An analysis by German physicists has suggested that football fans and stadiums do not affect home wins.
London, March 17 : An analysis by German physicists has suggested that football fans and stadiums do not affect home wins.
According to a report in New Scientist, many experts argue that vocal fans or daunting stadiums lend some teams a greater home advantage than other sides with quieter fans or smaller grounds.
But, physicists Andreas Heuer and Oliver Rubner at the University of Münster in Germany analysed over 12,000 soccer matches in the German Bundesliga between 1965 and 2007, to come up with the theory that football fans and stadiums do not affect home wins.
"Goal difference was used to gauge team performance, rather than games won, because it arguably gives a more reliable picture," said Rubner.
Heuer and Rubner confirmed that teams have a home advantage over away sides: on average, home sides scored 0.7 more goals per game than visitors.
However, they found that no team was inherently better at home than any other.
"Though some teams may appear particularly strong at their own ground, this assumption is often based on wins from a limited number of games," said Rubner.
Any extra home advantage disappeared when the researchers extrapolated to an infinite number of games.
ANI