Is Home Advantage Dead? Serie A’s Shocking Numbers Compared to Europe

Big Stadiums, Small Returns. San Siro, Allianz Stadium and the End of Fear

As we reach the halfway point of most of the major European leagues, we took a look at how many home wins there have been so far. And the data on Serie A is pretty shocking.

Juventus only got a draw against Lecce in the last Serie A matchday. Apart from Inter, who beat Bologna 3-1, the other three home wins were pretty close, with just one-goal margins (Atalanta vs Roma, Como vs Udinese and Fiorentina vs Cremonese). So it looks like there’s no real home advantage here.

Over the years, the Bianconeri have always got the points they needed at home to win their famous nine championships in a row, and also to reach that much-coveted fourth place in the last editions of Serie A. Inter basically lost last season’s championship to Napoli at San Siro, against Lazio catching up twice thanks to Pedro. Once again at San Siro, Milan’s performances in recent years were met with more boos than cheers.

To sum it up, playing at home doesn’t automatically mean you’ll have the upper hand. Well, this is true within national borders at least, because you only have to look abroad to see how this trend is reversed.

The Numbers Don’t Lie. Why Serie A Is an Outlier in Europe

Needless to say, the Premier League is the league with the most home wins in absolute terms, but Ligue 1 and La Liga have the highest percentage of home wins compared to games played. Here’s the situation so far this season:

• Ligue 1. Games played: 180. Home wins: 91 – [50.5%]
• Primeira Liga. Matches played: 153. Home wins: 76 – [49.6%]
• Premier League. Matches played: 210. Home wins: 97 – [46.2%]
• La Liga. Matches played: 198. Home wins: 90 – [45.4%]
• Bundesliga. Matches played: 162. Home wins: 72 – [44.4%]
• Serie A. Matches played: 170. Home wins: 65 – [38.2%]

A Mental Shift Is Needed. Even Smaller Serie A Teams Now Believe Away From Home

What does this mean? When they win at home, it makes fans more likely to have good memories of the stadium and want to go back there to relive those moments. But if they don’t get positive results, even big games could suffer from a drop in stadium attendance.

Also, even the smaller teams could work on their fighting spirit and attacking play, which they didn’t do so well in the past. For example, when he was interviewed recently, Alessandro Florenzi said that going to the Juventus Stadium was intimidating when he played for Roma and then Milan, but nowadays with Juventus being a sleeping giant, everyone can think of taking points away from Allianz Stadium. It’s pretty obvious that Italian clubs need to change this trend if they want to start winning again.