Red Cards: Not such bad news for penalized guest teams

A popular soccer myth states that teams affected by a sending-off perform better than they would have performed without it. Based on economic theory, the authors analyze the course of soccer matches using data from the German Bundesliga from 1999 to 2009. The results show that sending-offs against home teams have a negative impact on their performance. However, for guest teams, the impact depends on the time remaining after the sending-off and can be positive if the sending-off occurs late in the game. Thus, the ‘‘ten do it better’’ myth seems to hold for guest teams to a certain extent.