The home advantage phenomenon is a well-established feature in sports competitions. In this paper, we examine data from 1,908 soccer matches played in the German Bundesliga during the seasons from 2007-08 to 2015-16. Using a very rich data set, our econometric analysis that is based on matching...

The order of actions in contests may have a significant effect on performance. In this study we examine the role of schedule in round-robin tournaments with sequential games between three and four contestants. Our propensity-score matching estimation, based on soccer FIFA World Cups, UEFA...

After the expansion of the FIFA World Cup from 32 to 48 teams starting from the 2026 edition, the initial proposal was to split the 48 national teams into 16 groups of three. Among other drawbacks, this proposal provides potential for collusion. Recently, after widespread criticism, FIFA...