Football teams lost home advantage in lockdowns but it is coming back

Crowd in football stadium

The roar of the home crowd really does have an impact

Clive Rose/Getty Images

It is a long-held belief that football teams playing in their home stadium get a boost from their fans, but quantifying this effect on match results was difficult until the pandemic created an unprecedented natural experiment when most of the 2020/21 season was played behind closed doors.

Data shared with New Scientist by London-based sports intelligence firm Twenty First Group shows that home teams in Europe’s five major football leagues lost a significant home advantage when their games were …

source: newscientist.com