Temperature and Productivity in Soccer

Vojtěch Mišák

No 2025/07, Working Papers IES from Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of temperature on soccer team productivity using match-level data from ten countries across three continents. The results show that temperature affects multiple performance metrics, often in non-linear ways. Specifically, attacking efficiency is enhanced in warmer conditions, leading to increased goal productivity and improved shot conversion rates. Conversely, defensive performance appears to weaken in warmer conditions, with a decrease in defensive pressure and passing accuracy. Player aggression follows an inverted U-shaped pattern in relation to temperature. The effects of temperature vary across different leagues and climate regions. The relationship between temperature and outcome measures tends to be stronger in lower leagues, while the Champions League is the least influenced overall. Teams from colder regions experience a larger decline in passing volume when playing in high temperatures, with the effect being particularly pronounced in Brazil.

Keywords: Football; Soccer; Temperature; Weather; Productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K14 K42 K49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 56 pages
Date: 2025-04, Revised 2025-04
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ies.fsv.cuni.cz/en/temperature-and-productivity-soccer (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2025_07

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers IES from Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Natalie Svarcova ().