Player Dismissal and Full-Time Results in the UEFA Champions League and Europa League

Andrea Albanese
Arne De Meyere
Ward Vanruymbeke
and Stijn Baert

This study is the first to estimate the effects of the sending-off of a player on the full-time results in international club soccer. To this end, we analyze data of more than 2,000 recent matches in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. We find that, when home teams receive a red card, it harms their goal scoring and victory probabilities. By contrast, a red card for away teams can have a positive, negative, or neutral effect for them, depending on the timing of the player dismissal.

JEL Classification: L83, J44, Z00

DOI: http://doi.org/10.32731/IJSF/151.022020.03