Shot Conversion and Shots on Target Calculator
Shot Conversion and Shots on Target Calculator
Shot conversion, shooting accuracy and shots per goal in association football — and the published definition of “on target”, under which a shot that hits the bar and stays out is not on target at all.
Conversion and accuracy from three counts
Goals ÷ shots9 goals from 84 shots, of which 31 were on target
Formula, and what “on target” excludes
Shooting accuracy = (shots on target ÷ shots) × 100
Conversion of shots on target = (goals ÷ shots on target) × 100
and conversion = accuracy × conversion of shots on target, identically
- a shot on target
- Opta: “A deliberate attempt to score that is on target”, which its event definitions explain covers every goal, every attempt the goalkeeper saves, and a last-line clearance off the goal line. Sofascore publishes the same test in its own words, attributing it to its data provider
- the woodwork, which is the case everyone gets wrong
- a shot that hits the post or the crossbar and does not go in is NOT a shot on target. Opta: “A shot hitting the frame of the goal is classified as a shot off target unless the ball subsequently enters the net.” Sofascore agrees: “Shots directly hitting the frame of the goal are not counted as shots on target.” Two independent providers, the same answer, and it is the opposite of what the phrase sounds like
- a blocked shot
- also not on target, unless the blocker was the last man. Sofascore: “Shots blocked by another player, who is not the last player, are not counted as shots on target.” Opta records a blocked shot as its own event. So the gap between shots and shots on target is mostly blocks and misses, and the last row above is that gap
- what none of it measures
- the quality of the chances. Six close-range attempts and twenty from distance can give the same total shots and very different football, which is the gap expected goals was built to fill — see the expected goals difference calculator, which takes the figure from your provider because no provider publishes its model
Worked example
9 goals from 84 shots, of which 31 were on target
9 ÷ 84 = 0.1071, so shot conversion is 10.7%
31 ÷ 84 = 36.9% shooting accuracy
9 ÷ 31 = 29.0% of the shots on target were goals
36.9% × 29.0% = 10.7%, which is the conversion again — the three figures are not independent
84 ÷ 9 = 9.33 shots per goal
84 − 31 = 53 shots off target or blocked, and any of those that hit the frame of the goal are in this 53 rather than in the 31
Double the goals and the shots — 18 from 168 — and conversion is unchanged at 10.7%. Halve the shots to 42 with the goals unchanged and it doubles to 21.4%
Enter 5 goals against 4 shots on target and the panel shows nothing, because every goal is on target and that pair cannot both be right
On target, off target, or neither — two providers, one answer
| What happened to the shot | On target? | Who says so |
|---|---|---|
| It went in | Yes, always | Opta: a shot that hits the frame and enters the net is on target |
| The goalkeeper saved it | Yes | Opta, in its shot-on-target definition |
| The last defender cleared it off the line | Yes | Opta classes a last-line goal-line clearance as a shot on target |
| It hit the post or the bar and stayed out | No | Opta: “classified as a shot off target unless the ball subsequently enters the net”. Sofascore: “not counted as shots on target” |
| An outfield player who was not the last man blocked it | No | Sofascore, explicitly; Opta records it as a blocked shot |
| It missed | No | Both |
The same three counts across a range, including the three refusals
| Goals | On target | Shots | Conversion | Accuracy | Shots per goal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 20 | 50 | 0.0% | 40.0% | no answer |
| 10 | 20 | 50 | 20.0% | 40.0% | 5.00 |
| 20 | 40 | 100 | 20.0% | 40.0% | 5.00 |
| 10 | 20 | 25 | 40.0% | 80.0% | 2.50 |
| 9 | 31 | 84 | 10.7% | 36.9% | 9.33 |
| 1 | 1 | 60 | 1.7% | 1.7% | 60.00 |
| 7 | 7 | 7 | 100.0% | 100.0% | 1.00 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | no answer — no shots | no answer | no answer |
| 1 | 9 | 8 | no answer — more on target than shots | no answer | no answer |
| 5 | 4 | 20 | no answer — more goals than shots on target | no answer | no answer |
Goals over shots, and the definition of “on target”
The shots counted here are shots in association football — soccer. Shot and shot-on-target definitions in ice hockey, field hockey, basketball and the rugby codes are set by other bodies and other providers, and a figure from one of those is not comparable with anything on this page. Shot conversion is goals divided by shots and shooting accuracy is shots on target divided by shots, and the arithmetic is the easy half. The hard half is “on target”, which has a published definition that does not match what the phrase sounds like.
Opta states it as “a deliberate attempt to score that is on target”, and its event definitions fill that in: every goal counts, every attempt the goalkeeper saves counts, and a clearance off the goal line by the last defender counts as a shot on target rather than as a block. Then comes the exclusion. “A shot hitting the frame of the goal is classified as a shot off target unless the ball subsequently enters the net.” A shot that beats the goalkeeper, hits the underside of the bar and bounces out is not a shot on target, and Sofascore, reading from its own data provider, publishes the same test in its own words. Two independent providers, the same answer, and it is the most surprising thing in football’s statistical vocabulary.
A blocked shot is excluded too, with one exception: Sofascore says plainly that “shots blocked by another player, who is not the last player, are not counted as shots on target”, while the last-man clearance is counted. So the gap between a team’s shots and its shots on target is mostly blocks, misses and woodwork, and the last row of the result panel is that gap. This matters for reading a match report rather than for the arithmetic: a side with four shots on target from twenty-two attempts has not necessarily been wasteful — it may have been shooting into a crowded box.
The three percentages above are not independent of each other. Conversion is accuracy multiplied by the conversion of the shots on target, exactly, which is why conversion can never be the larger of the two — every goal is on target, so the goals are a subset. That identity is also the page’s own consistency check, and it is why a set of counts that breaks it is refused rather than computed. What none of it measures is chance quality: six attempts from six yards and twenty from thirty yards are the same twenty-six shots, and the expected goals difference calculator exists for that question and is honest that no provider publishes its model. For volume over time rather than per shot, the goals per 90 minutes calculator divides by minutes instead. No governing body publishes any of the figures on this page. Each one is a statistics provider’s definition, and a provider’s definition is a convention rather than a rule: two of them can watch the same match and count it differently, and neither is wrong. So take every number here from one source, say which source it was, and do not read a figure from one provider against a figure from another.
Frequently asked questions
Does a shot that hits the post count as a shot on target?
No, not unless it goes in. Opta’s definition is explicit: “A shot hitting the frame of the goal is classified as a shot off target unless the ball subsequently enters the net.” Sofascore says the same from its own provider’s definition. Opta records the event separately as Hit Woodwork, “when the ball hits any part of the Goal frame but does not enter the net as a direct consequence”.
How do you calculate shot conversion rate?
Divide the goals by the total shots and multiply by 100. Nine goals from eighty-four shots is 10.7%. Shooting accuracy is a different division — shots on target divided by total shots — and the conversion of the shots on target is a third, goals divided by shots on target.
What counts as a shot on target?
On Opta’s published definition, a deliberate attempt that is on target: every goal, every shot the goalkeeper saves, and a clearance off the goal line by the last defender. Not a shot that hits the frame and stays out, and not a shot blocked by an outfield player who is not the last man.
Can shot conversion be higher than shooting accuracy?
No. Every goal is a shot on target, so the goals are a subset of the shots on target, and goals ÷ shots cannot exceed shots on target ÷ shots. Conversion is exactly accuracy multiplied by the conversion of the shots on target. A page showing you the reverse has mixed two sources.
Why does the calculator refuse some combinations?
Because they cannot all be true at once. Goals cannot exceed shots on target, shots on target cannot exceed shots, and there is no conversion rate with no shots. Each of those usually means the three counts came from different providers or different periods, and a number would hide that.
Related calculators
References
- Stats Perform. “Opta Event Definitions.” statsperform.com; and Opta Analyst, “Opta football stats definitions”, theanalyst.com. Read for: Shot on Target, “A deliberate attempt to score that is on target”, covering goals, goalkeeper saves and a last-line goal-line clearance; “A shot hitting the frame of the goal is classified as a shot off target unless the ball subsequently enters the net”; Hit Woodwork; Pass, “The attempted delivery of the ball from one player to another player on the same team”; Pass Completion, “successful passes are divided by total attempted passes”, with crosses usually excluded; and Possessions, with no percentage formula given. The page’s diagrams are image-only and nothing is taken from them.
- Sofascore. “Football statistics definitions — shot on target.” sofascore.helpscoutdocs.com. Attributes the definition to its data provider and states that “Shots directly hitting the frame of the goal are not counted as shots on target” and “Shots blocked by another player, who is not the last player, are not counted as shots on target”, with goals that hit the frame and go in excepted. Read as a second, independent provider’s wording on the woodwork case.
- Opta Analyst (Stats Perform). “Opta football stats definitions.” theanalyst.com, July 2024. Pass completion: “successful passes are divided by total attempted passes”. Expected goals “measures the quality of a chance by calculating the likelihood that it will be scored”.
- FIFA. “Data analysis definitions.” FIFA Training Centre, fifatrainingcentre.com, 29 July 2024. Publishes “per 90 minutes”, “per 60 minutes ball in play time” and “per 30 minutes in / out of possession” as three separate normalisations, and defines a completion rate as “the percentage of successful actions completed by a player or team”.