Does the Home Advantage Depend on Crowd Support in Major European Football League ?

Inan T.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY, vol.9, no.6, pp.178-185, 2020 (ESCI) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 9 Issue: 6
  • Publication Date: 2020
  • Journal Name: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY
  • Journal Indexes: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)
  • Page Numbers: pp.178-185
  • Keywords: Home advantage, Football, Soccer, Crowd effects, Crowd size, ENGLISH, SOCCER, SPORT
  • Dokuz Eylül University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Home advantage in football has long been established as an important factor in determining the result of a game. Studies show that there is a constant home advantage across countries and leagues. There are many factors that affect the home advantage in football. The aim of this study was to demonstrate this effect using a new theoretical framework and backward multiple linear regression by crowd size. Data collected for three seasons of five major European Leagues was processed. For this reason, 3 seasons and n = 5478 matches were analysed starting from 2015 to 2019. Rather than evaluating home field advantage by the widely used percentage ratio of home points gained, we preferred investigating the determinants of the average home points per game earned by each team in the final standing table for each season. The model results suggest the presence of home field advantage for all major European Leagues with varying degrees and varying shares attributable to the crowd support.