Avispa Fukuoka v Sanfrecce Hiroshima — prediction, stats and goal analysis

J1 League · Wednesday, 29 April 2026. Final score 2–2 (half-time 1–2). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 46% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals46%54%Under
Over 3.5 goals21%79%no pick
Both teams to score52%48%Yes

The result model puts Avispa Fukuoka at 24%, the draw at 26% and Sanfrecce Hiroshima at 50%, from expected goals of 0.98 and 1.56.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. J1 League has produced over 2.5 goals in 45% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Avispa Fukuoka have 5 in 13 this season (2 of 6 at home), Sanfrecce Hiroshima 7 in 12 (5 of 5 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 43% and 50%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 13 and 12 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 40% and 46%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 43%.

Head to head. These sides have met 7 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 43%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 43%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 47%, from expected goals of 0.98 for Avispa Fukuoka and 1.56 for Sanfrecce Hiroshima. Folding in 30% of that view gives 44%.

Calibration. Tested against 97,729 past matches, our ratings below 55% have run consistently too pessimistic — a figure in the high 30s, for instance, has come in about four points higher. So ratings in that range are lifted part-way back, giving 46%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
Avispa Fukuoka1338%23%54%
Sanfrecce Hiroshima1258%17%75%

Head to head

5 Apr 26Sanfrecce Hiroshima 0–1 Avispa FukuokaU2.5
27 Sept 25Avispa Fukuoka 1–2 Sanfrecce HiroshimaO2.5
3 May 25Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2–1 Avispa FukuokaO2.5
14 Jul 24Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1–0 Avispa FukuokaU2.5
13 Apr 24Avispa Fukuoka 1–1 Sanfrecce HiroshimaU2.5
3 Dec 23Avispa Fukuoka 0–1 Sanfrecce HiroshimaU2.5

More: Avispa Fukuoka season stats · Sanfrecce Hiroshima season stats · J1 League table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.