Forest Boffin

Football has been overshadowed this year by the tragedy of Covid-19. As we try to regain some normality and finish the 2019-20 season, I'll be looking at a series of factors which may influence the conclusion of the Championship season. Next is the possibility of extra substitutions being available. In order to protect player welfare, FIFA have made a temporary amendment in the laws covering substitutions: A team can now make a maximum of five substitutions per game, instead of three. If a game enters extra time (not time added on), a sixth substitution may be made. Each team will have a maximum of three opportunities to make their five changes - in addition to half-time. These changes are discretionary and must be ratified by the individual competition organisers, in the case of The Championship the EFL – unsurprisingly the EFL have not made a statement regards whether this change has been implemented (unless I’ve missed it – I’ve looked hard). A decision on thi...

Football has been overshadowed this year by the tragedy of Covid-19. As we try to regain some normality and finish the 2019-20 season, I'll be looking at a series of factors which may influence the conclusion of the Championship season. First, a theory on the home team advantage. It is well established that home teams in football have a clear advantage. This season for example, home teams in The Championship have won on 42.6% of occasions. However much of this boost is due to fan encouragement – as we all know by now, the resumption of football will be behind closed doors which should logically go a long way towards neutralising this advantage. Football has already resumed in parts of Europe, and my analysis of the results so far has been surprising. Not only does the home advantage appear to have faded after the re-start, but in fact we have the first indications that away teams may in fact have a significant advantage. Albeit the sample data is relatively small - 127 games ...