Home Advantage and Away Disadvantage of Turkish Football Teams in European Competitions

Abstract

Home advantage (HA) is used as a concept that means teams win more matches and score more goals than their opponents on their home field. Similarly, away disadvantage (AD) can be explained as teams scoring fewer points and scoring fewer goals away than their opponents. In this study, the matches played by 5 Turkish teams, played at least 30 matches in European competitions, between the 1991/1992 and 2022/2023 seasons, a total of 784 matches were analyzed and team-specific HA and AD values were estimated using Generalized Estimation Models. According to the results, all 5 Turkish teams have a significant HA in European competitions, but all teams also experience an AD and there is no difference among the teams in terms of both HA and AD. Furthermore, Belgian teams were found to be the teams where Turkish teams experienced the most home advantage and did not experience an away disadvantage. On the other hand, the teams with the lowest HA value and the highest AD value of Turkish teams were found to be Ukrainian teams. The results of the study show that playing in Türkiye is difficult for all European teams and that the AD of Turkish teams in countries with higher fan support is lower than in other countries.