Football teams retain home advantage with no crowd, study finds

Research carried out during Covid spectator bans suggests support is not a key factor in match results

While football players sweat it out on the field, their supporters in the stadium shout and sing, giving those playing at home an advantage. When Covid-19 hit, some expected that home advantage to disappear when spectators had to watch games on screens - but research suggests home teams retain a statistical advantage over their visitors.

Researchers have long investigated the home advantage phenomenon - implicating crowd support, referee bias, psychological effects of expectations, travel fatigue, familiarity, territoriality, and tactical behaviour as factors, but there is no consensus on which are the main drivers.