is there any way in which this fact could affect a match by itself?
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Everyone here has mentioned the psychological advtange, but there’s a definitive physical advantage as well. Take as an example soccer. And let’s use the western hemisphere as an example. Just in the American continent alone, there’s startling different weather patterns and conditions.
For example, Mexico has a stadium at extremely high altitude called the Azteca. Higher altitude means visitors unused to the thinner air, have an actual physical disadvantage when playing Mexico. I’ve also noticed Canada seems to host all their most important games in their coldest snowiest cities where they have the natural advantage of being used to such conditions.
I read a study years ago on the home field advantage. It’s cause was identified as a tendency for referee calls to be in favor of home rather than visitors. The reasoning: refs want to be able to drive home without being bothered and therefore have an incentive to appease home team fans when making a tough call.
Refs tend to favour home teams when there are big audiences. This advantage was almost wiped out in Covid for sports that had empty stadiums.
In baseball (which I realize is not football) there is often *quirks* to the local field that the home team understands very well that the other team may not have a full understanding of. The ones I can immediately think of is Fenway Park with the (The Monster) wall in left field. and Wrigley field that has park of the field wall is made of brick and covered in ivy (and an unsuspecting rookie will run into).
In football fans attempt to make the stadium extra loud when the visiting team has the ball, making it harder for them to get plays off. This was turning up in the most recent round of play off games where the visiting teams were having trouble getting plays off on time and getting called for Delay of Game (which is a five yard penalty).
A lot of sports is mental. You have to be in a good place mentally to perform well.
When playing at home, the players likely slept in their own bed the night before. Showered and got ready for the day in their own home. That has to be better for you mentally than waking up in some hotel room, in a city you’re unfamiliar with.
To add to that, travel just wears out your body. Which is why when it’s more than a 1 timezones shift, teams prefer to be in the opposing city a full day early. So they get a day of recovery in the city they’re playing in.
Finally while you’re playing, it’s gonna mess with you mentally to be booed anytime anything goes your way. All the emotion in the stadium is against you. That’s gotta mess with your headspace a little bit.
In international cricket, the home nation is responsible for the production and curation of the pitch, which often leads to pitches that heavily favour the home team. For example, Indian pitches are generally dustier with less grass which favours spin bowlers, of which Indian batsmen are some of the best players in the world.
Australian conditions generally favour pace bowling. The Australian pace attack is considered one of the best in the world.
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