Abstract
Due to restrictions against the COVID-19 pandemic, spectators were not allowed to attend soccer matches at the end of the 2019/2020 season. Previous studies suggest that the absence of a home crowd changes the home field advantage in terms of match outcomes, offensive performance, and referee decisions. However, because of the small sample sizes, these changes may be random rather than meaningful. To test this, we created 1,000,000 randomized samples from the previous four seasons with the exact same number of matches played behind closed doors in Europe’s four most elite soccer leagues at the end of the 2019/2020 season. We found that across countries (Germany, Spain, Italy, and England), performance indices and referee decisions (except red cards) indeed changed to the detriment of the home team beyond the level of chance. However, this overall pattern could be ascribed to specific countries. Most importantly, the proportion of points won by the home teams declined significantly only in Germany, which was accompanied by a meaningful increase in (1) the proportion of goals scored by the away teams and (2) the proportion of yellow cards given to the home teams. We conclude that the home field advantage may indeed be lost when spectators are absent. However, in future studies, more detailed behavioral analyses are needed to determine the robustness and the behavioral determinants of this phenomenon across leagues and countries.
Highlights
In a typical professional soccer match, two teams compete with each other in front of a large audience
Only in Germany, the home field advantage turned into a disadvantage in terms of proportion of points won by the home teams
Under the COVID-19 restrictions, the proportion of points won by the home teams was higher than 50% and not significantly different from the proportions observed in the random samples
Summary
In a typical professional soccer match, two teams compete with each other in front of a large audience. The home teams are supported and cheered on by large numbers of people in the audience often referred to as “the home team’s 12th man.”. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic that started out during the 2019/2020 season, professional soccer matches took place without spectators. Soccer Without Spectators league in any sport in the world to resume its season without spectators. The Spanish, English, and Italian elite divisions resumed their competitions. This provides the opportunity to identify possible performance changes across leagues and countries, which may be primarily ascribed to the absence of the spectators
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