HOME ADVANTAGE: COMPARISON BETWEEN PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR GREEK FOOTBALL LEAGUES

The aim of the present study was to examine the possible differences between professional and amateur Greek football league matches concerning home advantage and referee's disciplinary sanctions (penalty, yellow and red card). 1.920 Super League matches were studied during eight seasons and 3.402 amateur matches during three seasons. For statistical analysis ANOVA split-plot and effect sizes were determined. Results revealed that referees awarded more penalty kicks and allocated less yellow and red cards to home teams compared to away teams. Moreover, significant higher home advantage appeared in top division compared with amateur divisions. The results of the present study could be attributed to the support of home crowd (size, density, intensity), tactical issues and psychological effects on players and officials. Nonetheless, results should be interpreted with caution since these factors have proved difficult to isolate, quantify and most importantly they seem to interact with each other.