Home advantage in Asian football leagues

OBJECTIVE Existence of home advantage has been established for all major professional team sports in the world. The role of home advantage in determining the result of a football match was found to be greatest in soccer (Pollard, 2006). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of home advantages in Asian Football Leagues. METHODS The number of wining, losing and scores (at home and away games) of 17 teams from the Asian countries including two zones of West and South West and East and South East of Asia, were analyzed. RESULTS The results showed that the home advantage on East and South East of Asia was 3.1 percent more than West and South West (52/4%o vs 49.3%o). In West and South west Asian Countries, this phenomenon had the highest effect on Saudi Arabia (60.6%o) and lowest on Bahrain (50.3%o). In East and South East countries the highest effect was observed in Indonesia (65.3%o) and lowest effect in Hon Kong (55%). DISCUSSION It can be concluded that home advantage has been effective in Asian Football Leagues.