Home Advantage and Technical-Tactical Performance Indicators in Male Soccer College Teams (NCAA Division I 2010–2020)

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the evolution of home advantage (HA) effect in NCAA D1 men’s soccer (2010–2020) in relation to the level of a team. Research Design: The studied variables were result of the game, location of the game (home, away or neutral), winning percentage, the level of the team according to its winning percentage (high level, mid-level, or low level), the level of the opponent team, type of confrontation considering the level of the teams (1vs1, 1vs2, 1vs3, 2vs2, 2vs3, and 3vs3), team home points advantage, team goals, assists, shot attempts, shots on goal, efficacy (percentage of shots scored), penalties, corners, fouls, yellow cards, and red cards. Sample: The sample was all 39,397 NCAA Division 1 men’s soccer matches from the 2010-2011 season to the 2019-2020 season. Results: Regardless of the strength of the team (level of team and type of confrontation), teams won significantly more games when playing at home compared to playing away. Comparing home point advantage, low level teams had a significantly higher home advantage effect than middle level teams. When playing at home, teams had significantly more goals, assists, shot attempts, shots on goal, and corners, while conceding fewer goals. All the differences found had a small effect size. The fact that neutral games didn’t evince any significant differences, further supports the notion of the HA-effect. Conclusions: This study confirms the HA effect and presents reference values according to team strength and confrontations regarding win-loss-tie, home advantage points, and game statistics.