The colour of a football outfit affects visibility and team success

Abstract

We investigated the impact of the colour of football outfits on localising football players and on the results of football matches. Two studies were conducted: an experimental study examining the effects of outfit colour on the assessment of the positions of computer-animated football players in a video set-up (study 1) and a retrospective study on professional football clubs' performances dependent on their outfit colours (study 2). The studies were conducted with 18 human volunteers aged 15-18 years (study 1) and league results from 10 professional European football teams over 17 years (1995-2013) (study 2). We analysed the number of correct assessments of the positions of virtual football players with different outfit colours (study 1) and analysed the relationship between match results and outfits' colours (study 2). Study 1 showed that the position of players wearing white outfits was better assessed in 5.2% of the trials compared to players wearing green outfits (P = 0.007). Study 2 showed that Manchester City conceded less goals against in away games in highly visible kits (r = 0.62; P = 0.024), while Newcastle United conceded less goals and won more points while playing in kits associated with low visibility (r = 0.63; P = 0.007; r = 0.50; P = 0.040, respectively). We conclude that the colour of football outfits affects evaluations of football players' positions on the field, with white tricots resulting in the best location assessment. The outfit colour may indirectly influence football match results, warranting more attention to the home and away shirts by team managers and football scientists.

Does Blue Uniform Color Enhance Winning Probability in Judo Contests?

“…Research on color biases in winning may contribute to improving fairness in sport and equal opportunities for each athlete, regardless of their uniform color. For example, previous studies have stated that “smart use of color may improve team results” (Olde Rikkert et al, 2015 ). Our findings may have important implications for (combat) sports policy makers; as our results suggest, a blue–white pairing ensures an equal level of play.…”

“…The white judogi was suggested to be more visible than the blue judogi , allowing the athlete in blue to better evaluate and anticipate the movement of his (white) opponent. While perceptual differences in moving objects of a certain color may indeed influence localizing team players and potentially the likelihood of winning in for example football matches (Olde Rikkert et al, 2015 ), differential perception effects are unlikely to occur in situations where athletes are directly fighting an opponent in close quarters. A second explanation was given by Barton and Hill ( 2005 ).…”

Does uniform color affect offside in association football?

“…Due to the green lawn of a football pitch, players wearing green possess a lower color contrast resulting in a lower visibility. [38][39][40][41][42] Thus, the players might be more difficult to detect on a similar-colored background, as already suggested by Rowe et al 36 However, experimental research has already emphasized the significance of color brightness for color detection and appearance on chromatic backgrounds. [39][40][41][42][43] Considering a lower detection rate and speed for darker colors (minor values of lightness), black kits were also expected to carry an advantage for attacking and defending teams on offside judgments because of the increased complexity of their perceptual detectability.…”

“…Even when Rowe et al 36 results and assumptions were disputed controversially, 33,37 Olde Rikkert et al transferred their assumption to association football showing that the color of football outfit affected evaluations of players' positions on the field. 38 They showed that the positions of virtual players wearing green proved significantly less assessable for participants than the positions of players wearing white in a green football field environment. Color research clearly pointed out that a high colour contrast facilitates the detection rate and detection speed of a target stimulus.…”

“…Bringing offside judgmenets into focus, uniform color and its potential impact on visibility seems noteworthy: Rowe et al argued that a higher uniform visibility facilitates avoidance and interception behavior in an opponent, causing a competitive disadvantage. Even when Rowe et al results and assumptions were disputed controversially, Olde Rikkert et al transferred their assumption to association football showing that the color of football outfit affected evaluations of players' positions on the field . They showed that the positions of virtual players wearing green proved significantly less assessable for participants than the positions of players wearing white in a green football field environment.…”