ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1646264
This article is part of the Research TopicMultidisciplinary Perspectives on Team Sports: Contextualizing Training and Competition Demands -Volume IIView all 10 articles
Asymmetric Effects of Spectator Presence on Home and Away Team Performance: A Natural Experiment from the 2021 K League 1 Season
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Yeson Hospital, Bucheon, Republic of Korea
- 2Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Gachon University College of Medicine, Incheon, Republic of Korea
- 3Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Soonjung Hospital, Sunchon, Republic of Korea
- 4Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan-si, Republic of Korea
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The presence of spectators is a well-known factor contributing to home advantage in competitive sports. However, isolating its direct effect on team performance has proven difficult. This study aims to assess the influence of spectator attendance on the performance of home and away teams using a natural experimental setting during the 2021 K League 1 season, which experienced regional differences in spectator policies due to the COVID-19 pandemic.This retrospective observational study analyzed 162 matches in the 2021 K League 1 season. Match variables were categorized into three domains: outcome factors (e.g., points, win percentage), tactical factors (e.g., shots on target, total shots), and violation factors (e.g., fouls, cards) to evaluate team performance. Matches were classified according to the presence or absence of spectators and further stratified by whether they were home or away games. Group comparisons were performed using ttests, one-way analysis of variance, and effect-size analysis (Cohen's d).The presence of spectators was associated with improved tactical performance in home matches, as evidenced by a greater number of shots on target (6.02 ± 3.08 vs. 4.40 ± 2.34, p = 0.041, d = 0.58) and total shots (11.46 ± 4.13 vs. 9.46 ± 3.48, d = 0.52). In contrast, spectator-related effects were more pronounced in away matches, particularly in outcome performance factors. Away teams with spectators had lower win percentage (0.22 ± 0.42 vs. 0.58 ± 0.52, d = 0.83), more goals conceded (1.58 ± 1.16 vs. 0.67 ± 0.89, p = 0.032, d = 0.82), and fewer points (0.96 ± 1.19 vs. 2.00 ± 1.28, d = 0.87) than those without spectators.Spectator presence was associated with enhanced tactical performance by home teams. In contrast, its impact on away matches was more pronounced in outcome-related performance, suggesting that home crowds may exert psychological pressure that disrupts visiting teams' execution and composure. These findings underscore the asymmetrical influence of spectatorship and enhance our understanding of home advantage in professional football.
Keywords: Spectator effect, Home advantage, Natural experiment, Match performance, Professional football
Received: 13 Jun 2025; Accepted: 28 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lee, Park, Suh and Park. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Dong Hun Suh, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan-si, Republic of Korea
Hyung Jun Park, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan-si, Republic of Korea
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