For millions of football fans around the world, we have had nothing but highlights of previous matches in recent months. But European football kicked off on May 16, courtesy of the German Bundesliga. But there will be a few notable differences.
Due to the fact that there will be a packed schedule of matches to complete before the end of July, teams can substitute up to five players instead of the usual three. But the most glaring difference is that games will be held in empty stadiums devoid of any fans. Matches will be held in empty, cavernous stadiums. These will not be any neutral grounds, as has been proposed by the English FA for completing the English Premier league. Research has shown that empty stadiums can effectively mean a non-existence of home advantage.
A few studies have shown that home fans can actually influence the results of football matches due to the pressure the put on the referee. Mostly, referees have been shown to, for instance, ward off more people to get injuries when most of the home team will be losing and less when they are winning, which systematically breakdown or lengthens the game to give more benefits to the home team. As you can see base on that, this phenomenon is actually influenced by the number of fans who came as attendance.
Most results on the effects of football fans are based on changes in hundreds or thousands of fans form one game to the next.
Historically, most of the closed door matches have been meted out to clubs and their fans as a punishment due to corruption, violence and racial abuse. In studying the history of European football since the Second World War, one can find 191 matches played behind closed doors across the top French and Italian leagues, and also in European club competitions. None can be found in the German and English top leagues and just a single one in Spain’s La Liga.
One can find out that the usual home advantage found in football is averagely almost wiped out when games are held behind closed doors. Historically, home teams usually win 46% of the time matches are held with fans, but this drops considerably to 36% when fans are absent in the stadium. The away team on average wins 26% of the time when fans are available and these increases significantly to 34% without home fans.
These differences are as a result of the home fans scoring fewer goals when there are not any fans.
Football fans turn up in hopes of seeing their team win, and so whatever leads to its cause, there exist arguments that home advantage is actually a good thing.
