After nineteen matchdays in the Jupiler Pro League, Union striker Promise David is alone in the top scorer rankings, but with a historically low number of only eight goals.
Research from the Belgian Soccer Database (bsdb.be) exposes the scarcity of goals in the competition, writes HLN. David scored his eighth of the season against Zulte Waregem on Saturday evening, but since 1982-1983 the best shooter has always achieved a higher number after nineteen match days.
The contrast with recent seasons is striking. For example, the best shooters in the last five campaigns have consistently been in double figures after nineteen match days: Paul Onuachu (KRC Genk, 18 goals in 2020-2021), Michael Frey and Deniz Undav (Antwerp/Union, 15 goals in 2021-2022), Paul Onuachu again (14 goals in 2022-2023), Kevin Denkey (Cercle Bruges, 15 goals in 2023-2024) and Kasper Dolberg (Anderlecht, 12 goals in 2024-2025).
Promise David is the top scorer with 8 goals: a record low
The previous record low dates from 2017-2018. Then Henry Onyekuru (Anderlecht), Isaac Kiese Thelin (Waasland-Beveren) and Kaveh Rezaei (Charleroi) scored only nine times together after 19 match days, one goal more than David now.
These figures underline the poverty of goals in the current competition. Clubs seem to have less scoring ability, or defenses are more organized, giving individual strikers fewer opportunities.
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Promise David may be the top scorer, but the statistics show that the level of the current competition is very low offensively. It will be exciting to see whether he can still reach the ten-goal mark before the winter break.
