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How (absent) fans influenced football during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Author

Listed:
  • Luc Arrondel

    (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

  • Richard Duhautois

    (CEET - Centre d'études de l'emploi et du travail - CNAM - Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers [CNAM] - M.E.N.E.S.R. - Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche - Ministère du Travail, de l'Emploi et de la Santé, LIRSA - Laboratoire interdisciplinaire de recherche en sciences de l'action - CNAM - Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers [CNAM])

  • Baptiste Françon

    (BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - AgroParisTech - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, CEET - Centre d'études de l'emploi et du travail - CNAM - Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers [CNAM] - M.E.N.E.S.R. - Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche - Ministère du Travail, de l'Emploi et de la Santé)

Abstract

The fact that home football teams win more games than away teams has been largely discussed in the literature. Crowd factors appear to be the most dominant cause of this home advantage. At the end of the 2019-2020 season, the Covid-19 pandemic forced European football teams to close their stadium to fans, allowing researchers to exploit this natural experiment to analyze the effects of crowd on match outcomes and referees' decisions.To answer to this question, we used match data played in the top two divisions of four of the main national professional leagues in European countries and Portugal in the 2018-19 and the 2019-20 seasons. We find that the total absence of a generally supportive crowd has a significant effect on home advantage. This results in a reduction of the chances of a home win, a poorer performance by the home team's players, and more severe refereeing decisions towards the home team and less severe towards the away team.

Suggested Citation

  • Luc Arrondel & Richard Duhautois & Baptiste Françon, 2024. "How (absent) fans influenced football during the COVID-19 pandemic?," Working Papers halshs-04777584, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-04777584
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04777584v1
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    File URL: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04777584v1/document
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