You may have seen our Premier League Team of the Weeks and positional rankings over the past year.
We’ve been very busy at Squawka trying to find the best way to rate players across Europe’s top five leagues. So we’ve created the Squawka Score.
What is the Squawka Score?
To help us rate players for the 2025-26 season, we have used the Twenty3 Sport Discover Tool to create the Squawka Score.
The Squawka Score judges a player’s per 90 minutes output for a group of selected stats. There are various weightings based on their impact on games depending on their position. The result is a percentage rating from 0 to 100.
We have Squawka Scores split across seven different positions, to ensure the most accurate percentage for every player. These are:
- Goalkeepers
- Centre-backs
- Full-backs
- No.6s
- No.8s
- No.10s and wingers
- Strikers
But we know that stats on a single-game basis cannot accurately rate players over a longer period. So we’ve got separate Squawka Scores to cover single matches and longer periods of time.
Using extensive research and our expertise, we tailored each score to the players’ respective positions.
Goalkeepers
Clean sheets are obviously very important to goalkeepers. But there are other metrics that show value, especially when goals are conceded — or if a goalkeeper has an easy game. So we use stats like saves and goals prevented, which is the difference between post-shot Expected Goals and goals conceded. We also look at a goalkeeper’s quality on the ball, with long-passing accuracy a key factor.
Full-backs
Full-backs are rated for their performances at both ends of the pitch. Defensively, we look at stats such as tackles won, interceptions retaining possession and possessions won. At the other end of the pitch, Expected Assists, intentional assists and big chances created are all key to analysing a full-back’s impact.
Centre-backs
Centre-backs are rewarded for clearances, making blocks and success rate in duels both aerially and on the ground. Again, the modern need for a centre-back is also taken into account. So we look at passes into the final third and retention rate among others. Retention rate is the percentage of touches that are not losing possession.
No.6s
No.6s or defensive midfielders — whichever you want to call them — have a unique role in football. For our Score, we look mainly at defensive metrics including interceptions retaining possession, tackles won and possessions won in the middle third. But their retention rate and open-play passing accuracy are also used, among other on-the-ball metrics.
No.8s
Our No.8 Score focuses a bit more on the offensive metrics including intentional assists, passes into the penalty area and forward passes. But we do still look at defensive stats such as possessions won in the middle third and interceptions.
No.10s and wingers
Our forwards — excluding strikers — are rated on metrics in front of goal. These include more straightforward metrics like goals and intentional assists. Intentional assists are those where a pass was purposefully leads to a goal scored by a teammate. But we also look at how many take-ons they complete and their success rate in them.
Strikers
Our striker score is, of course, very focused on goals. Goals scored is the most important, but we do also rate on intentional assists, xG and shots on target. Strikers are also rated on metrics like touches in the opposition box, aerial duels won and offsides.