Story 03 · Conformity
Ghost games
For ten years, away teams in Europe’s top leagues were shown more yellow cards than home teams. Then Covid emptied the stadiums, and the gap disappeared.
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From Story 03 · See the charts in the story
Without fans, the away team’s extra yellow cards vanished
Yellow cards per game for away teams and home teams, in Europe’s top five leagues
Source: football-data.co.uk match results for the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1, 2010-11 to 2024-25. Analysis by The Replay Lab.
5/5leagues where the yellow-card gap fell to almost nothing in empty stadiums
27,141matches, 2,234 of them played without fans
46% → 40%home wins, with fans and behind closed doors
The stories
Newest first
Story 03 · Conformity
Ghost games
Covid emptied Europe’s stadiums, and the away team’s extra yellow cards disappeared with the fans.
Photo: Chris Hahn on Unsplash
Story 02 · Gender and risk-taking
Who hits the wall?
Radcliffe in Athens, 1.4 million marathon finishers, and why men are more likely to blow up.
Photo: Fotis Fotopoulos on Unsplash
Story 01 · Social learning
What are you looking at, Bobo?
Five seconds of Messi, and the 1961 experiment that explains why a country copied them.
Photo: Cristian Tarzi on Unsplash