Home advantage in EuroLeague basketball Quantifying the interactions between team quality, competitive balance, and season dynamics
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Home advantage (HA) remains a persistent phenomenon in elite basketball. This study quantified HA across eight EuroLeague seasons (2016–2025) and examined how team quality (TQ) and competitive balance (CB) influence it. Data from 2,154 regular-season games were obtained from the official EuroLeague website. HA% and home win percentage (HW%) were calculated, while CB was measured using the Standard Deviation Ratio (SDR). TQ was determined using a Two-Step Cluster Analysis based on win percentage (W%), classifying teams into high, medium, or low-quality groups. One-way ANOVA examined seasonal and TQ variation, while Spearman's correlation and multiple regression assessed relationships among the variables. The results showed that EuroLeague teams won 62.9% of home games on average. HA% peaked in 2021–2022 and dropped in 2020–2021, reflecting the impact of pandemic-related spectator restrictions. CB fluctuated moderately, with a notable imbalance in 2018–2019 (CB = 2.17). Regression results showed that TQ significantly predicted HA% (p < .01), with lower-quality teams exhibiting greater HA% effects (B = 10.06, SE = 2.15), whereas CB was not a significant predictor (p = .088). HA remains a consistent structural phenomenon in EuroLeague basketball, more likely due to psychological and situational factors, resilient to changes in league parity.
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