HOW STADIUM ATMOSPHERE INFLUENCES BETTING ODDS: A FOOTBALL FAN’S GUIDE

Football is not only what 22 players do inside the pitch for 90 minutes until the referee signals the end of the game, it’s much more than that. There’s loads of factors that influence a football game, whether they happen before, after or, especially, during the game. Home teams often perform way better when playing at home, all due to the passion fans transmit to the players inside the pitch, also influencing how the away team may perform.

The answer to those questions is fairly simple: Stadium Atmosphere. In order to fully understand to what extent does this factor make an impact on the game, especially when it comes to the creation of betting odds prior to a game, things like attendance, noise and performance are taken into consideration. Knowing how stadium atmosphere affects a team's performance can lead to finding incredible opportunities and bets.

In this article, we’ll dive into how stadium atmosphere affects betting odds, providing insights for football fans who want to make the best out of this overlooked factor. Understanding how stadium atmosphere is taken into consideration by bookmarkers, you will be able to develop smarter strategies that guarantee huge wins.

HOME ADVANTAGE: HOW ATMOSPHERE CAN WIN GAMES

Home Advantage is one of the most overlooked factors, not only in football, but any sport. There have been many studies which have investigated how teams tend to perform better when playing at home. But this isn’t a coincidence of being lucky only on home soil, it’s a direct result of stadium atmosphere and how passionate fans actually win games. Lifting players when losing and encouraging them when winning, crowds play a pivotal role in matches, being the “12th player” on the pitch on many occasions.

This stadium atmosphere does not only have a positive impact on home players, it also plays its role on how the away team performs, as feeling the roar of thousands of fans when having the ball can increase pressure drastically, thus transforming into more mistakes or worse performance.

Of course, stadium atmosphere is very different from one team to another. A team facing relegation who have not performed well for a whole season may not feel the effects of stadium atmosphere as the dark-horse of a competition who has surpassed expectations. Another factor that influences stadium atmosphere is a stadium's overall capacity, meaning that a Premier League stadium will have, normally, a better atmosphere that a small non-league ground. In this case, you can always check the complete stadium guide to understand why the atmosphere is better on stadium A than stadium B.

REAL-LIFE EXAMPLES OF THE IMPACT OF STADIUM ATMOSPHERE

On many occasions, the atmosphere has much more of an impact on what actually happens inside the pitch. In football, there have been many games where, thanks to the stadium atmosphere, David’s have killed Goliath’s and star teams have been able to bounce back from what could have been humiliating losses. But it’s all due to, in great part, home advantage and the psychological impact it has on players.

In football, there have been many cases where stadium atmosphere has had an impact on games. One of the most recent examples is Real Madrid’s 2022 Champions League campaign where the team was able to push and end up winning games they had practically lost all thanks to the Bernabeu effect on the players. They pushed, they roared, they created such a hostile environment to the opposition that they were able to bounce back on three occasions in three different games.

This has a huge effect on how betting odds change, maybe one time can be based on pure luck, but knowing what the Bernabeu was capable of, many people guaranteed huge wins after betting on Real Madrid winning whilst they were completely knocked out of the game.

HOME ADVANTAGE AND ITS INFLUENCE ON ODDS: TIPS AND TRICKS

When it comes to betting, stadium atmosphere and its impact on games is always a very valuable tool. Bookmarkers take this factor into consideration on almost every occasion, meaning that, even if a team is performing much worse than another, playing at home/away can have a drastic impact on the betting odds. Odds don’t only vary before the match, they are constantly changing during the game, creating new opportunities that, if done smartly, can guarantee massive wins.

In order to make the best out of stadium atmosphere and guarantee the best chances at winning (or at least making smart choices), here’s some tips and tricks that you can follow step-by-step:

1. Research the venue, try to see how hostile the environment is, how the team performs at the stadium vs away, see how the team has performed on big matches at that given stadium and analyze crowd statistics (attendance, noise…)
2. Take a deep look at how players tend to perform when playing at home, especially those players that have been in great form before the given match.
3. Try to see if there are any restrictions (sanctions or, as it happened during COVID, the match being played behind closed doors).
4. Research both teams, try to see how the last matches between them have unfolded and find if there’s any given rivalry between the teams or if any of the teams is in a title race/battling for relegation.
5. Watch the game, try to see how a certain player is performing, how many opportunities has the team got and how many of those chances could have finished inside of the net.

Stadium atmosphere is an overlooked factor that has a massive impact on the overall development of games and, especially, betting odds. The influence passionate fans have in football is big and teams have proven that atmosphere does have a huge impact, no matter the league, country, position. In order to make the best out of stadium atmosphere when betting, you must take into consideration several factors to make the smartest yet most-profitable choices possible. Being aware of the impact of home advantage can turn your bets from good to excellent.