• About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Photo Gallery
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Citi TV
Friday, March 31, 2023
Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Showbiz
  • Coronavirus
  • Infographics
  • Livestream
  • Videos
No Result
View All Result
Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Showbiz
  • Coronavirus
  • Infographics
  • Livestream
  • Videos
No Result
View All Result
Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana
No Result
View All Result

Without crowds, football teams still have a home advantage – new study

April 1, 2021
in Sports
ShareShareShareShare

In football, a win “on the road” often takes on a greater significance than a comparative win at home. Although the idea of a home advantage has received some considerable research attention over the years, we still don’t know why this phenomenon is witnessed across all of the top European men’s football leagues.

The extent to which teams in a league benefit from playing at home varies, but studies have shown an uplift of between 49% and 79% with respect to the number of points won at home as a percentage of the total points available. Leagues in Andean and Balkan countries show the highest home advantage effects.

Typically, the reasons suggested to explain the home advantage can be broken down into four categories – crowd support, territoriality, familiarity and travel fatigue.

Crowd support works through the decisions that referees make on the field of play, under pressure from the crowd, and it has emerged as the most likely source of home advantage effects. But what happens if you take the crowds away?

No supporters

COVID-19 meant games had to be held in empty stadiums. Although crowd noise is added into the broadcast version of sports, these noises have not been played in the stadiums themselves.

This provided an opportunity for researchers to test the effects of removing crowds from football matches. In a new study, including data from ten years across six domestic European men’s leagues, a team of researchers analysed 40,000 games before and during the pandemic.

A referee pulling out a yellow card.
Referees can be influenced by the crowd.
Shutterstock/Maxisport

The researchers found home teams still had an advantage, despite there being no crowds. The advantage decreased by approximately one-sixth compared to games played with supporters present, but the reduction did not reach the threshold for statistical significance. This result shows that home advantage remains even when there are no crowds present, suggesting that other factors apart from supporters are contributing to the home advantage effect.

The lack of crowds did have an impact on the behaviour of referees. There was a reduction in the number of fouls, red and yellow cards awarded against the away team. The researchers say this could be because there is no crowd putting pressure on the referee.




Read more:
As football returns in empty stadiums, four graphs show how home advantage disappears


The research team found the home side attempted fewer strikes at the goal without the crowds watching. This finding was interpreted as a preference to keep possession and work for a better chance, choosing quality over quantity. It’s not known why this happened, but the research team propose that without the demands of the crowd, the players appear to be more discerning in their judgement of when to attempt a shot at goal.

Home advantage

Other studies that analysed matches played under COVID-19 guidelines compared to the regular season have seen different outcomes. For example, one study reported a home disadvantage, as opposed to a lack of home advantage, for the final nine rounds of the German Bundesliga season in 2020. Similarly, across the top divisions in England, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Germany, another study found the home advantage effect halved when playing during the pandemic.

Overall, it would appear that home advantage effects in men’s football across Europe have reduced as a result of the restrictions on spectators supporting during the pandemic, without disappearing completely. This appears to be because of a slight unconscious adjustment in the decisions being made by referees.

The results of this study suggest the crowd is not the only factor causing the home advantage. Factors such as decisions made by coaches in how they set teams up (defensive vs more attacking formation) and the mere folklore of it being harder to win away from home may be contributing more than we originally thought.

An extension of this work to shine a light on the home advantage in women’s football and second-tier contests is an obvious and necessary next step.The Conversation

Richard Buscombe, Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology, University of East London

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Source: The Conversation
Previous Post

We’re committed to developing ICT talents in Ghana – Huawei [Video]

Next Post

Government happy with declining COVID-19 cases in Ghana

Next Post
Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, Minister of Health

Government happy with declining COVID-19 cases in Ghana

TOP STORIES

Free SHS useless without skills development – Prof. Essuman

March 31, 2023

Govt ignored redflags raised against free SHS policy – Angel Carbonu

March 31, 2023

We’ll vote against govt’s new tax bills – Mahama Ayariga

March 31, 2023
Load More
ADVERTISEMENT
Citinewsroom – Comprehensive News in Ghana

CitiNewsroom.com is Ghana's leading news website that delivers high quality innovative, alternative news that challenges the status quo.

Archives

Download App

Download

Download

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Photo Gallery
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Citi TV

© 2021 All Rights Reserved Citi Newsroom.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Showbiz
  • Coronavirus
  • Infographics
  • Livestream
  • Videos

© 2021 All Rights Reserved Citi Newsroom.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT