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

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

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…

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