Analysis of the Home Field Advantage Factor in Football

In this paper, the advantage of the home field was investigated. The Mann-Kendall trend test was conducted for data on the strongest European leagues over the past 21 seasons and some international competitions over the past 60 years. It was found that at the 5 percent significance level, the hypothesis that there is no trend for all top leagues, except for the English one, is rejected. This hypothesis is also rejected for the qualification part of the world Cup and European football, but it is not rejected for friendly matches of national teams. Then, using the method of least squares, the determinants of home field advantage in matches of the Europa League and the Champions League were investigated. It was found that only the number of fans at the stadium, as well as the difference in heights above sea level in the cities participating in the match, has a statistically significant impact. Moreover, this difference is significant only if it is positive for the host team. At the same time, the temperature difference in the two cities participating in the match, the distance covered by the visiting team, the Derby factor, the lack of tournament significance of the match and whether this match was played at the playoff stage do not have a statistically significant impact on the home field advantage.