Home advantage prevails despite absence of fans, study finds

The absence of fans did not cause footballers to doubt themselves but did make referees think twice, a study of behind-closed-doors football has found.

According to researchers from Reading University, playing matches without supporters had a minimal effect on the phenomenon of home advantage but it did correspond with officials showing fewer yellow cards to away teams.

In a paper on the effects of behind-closed-doors matches, researchers studied 6,481 games from before and after coronavirus lockdown. In the Premier League and Championship, games played in empty stadiums saw the proportion of home victories drop from 43.4% before the pandemic to 42.0%.

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