FANZONE FANS & FOOTBALL RESULTS

BY DYLAN BETTENCOURT

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a massive shift in sport of fans being unable to attend matches. Home ground advantage is an aspect of the game that many teams pride themselves on and depend on, to gather as many wins as possible. However, does the removal of fans remove the fear factor of playing away games?

In this issue, Soccerzela looks at the top four European leagues which resumed league football in order to analyse how and if, home ground advantage was affected.

Premier League

Before the coronavirus paused footballing action in England, out of a possible 288 fixtures, the home team came out victorious 129 times, whereas the away teams were only able to amass 87 victories – with 72 draws in the process. These figures

DO FANS REALLY IMPACT FOOTBALL RESULTS?

represent a 45%-win percentage for home teams and away teams with a 30%-win percentage with the remaining percentages being stalemates.

June saw the restart of Premier League action without fans in attendance. The remaining period of the top flight saw 92 fixtures taking place, with the home team amounting 43 wins and away teams winning 29 times – the remaining 20 fixtures ended as a draw.

There was a slight difference in win percentages with both home and away percentages only increasing 2% each after their return.

La Liga Satander

The topflight of Spanish football came to a halt in March 2020. In this period before the stoppage, the home teams were the victors 48% of the time with the away teams only managing a small 24- win rate. With 28% of fixtures ending in a draw.

The return of football saw a huge change in La Liga as the away teams wins increased by 8%, winning 35 out of 110 fixtures.

The home team’s dominance suffered a drop in percentage as they won 45 of the 110 fixtures, giving them a 41%-win rate, a fall of seven percent.

Bundesliga

The Bundesliga without a doubt saw the biggest change before and after the restart. There were a total of 224 games before the

league paused in which the home team managed 97 wins. There were a total of 78 away victories and 49 draws.

The massive change came after the restart, as the Bundesliga became the only league amongst the top four leagues that the away team had the larger win percentage. The away teams coming away with 45%-win percentage, a ten percent increase. The home teams were only able to win 26 out of the 82 fixtures, leaving them with a less than impressive 32%-win rate compared to 43% before the league was paused.

Serie A

The Serie A was the only league in the top four leagues that saw the away teams struggle more after the restart compared to before the stoppage. A 3% percent drop from 37% to 34% after the restart was seen by away teams. This also meant that home teams enjoyed a greater win percentage after the lockdown, increasing from 40% to 44%.

The Italian top-flight of football saw a shift in results unlike any other league where the home teams were more comfortable without the fans present.

Why?

There are many factors that can cause the shift in results in the

WHETHER THE FANS MOTIVATE THEIR TEAM TO PERFORM AT A HIGHER LEVEL OR ATTACK THEIR PLAYERS WHEN THEY ARE NOT PERFORMING AT THEIR BEST.

top four leagues. The fans not being able to attend can ease pressure at home, giving them freedom to perform without the home fans being able to criticise their performance. An example of this can be seen in the Serie A - where the home side won a higher percentage of their fixtures.

Another possible factor behind the away teams winning more often, is fans are often seen as the 12th man, supporting the home team and providing motivation for their team. The Bundesliga proves that German sides struggled without their fans backing them during the games with the away teams dominating after the restart, leaving teams without a home advantage.

There is also the possibility of no fans not affecting the results on paper, but it will always be a tough task to argue that fans do not make a difference in football, for better or for worse. Whether the fans motivate their team to perform at a higher level or attack their players when they are not performing at their best. Although teams may have performed at a higher level, they will be delighted to see their fans return.

The emotion, the raw passion and the craziness of football simply are/is not the same when there are no fans to drive these elements. Simply put, without fans, football is nothing. Ù