EPL assist record: Giggs leads all-time, Fernandes holds the season mark
Ryan Giggs holds the EPL career assist record with 162. Bruno Fernandes owns the season record with 21. See the match record and what assists measure.
Ryan Giggs holds the all-time Premier League assist record with 162, all for Manchester United. If you mean the record for one season, it is Bruno Fernandes’ 21 assists in 2025/26. The single-match record is four, shared by eight players, according to the Premier League’s official player records.
Which assist record do you mean?
| Record | Assists | Holder | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Career | 162 | Ryan Giggs | Manchester United, 1992/93–2013/14 |
| Single season | 21 | Bruno Fernandes | Manchester United, 2025/26 |
| Single match | 4 | Eight joint holders | One Premier League fixture |
Records checked on 24 October 2026 against the league’s official record list.
These are Premier League records, covering the competition from 1992/93 onward—not the entire history of England’s top division. FA Cup, European and international assists do not count toward these totals.
The eight players sharing the match record are Dennis Bergkamp, José Antonio Reyes, Cesc Fàbregas, Emmanuel Adebayor, Santi Cazorla, Harry Kane, Paul Pogba and Jérémy Doku. Doku’s four-assist performance came against Bournemouth on 4 November 2023; Bergkamp’s came against Leicester City on 20 February 1999. Both are listed in the official records.
Fernandes moved the season record beyond 20
Fernandes set the new mark on 24 May 2026, supplying the corner for Patrick Dorgu’s 33rd-minute goal at Brighton in Manchester United’s final league match of the season. That was his 21st assist, taking him past Thierry Henry’s 20 in 2002/03 and Kevin De Bruyne’s 20 in 2019/20. The league’s record-breaking match report confirms the milestone.
So an answer naming Henry and De Bruyne as joint season-record holders is now outdated. For the wider season leaderboard, see most assists in a Premier League season.
What counts as an assist?
An assist credits the final touch by a teammate that leads to the goalscorer scoring. Under Opta’s event definitions, a deflected delivery can still count if it was going to reach the scorer regardless of the deflection.
A corner headed in by a teammate can therefore earn an assist, as Fernandes’ record-breaking delivery did. But simply winning a penalty that another player converts does not earn a conventional goal assist. Opta also excludes assists for own goals, direct free-kick goals and direct corner goals. Fantasy-assist categories are broader, so fantasy totals should not be substituted for the record figures above.
What the record tells you—and what it misses
A career assist total is a count, not a rate: it has no denominator adjusting for playing time. Giggs accumulated his 162 assists across 632 Premier League appearances, figures confirmed in the league’s comparison of players reaching 100 assists. That works out to about 0.26 assists per appearance, although appearances can include brief substitute outings. Assists per 90 minutes better adjusts for time on the pitch.
Assists also depend on finishing. Make the same pass into the same position: if the teammate scores, it can become an assist; if the shot is saved, it cannot. Opta counts the final pass before a non-scoring attempt as a key pass, and combines key passes with assists under chances created.
Fernandes’ record season illustrates the distinction: he recorded 136 chances created but 21 assists, according to the Premier League’s report on his milestone. The assist record measures credited contributions to completed goals—not every dangerous pass, the quality of each chance, or the earlier pass that opened the defence.