Red Cards: Not Such Bad News For Penalized Guest Teams

Abstract

A popular soccer myth states that teams affected by a sending-off perform better than they would have performed without the penalty. Based on economic theory, we analyze the course of soccer matches using data from the German Bundesliga from 1999 to 2009. The results show that sending-offs affecting home teams have a negative impact on their performance. However, for guest teams the impact of a sending-off on their performance depends on the time remaining after the sending-off. Thus, the "ten do it better" myth seems to hold for guest teams to a certain extent.

Keywords: soccer, team performance, red card, sending-off, Bundesliga

JEL Classification: L83, M50, M12, J01