
Work top-down: check the table header for the unit first (totals, per-90, or percentages), because a 0.6 in an xG column and a 0.6 in a per-90 goals column are completely different claims. Then confirm the sample size in GP or MP — a 40% conversion rate over three appearances tells you nothing. Only then read the individual columns.
If you want to test how much of the vocabulary has stuck, the World Cup trivia quiz mixes stat questions with history, and the Football Glossary is searchable by category when a term comes up mid-match.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does GLS mean in football? GLS is goals — the number of goals a player has scored. Some tables shorten it further to G.
What does GA mean in football? Goals against: the goals a team has conceded. At player level the same stat is usually labelled GC (goals conceded).
What does GP mean in football? Games played. In the eFootball video game, GP instead means the free in-game currency you earn from matches.
Is xG better than goals for judging a striker? Neither alone. Goals record what happened; xG records the quality of chances taken. Compare the two — a big gap in either direction usually corrects over time.
Where can I look up a term I do not recognise? Search it in the Football Glossary, which covers positions, tactics, set pieces, officiating and statistics in one searchable list.
Why do different sites use different abbreviations? There is no governing standard. Broadcasters, fantasy platforms, and stats sites each built their own keys, so always check the site's legend before comparing numbers across sources.