Home advantage in European soccer without crowd. (Special Issue: COVID-19 and the soccer world: early impressions and initial responses.)

ABSTRACT

The presence of spectators in sport is considered a factor that leads to home advantage (HA). The objective of this research was to analyse the difference of wins, points and goals both at home and away depending on the presence or absence of a crowd and other possible covariates such as budget or average attendance at the stadium in times post COVID. The sample is made up of eight football leagues (soccer) from Germany, Spain, Italy, England and Austria. The results show that there are no significant differences between playing with or without a crowd, except in the German and Spanish top leagues. Even so, there is a tendency in most competitions to play worse at home and better away from home when there are no spectators. These findings do not generally support the theory of social facilitation;so it is concluded that there must be other factors that explain HA.