The Advantage of Scoring Just Before the Halftime Break – Pure Myth? Quasi-Experimental Evidence From European Football
29 Pages Posted: 19 Aug 2019
Date Written: July 31, 2019
Abstract
We examine whether the moment just before the halftime break is a particularly good time to score a goal. Using detailed data from the top five European football leagues between the 2013/14 and 2017/18 seasons, we exploit the quasi-random occurrence of goals scored just before and just after the halftime 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 halftime break than the conceding team.
Keywords: football, football myth, halftime, scoring, quasi-experiment
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