Debreceni VSC v Puskas Academy — prediction, stats and goal analysis

NB I · Sunday, 26 July 2026. Final score 0–2 (half-time 0–2). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 51% 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 goals51%49%Over
Over 3.5 goals27%73%no pick
Both teams to score55%45%Yes

The result model puts Debreceni VSC at 33%, the draw at 28% and Puskas Academy at 39%, from expected goals of 1.16 and 1.3.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. NB I has produced over 2.5 goals in 60% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Debreceni VSC have 0 in 0 this season, Puskas Academy 0 in 0. 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 60% and 60%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 0 and 0 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 57% and 56%.

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 57%.

Head to head. These sides have met 9 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 44%. 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 56%.

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 45%, from expected goals of 1.16 for Debreceni VSC and 1.3 for Puskas Academy. Folding in 30% of that view gives 53%.

Season opener. One of these sides has not played a league game yet. Openers run about 2.5 points under their league's norm, measured across 2,727 of them, so the rating is docked to 50%.

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 51%.

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
Debreceni VSC0———
Puskas Academy0———

Head to head

22 Mar 26Puskas Academy 1–1 Debreceni VSCU2.5
6 Dec 25Debreceni VSC 0–1 Puskas AcademyU2.5
22 Aug 25Puskas Academy 1–3 Debreceni VSCO2.5
10 May 25Puskas Academy 4–2 Debreceni VSCO2.5
15 Feb 25Debreceni VSC 1–2 Puskas AcademyO2.5
4 Oct 24Puskas Academy 1–0 Debreceni VSCU2.5

Things worth knowing

More: Debreceni VSC season stats · Puskas Academy season stats · NB I table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.