The impact of home advantage on performance in UEFA Champions League matches

Home field advantage is a common sports phenomenon, and more scholars focus their research on the home field advantage in football. This article takes 160 sets of technical and tactical data from 80 games in the three seasons of the UEFA Champions League from 2021 to 2024 as the research object and uses data statistical methods to conduct a comparative analysis of 18 technical and tactical indicators of the home and away teams in the event and discusses the impact of home advantage on performance in UEFA Champions League matches. The results show: (1) The winning probability of the home team in the UEFA Champions League in the 2021-2024 season is 61% and more than 50%, indicating home field advantage; (2) The performance of the home team in goal-related variables, offensive organization-related variables and defense-related variables is generally better than that of the away team; (3) Four indicators including two goal-related variables, goals and shot on target percentage, and two offensive organization-related variables, possession percentage and crosses, are significant variables that distinguish the performance of the home and away teams.