The Advantage of Scoring Just Before the Half-Time Break—Pure Myth? Quasi-Experimental Evidence From European Football

Philippe Meier, Raphael Flepp, Maximilian Ruedisser and Egon Franck

Journal of Sports Economics, 2020, vol. 21, issue 5, 548-565

Abstract: We examine whether the moment just before the half-time break is a particularly good time to score a goal. Using detailed data from the top five European football leagues between the 2013-2014 and 2017-2018 seasons, we exploit the quasi-random occurrence of goals scored just before and just after the half-time break. In the former situation, the game is exogenously interrupted by a break immediately after the goal, whereas in the latter situation, the game continues without interruption. We show that in the case of a goal being scored just before halftime, the scoring team benefits more from the half-time break than the conceding team.

Keywords: football; football myth; halftime; scoring; quasi-experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:jospec:v:21:y:2020:i:5:p:548-565

DOI: 10.1177/1527002520913102

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