Finn Spilker

This study examines home advantage in German handball, focusing on the impact of varying attendance due to COVID-19. Like in other sports, home advantage is acknowledged in handball, but the audience’s impact on it remained unexplored. Analyzing data from 3,235 matches of the first and second German handball Bundesliga, we find a statistical home advantage consistent with prior research. During the pandemic, we identify a significant decrease in home advantage without spectators in the first division, while the second division remains unaffected. This applies to both the winning...Read more

Francesco Audrino

Are the financially and institutionally strongest clubs capable of systematically reaching the top positions in the European national football leagues treated differently in terms of awarded sanctions because of the external off-the-pitch pressure they can put on match officials? This study helps shed some light on this controversial question fiercely debated among fans and sports journalists and extends our knowledge of how football match officials may be un-consciously influenced by external (social) forces. Except for France where the evidence is weak, data analysis of the top five...Read more