Open AccessThe Effect of COVID-19 on Home Advantage in Women’s Soccer: Evidence From Swedish Damallsvenskan
Author(s) -
Alex Krumer,
Vetle A. O. Smith
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
american behavioral scientist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1552-3381
pISSN - 0002-7642
DOI - 10.1177/00027642221118259
Subject(s) - covid-19 , psychology , pandemic , demographic economics , demography , sociology , medicine , virology , economics , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty) , disease , pathology
Most studies of the effect of COVID-19 restrictions on home advantage have been conducted on men's soccer, with the women's game lacking scientific attention. The present study fills this gap by investigating games in Swedish Damallsvenskan women's soccer league. Comparing games in the 2019 and 2020 seasons, we find a slight, but not statistically significant reduction in home advantage in games without crowds in terms of goals scored and points achieved. However, unlike in most studies on men's soccer, we find that away teams received significantly more yellow cards in games without crowds compared to games with crowds. We discuss our results in the context of the findings in men's soccer. JEL Classification: D00, J71, L00, Z13, Z20.