Journal of Sports Economics· 2026Q1
The Removal of the Away Goals Rule: Intended or Unintended Consequences?
- 2citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
UEFA's removal of the away goals rule in two-legged ties increased home team scoring and reduced upsets, but led to more penalty shoot-outs, particularly affecting matches between clubs of similar strength.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Removal of the away goals rule led to increased scoring by home teams.
- The rule change eliminated the disadvantage for teams playing the first leg at home.
- Penalty shoot-outs became more common after the rule change.
- The reform favored stronger clubs and reduced the incidence of upsets.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Prior literature offers many examples of rule changes in sport which failed to achieve their objectives or even had perverse consequences. Here, we study a rule change in football competitions organised by UEFA, which removed the away goals rule used as a tie-breaker in two-legged fixtures. The analysis is based on 1,100 ties played before the reform and 752 after. We find that, largely, the change was successful in achieving its stated objective of increasing scoring-rates by teams playing in their own stadium, and it removed any disadvantage from being drawn to play the first match at home. Penalty shoot-outs to settle the issue of which club would proceed further in the competition became much more common. All these effects were, however, confined to particular ranges of the strength difference between the two clubs. The reform appears to have favoured stronger clubs, with a reduction in the incidence of upsets.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of Sports Economics, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Economics and Econometrics
Economics and EconometricsEconomics, Econometrics and Finance