The Built Different Index: Average Windspeed

The Average Windspeed factor measures the annual average wind speed recorded at each club’s stadium coordinates. The windier the ground, the higher the club ranks.

Why? Because football in difficult conditions is a different sport. A cross becomes a clearance, a clearance becomes a cross and every goalkeeper starts looking at the sky like it has personally betrayed them. The ranking covers the 92 clubs competing across the Premier League and EFL in the 2025/26 season, using the annual average wind speed at each ground.

Barrow are the kings of the crosswind

Barrow top the table, with an average wind speed of roughly 14.9 mph at Holker Street.

They rise 31 places from their overall Built Different position to finish first here.

That figure does not mean every home game is played in a gale, but it does suggest Barrow are more accustomed than anyone else to passes changing direction midway through their journey.

At Holker Street, keeping the ball on the deck is not just tactical preference. It is self-preservation.

Swansea finish second by a hair

Swansea City come second at approximately 14.8 mph.

Their stadium sits right in the mix with the country’s most exposed coastal grounds, and the difference between Swansea and Barrow is only a tenth of a mile per hour.

That is not enough to notice unless you are a corner flag.

Swansea do not move from their overall second-place position, which feels oddly tidy for a table built around airborne chaos.

Blackpool complete the top three

Blackpool are third, also recording roughly 14.8 mph at Bloomfield Road.

No surprises there. Seaside town, open air, weather arriving sideways.

Blackpool climb 12 places from their overall ranking, narrowly edging Fleetwood Town, who post the same rounded figure and finish fourth.

The Fylde Coast occupies two of the top four positions, confirming what anyone who has stood near the seafront in February already knew: bring a coat, then bring a better coat.

Tranmere are blown 74 places up the table

The biggest risers are Tranmere Rovers, who jump 74 places from 83rd overall to ninth.

Prenton Park records an average wind speed of around 14.4 mph, placing Tranmere above Cardiff, Southampton, Sunderland and Hull.

That is a serious climb for a club that is not usually the first one mentioned when coastal conditions come up.

Apparently the Wirral has been quietly turning home games into an aerodynamics exam.

Grimsby and Fleetwood make the top seven feel very seaside

Fleetwood Town sit fourth at approximately 14.8 mph, while Grimsby Town rank seventh at 14.5 mph.

Add Barrow, Swansea, Blackpool, Portsmouth and Plymouth, and the top end starts to look less like a football table and more like a warning issued by the Met Office.

The pattern is not subtle. Coastal and exposed grounds dominate because the wind has fewer buildings, hills or common decency getting in its way.

Stoke are not even especially windy

One of the more disappointing results for football folklore is Stoke City in 57th, with an average of around 12.0 mph.

So, yes, a cold Tuesday night may still be unpleasant.

But statistically, the wind is not doing nearly as much work as the phrase has led us to believe.

Barrow away is the real test.

Someone should probably update the cliché.

Manchester City and Manchester United are equally sheltered

Manchester City rank 73rd and Manchester United 74th, both recording roughly 11.7 mph.

For once, the Manchester divide is settled by almost nothing.

Same city. Same average wind. Different levels of online outrage depending on who concedes from a set piece.

Lincoln are the biggest fallers

Lincoln City drop 50 places, from 27th overall to 77th in this factor.

The LNER Stadium records an average wind speed of around 11.7 mph, placing it alongside Derby, Burton, Mansfield and Port Vale.

Lincoln may sit in a county with a reputation for open landscapes, but their ground does not score especially highly here.

The wind, apparently, has standards.

Notts County and Walsall barely disturb the flags

At the bottom, Notts County rank 90th with an average of roughly 11.5 mph at Meadow Lane.

Walsall are 91st, also on approximately 11.5 mph at the Bescot Stadium.

Neither ground is exactly windless. They are simply sheltered by the absurd standards of this table.

When Barrow are dealing with almost 15 mph on average, 11.5 starts to look positively indoor.

Wolves finish bottom

The least windy ground belongs to Wolverhampton Wanderers, with an average of approximately 11.2 mph at Molineux.

They fall 16 places from their overall ranking and finish 92nd.

That means Wolves supporters can stop blaming the conditions when a corner fails to beat the first man.

The weather has been cleared of all charges.

What the table tells us

The gap between Barrow and Wolves is only 3.7 mph, but across a full season that difference matters.

At the top, Barrow, Swansea and Blackpool are used to the ball moving in ways the coaching session did not cover. At the bottom, Wolves, Walsall and Notts County get something closer to predictable flight.

This is not the most important factor in football.

It might be the most football factor, though.

Because every supporter has watched a ball hang in the air, drift five yards off course and immediately blamed the player. Sometimes it really was the wind.