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 International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport
2015, 15, 598-607.

45-344.

Effects of game-location and quality of opposition in

futsal league

Fabio A. D. Campos1,2, dico L. Pellegrinotti2 , Bruno N. Pasquarelli3, Felipe N. Rabelo4,

Ricardo A. R. SantaCruz2,5 and Miguel-ngel Gmez6

1
Air Force Academy Brazil
2 Methodist University of Piracicaba Brazil
3
State University of Campinas Brazil
4
Sport Club Corinthians Paulista Brazil
5
State University of Roraima Brazil
6
Technical University of Madrid Spain

Abstract

The advantage of playing at home has been observed in different

individual, dual and team sports. A greater prevalence of victory or points
gained was observed when teams played at home, compared to the teams
playing as visitors (>50%). The aim of this study was twofold: (1) to
examine the influence of game location in elite futsal; and (2) to analyze
the home advantage effect in different game contexts according to quality
of opposition (balanced and unbalanced games according to team ranking
difference between confronting teams). Archival data was composed of
532 games gathered from three seasons of the Brazilian Futsal League
(seasons 2012 to 2014). Game results and the goals scored by both
confronting teams were quantified. The results suggest the existence of a
home advantage effect in elite futsal (63.8%), regardless of the quality of
the opposition. Considering the quality of opposition effect, a smaller
presence of home advantage was found in games played by teams of
different strength levels (62.2%), when compared to teams with the same
strength level (65.6%). The present results suggest that the home
advantage phenomenon is present in futsal competitions, regardless of
quality of opposition contexts. The identified trends confirm the influence
of home advantage in futsal and the negative relationship with stronger
teams.

Key Words: performance analysis, team sport, team quality, game location.

1. Introduction

Futsal was created in 1934 in Uruguay to enable football to be played in small spaces.
Currently, the futsal rules are governed by the Fdration Internationale de Football
Association (FIFA). World Cup Futsal has been played every four years since 1989. In
recent years, futsal has undergone several rule changes in order to promote the game.

598
These changes have turned futsal into a dynamic sport, with a higher number of goals,
accelerated passes, quick movements with and without the ball, intense marking at any
part of the court, fast moments of numerical equality and inequality and a high
incidence of dead-ball situations that make the sport unpredictable (Matzenbacher,
Pasquarelli, Rabelo, and Stanganelli, 2014).

Recently, a new concept, situational variables, has emerged in team sports, such as
futsal. This term includes both the game and the situational conditions that may
influence sports performance on a behavioral level. These aspects are related to the
game location, game status, quality of opposition, period of play and type of
competition. The combination of these situational variables and their interactive effects
is a necessary aspect to be contextualized (Gmez, Lago-Peas and Pollard, 2013).
Home advantage effect (HA) is the term used to describe the advantage of an athlete or
a team when playing at home. Some studies in different sports modalities (i.e.,
individual, dual and team sports) have identified many probable causes of this
phenomenon such as the adverse effects of travel fatigue, familiarity with the context,
referee bias, territoriality, rules that favor the home team and the effect of the crowd
(Courneya and Carron, 1992). These factors could influence the psychological and
behavioral states of athletes, coaches and referees, partially explaining the HA found in
empirical studies (Arrese, Urdiales, and Izquierdo, 2013). Another factor that could
explain the difference in HA is related to familiarity with the location of the
competition. When a team plays at home, it is performing in a familiar stadium, in
familiar conditions and in familiar surroundings, all of which should provide an
advantage. This concept has proven difficult to investigate, but some intriguing findings
suggest that familiarity is a likely factor in HA (Pollard, 2008).

This phenomenon has been studied and highlighted in several individual and team
sports, such as judo, tennis, soccer, volleyball, basketball and handball (Julio, Panissa,
Miarka, Takito, and Franchini, 2013; Koning, 2011; Pollard and Pollard, 2005; Campos,
Stanganelli, Campos, Pasquarelli, and Gmez, 2014; Garca, Ibez, Gmez, and
Sampaio, 2014; Meletakos and Bayios, 2010, respectively). In football, HA has largely
been established as an important factor in determining the result of a game. Its existence
affects the attitudes of the players, coaches, referees, fans and the media (Pollard, 2008).
A recent meta-analysis by Jamieson (2010) confirmed that home advantages exist in
team sports, presenting values around 60%. Only two studies have assessed HA
specifically in futsal. Sampedro and Prieto (2011) analyzed the Spanish professional
futsal league during fifteen seasons and found that the home advantage value was
61.54%, while Molinuevo and Bermejo (2012), studying five seasons of the same futsal
league, obtained an HA of 62.27%. Several studies have emphasized the need to adjust
performance to the quality of opposition in order to quantify the magnitude of home
advantage in teams in different sports such as basketball, handball and water polo
(Moreno, Gmez, Lago and Sampaio 2013; Gmez, Lago-Peas, Viao and Gonzlez-
Garcia, 2014; Gmez, DelaSerna, Lupo and Sampaio, 2014). The results showed that
the situational variables of game location and quality of the opposition affected all
quarters of the game and unbalanced games in basketball (Moreno et al., 2014). In the
case of volleyball, it has been shown that the match status has an effect on tactical
indicators and is highly affected by the quality of opposition (Marcelino, Mesquita and
Sampaio, 2011). According to these authors, studies are needed related to the

599
importance of the situational conditions in the final game outcome and performance
indicators in different sports.

To our knowledge, no study has yet focused on the potential influence of the home
advantage phenomenon in the Brazilian Futsal League. Thus, the aim of this study was
to investigate the existence of the home advantage effect in the Brazilian futsal league
(seasons 2012, 2013 and 2014), the incidence of goals scored by home and away teams
and the influence of quality of opposition on HA. Our first hypothesis was that a home
advantage effect exists in the league; the second hypothesis was that home teams scored
more goals compared with away teams; and the third hypothesis stated that the quality
of opposition has a negative home advantage effect the higher the strength of
confronting teams.

2. Method

2.1. Procedure
The sample comprised 532 games from the Brazilian Futsal League (seasons 2012 to
2014). The competition did not have a balanced schedule. Thus, the HA was quantified
as the number of home wins, as a percentage of the total number of wins in all games
(Goumas, 2014). A result of 50% indicating no home advantage effect since the same
number of wins occurs both at home and away. The data collection was carried out
using the final standings of each game published on the Brazilian Futsal Confederation
website. This league game was chosen due to its high technical level; it is considered
one of the most important leagues in the world. Among the seven editions of the futsal
World Cup organized by FIFA, Brazil was the champion in five editions (1989, 1992,
1996, 2008 and 2012). Currently, Brazil is in second place in the official FIFA
ranking. The variables were the game outcome, home win, draw at home, home defeat,
away win, tie off, away defeat and the goals of both teams.

The games were analyzed according to the quality of opposition, based on team
classifications at the end of the championship (Taylor, Mellalieu, James and Shearer,
2008; Lago, Casais, Dominguez and Sampaio, 2010). To perform this analysis,
balanced and unbalanced games were established. A k-means cluster analysis was
performed to split the sample into both groups. For example, if the team that leads the
league faces the team ranked tenth, this game was scored as having an absolute quality
ranking difference of 9. Then, balanced games (played between teams of balanced
quality) showed 3.7 1.3 positions of difference in teams rankings (n = 246 games),
and unbalanced games (games played between unbalanced teams) showed 8.7 1.9
positions of difference in teams rankings (n = 286 games). There were a total of 58
participating teams (2012 n = 20; 2013 n = 19; 2014 n = 19) from three different regions
of Brazil (Midwest n = 1, Southeast n = 21 and South n = 37). All procedures were
previously approved by the local ethics committee (2013/70).

2.2. Analyses
The data were analyzed using SPSS 17.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, USA) software. The
descriptive analysis included the calculations of mean and standard deviation. The

600
distribution of data was assessed using the Shapiro-Wilk test, which identified a normal
distribution of the data set. The sphericity of the data for all variables was examined in
accordance with the Mauchly test, and the Greenhouse-Geisser adjustment was used
when necessary. The variables were compared by the Student t test for independent
samples and chi-square test to compare home/away wins. The level of significance was
p<.05.

In addition, the standardized difference in means (Effect Size ES, with 90% confidence
intervals CI) for each comparison parameter was calculated. The limit values utilized
for the analyses of ES were those proposed by Hopkins (2013): <0.2 (trivial effect), 0.2-
0.6 (small effect), 0.6-1.2 (moderate effect), 1.2-2.0 (large effect) and, >2.0 (very large
effect).

3. Results

The data demonstrated a clear home advantage effect with 63.8% of total points won by
home teams (see Table 1).

Table 1 - Occurrence of the home advantage across the Brazilian Futsal League
Season Home Draw Away Home Away Home Away Home
wins wins goals goals points points advantage
scored scored
2012 94 53 43 549 402 335 182 64.8
2013 88 43 40 490 358 307 163 65.3
2014 83 40 48 454 372 289 184 61.1
Total 265 136 131 1493 1132 931 529 63.8
Note: Points accumulated were 3 for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss.

Concerning balanced games, the results showed that HA had higher values when
compared with unbalanced games (see Table 2).

Table 2 - Number of games, percentage and home advantage in games

Result Frequency Percentage HA (%)
Balanced Games 246 46.2 65.6
Unbalanced Games 286 53.8 62.2
Total 532 100 63.8

A total of 532 games were analyzed, of which 246 were balanced games and 286
unbalanced games (46.2% and 53.8%, respectively). From these results, there were 125
home wins, 66 draws and 55 away wins in balanced games and 140 home wins, 70
draws and 76 away wins in unbalanced games (Table 3).

601
Table 3 Results of balanced and unbalanced games
Result Frequency Percentage Home goals Away goals
scored scored
Balanced Games
Home win 125 50.8 444 170
Draw 66 26.8 130 130
Away Win 55 22.4 87 186
Unbalanced
Games
Home win 140 48.9 565 207
Draw 70 24.5 163 163
Away Win 76 26.6 104 276

Figure 1 demonstrates the effect sizes when comparing the goal differences. A small
effect was found in balanced games (higher in home games). Similar results were found
when comparing goal difference between in balanced and unbalanced games in home
and away games (higher in unbalanced games). A relevant effect of goal differences on
game score was not found when comparing home and away games, unbalanced games,
games with score differences of more than three goals or games with score differences
of less than three goals.

Figure 1, Effect size differences in group means in standized (Cohen) units.

602
4. Discussion

The aim of the present study was to investigate the existence of the home advantage
effect in the Brazilian futsal league, the incidence of goals scored at home and away and
the influence of opposition quality on HA. The results of this study sustained the
original hypotheses; an HA effect exists (63.8%); the home teams scored more goals in
the league; and the quality of the opposition affected HA. This study provides new
information about the influence of game location and team quality on game-related
statistics in the futsal league. In general, the processed data identified that the outcome
of the game was affected by the game location. This effect was observed in both
balanced and unbalanced games. However, in unbalanced games, there was a lower
incidence when compared to balanced games.

In fact, the presence of an HA in futsal has only been assessed in the Spanish
professional futsal league with values ranking between 61.54% and 62.27% (Sampedro
and Prieto, 2011; Molinuevo and Bermejo, 2012). There is evidence of regional
variations in the magnitude of HA between teams from different national futsal leagues.
In the present study the home teams scored about 25% more goals than the away teams.
Regarding the goals scored, Molinuevo and Bermejo (2012) analyzed the effect of
scoring the first goal on the final outcome of the game. In this respect, the team playing
at home in futsal and scoring the first goal has an advantage of 75.93% to win the game
whilst the away team, when scoring the first goal, has an advantage of 55.77% to win
the game. In particular, differences are significant in favor of the local teams. That is,
the advantage obtained, from taking the lead, on the final outcome of games is greater
when the team that scores first is playing at home (Molinuevo and Bermejo, 2012).
One of the possible factors regarding the HA phenomenon is the travelling distance
between cities. In the present study, the largest distance between the towns of the
participants of these championship teams was approximately 2000 km. In terms of time,
not all teams travelled by air, which resulted in long coach journeys. The HA
phenomenon is confirmed when teams travel great distances, losing games being more
likely when compared to in their places of origin (Sayder and Purdy, 1985; Pace and
Carron, 1992). A study confirmed this hypothesis in Brazilian football, highlighting that
the advantage of playing at home is generally higher for the teams playing in the
northern, northeastern and south of Brazil and lower for the teams of the Midwest
region (Pollard, Silva and Medeiros, 2008). However, this evidence that travel effect
disadvantages the away team is inconclusive with contradictory conclusions. More
recently, a study in Australian football showed that there was no association between
the travel duration and the HA phenomenon (Goumas, 2014).

Another factor related to this phenomenon is the support of the fans (Nevill, Balmer and
Williams, 2002). In the present study, several teams were based in cities in the interior
of the country. In these cities, there is great mobilization of the local people cheering for
the local team. Normally, the gyms are small and the crowd is very close to the court,
which can intimidate referees and away team players. Thus, the crowd density in the
gym has significant influence on the final outcome of the games, with an advantage of
the home factor (Agnew and Carron, 1994). Regarding this factor, there may be an
influence of referee bias in favor of the home team. The literature already shows that
there is probably an influence on the referees decisions in relation to the favoritism of

603
the teams, especially in football (Sutter and Kocher, 2004). The referee tends to make
decisions that favor the team which is playing at home, because of the crowd pressure
on the decision (Nevill and Holder, 1999). In this regard, Wallace, Baumeister, and
Vohs (2005) stated that when a team plays in front of their fans, this can have both a
positive and a negative effect. The authors stated that many sports performances involve
effort and skill. Thus, when teams play in their own domain, the crowd tends to increase
the players performance through their support; however the pressure can also lead to a
potential worsening of their ability in a stressful situation (Wallace et al., 2005).

Specifically, when a more technical team faces, in their own gym, a weaker team, the
players demonstrate exaggerated self-confidence, believing that they can win because
they are in front of a home crowd and the opponent is lower in the table rating. This
confidence can influence the outcome of the match. When the team plays in their
domain the players tend to have greater confidence than as visitors (Carr, Muir,
Belanger, and Putnam, 2006). Prior familiarity with the floor of the court, reference
points as lines, colored or mono-chrome beams, big or small exit areas and the distance
to the fence are factors that can assist team performance.

According to the technical level of the teams, there are also differences in tactics during
games. A higher ranked team that plays away from home against an opponent ranked in
a worse position presents strategies of play more focused on attack. On the other hand,
when two peer teams meet, the visiting team tends to be conservative because a tie in
this situation would be classified as a good result (unless their position in the table
requires the team to expose themselves to seek victory, i.e., playoff ratings). These
results confirm the previous findings reported by Gmez, Lago-Peas and Pollard
(2013); when the calculation of home advantage is based on the results of games and
hence points, a problem arises. If a strong team plays against a weak team, their
difference in ability is likely to outweigh the relatively small effect of home advantage
on influencing the result. The greater the difference in ability, the more likely the
stronger team will be able to win both at home and away and hence mask the effect of
home advantage. For example, in volleyball it has been shown that teams made more
risky decisions when scores were unbalanced and adopted safer tactical options when
scores were balanced or there was a moderate advantage or disadvantage (Marcelino et
al., 2011). However, this tendency was affected by the quality of the opposition, as
more offensive strategies were adopted at the highest level (1 st - 4th) and safer strategies
at the lowest level (8 th - 12th) when scores were balanced. Indeed, physiologically based
research has shown that game demands (basketball) are affected by the quality of the
opposition, and that the energetic requirements are higher during balanced games
(Rodrguez-Alonso, Fernndez-Garcia, Prez Landaluce and Terrados, 2003).

The weather is another factor that can influence the results. The Brazilian Futsal league
usually occurs between April and December, with games taking place in several
seasons. An example of this is the low temperatures in southern Brazil. When a team
from the Southeast or Midwest of Brazil moves to other regions, players experience
difficulties related to acclimatization. Other cities, such as Rio de Janeiro, have warm
temperatures and high humidity throughout the year. This factor can minimize physical,
physiological and psychological performance (individual and collective teams). On this
theme, a recent study that examined the influence of temperature and humidity on the

604
outcome of soccer identified that the teams of the Persian Gulf countries were at a
greater advantage when the games were held at higher temperatures than usual and, to a
lesser extent, moisture levels (Brocherie, Girard, Farooq, and Millet, 2015).

5. Conclusions

To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the home team advantage in the
Brazilian futsal league. The data from the study allowed us to identify the game-related
statistics that are affected by playing at home or away, in particular, in relation to games
with the same and different levels of teams.

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