Is gender a competitive balance driver? Evidence from Scandinavian football

Figures & data

Table 1. Championship concentration in Scandinavian football measured by the H-Index

Average HI	Denmark		Sweden		Norway
Gender	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women
Total	0.30	0.36	0.12	0.24	0.46	0.19
96–05	0.36	0.26	0.18	0.36	0.82	0.34
06–15	0.42	0.58	0.18	0.36	0.28	0.30

Table 2. Average values of competitive balance between women’s and men’s football leagues

	RSD	SRCC	CBGD	Draw%
Average Men	1.47	0.53	0.49	0.25
Average Women	2.32	0.78	1.56	0.14
Difference	0.85***	0.25***	1.07***	0.11***

^*** Significant at the 1% level, based on Mann-Whitney test.

Table 3. Competitive balance in Scandinavian football with a gender (men’s leagues) dummy variable

	RSD		SRCC		CBGD		Draw%
	Coeff.	St.E.	Coeff.	St.E.	Coeff.	St.E.	Coeff.	St.E.
Season	−0.0034	0.0047	0.0015	0.0028	−0.0110**	0.0051	0.0004	0.0007
Gender	−0.8469***	0.0538	−0.2472***	0.0320	−1.068***	0.0589	0.107***	0.0077
Intercept	9.131	9.424	−2.298	5.645	23.72**	10.33	−0.6561	1.350
Adj. R ^2	0.6759		0.3317		0.7364		0.6167

^* Significant at the 10% level.

^** Significant at the 5% level.

^*** Significant at the 1% level.

Table 4. RSD for each Scandinavian football league over the period 1996–2015

RSD			Women			Men
			Denmark	Sweden	Norway	Denmark	Sweden	Norway
			2.59	2.17	2.20	1.61	1.40	1.41
Women	Den	2.59		T-eq***	Non***	T-eq***
	Swe	2.17	T-eq***		Non		T-eq***
	Nor	2.20	Non***	Non				Non***
1996–05			2.80	2.22	2.19	1.58	1.29	1.41
2006–15			2.41	2.12	2.22	1.63	1.51	1.41
Difference			T-eq***	T-eq	T-eq	T-eq	T-eq**	T-eq

Notes: T-eq = t-test assuming equal variance; T-un = t-test assuming unequal variance; Non = non-parametric.

^* Significant at the 10% level.

^** Significant at the 5% level.

^*** Significant at the 1% level.

Table 5. SRCC for each Scandinavian football league over the period 1996–2015

SRCC			Women			Men
			Denmark	Sweden	Norway	Denmark	Sweden	Norway
			0.83	0.76	0.75	0.57	0.55	0.48
Women	Den	0.83		Non*	T-eq**	T-un***
	Swe	0.76	Non*		T-eq		T-eq***
	Nor	0.75	T-eq**	T-eq				Non***
1996–2005			0.85	0.77	0.72	0.57	0.52	0.48
2006–2015			0.81	0.75	0.78	0.57	0.58	0.47
Difference			T-eq	T-eq	T-eq	T-eq	T-eq	T-eq

Notes: T-eq = t-test assuming equal variance; T-un = t-test assuming unequal variance; Non = non-parametric.

^* Significant at the 10% level.

^** Significant at the 5% level.

^*** Significant at the 1% level.

Table 6. CB_GD for each Scandinavian football league over the period 1996–2015

CBGD			Women			Men
			Denmark	Sweden	Norway	Denmark	Sweden	Norway
			1.98	1.25	1.46	0.49	0.47	0.52
Women	Den	1.98		Non***	Non***	Non***
	Swe	1.25	Non***		T-un**		Non***
	Nor	1.46	Non***	T-un**				Non***
1996–2005			1.96	1.40	1.57	0.53	0.47	0.60
2006–2015			2.00	1.11	1.36	0.46	0.47	0.44
Difference			T-eq	T-eq***	T-eq	T-eq	T-un	T-eq***

Note: T-eq = t-test assuming equal variance; T-un = t-test assuming unequal variance; Non = non-parametric.

^* Significant at the 10% level.

^** Significant at the 5% level.

^*** Significant at the 1% level.

Table 7. Draw percent for each Scandinavian football league over the period 1996–2015

Draw%			Women			Men
			Denmark	Sweden	Norway	Denmark	Sweden	Norway
			0.10	0.18	0.15	0.26	0.26	0.23
Women	Den	0.10		Non***	Non***	Non***
	Swe	0.18	Non***		T-eq**		T-eq***
	Nor	0.15	Non***	T-eq**				Non***
1996–2005			0.11	0.18	0.15	0.26	0.26	0.23
2006–2015			0.10	0.18	0.16	0.26	0.26	0.24
Difference			Non	T-un	T-eq	T-eq	T-eq	Non

Notes: T-eq = t-test assuming equal variance; T-un = t-test assuming unequal variance; Non = non-parametric.

^* Significant at the 10% level.

^** Significant at the 5% level.

^*** Significant at the 1% level.

Table 8. Dummy variable regressions with various competitive balance measures as dependent variable

Dep var.	RSD	SRCC	CBGD	Draw%
Season	−0.0041	0.0013	−0.0121***	0.0005
	(0.0043)	(0.0025)	(0.0040)	(0.0006)
Den_M	−0.9885***	−0.2596***	−1.4924***	0.1577***
	(0.1017)	(0.0526)	(0.0963)	(0.0117)
Swe_M	−1.1990***	−0.2825***	−1.5178***	0.1564***
	(0.0936)	(0.0459)	(0.0967)	(0.0131)
Swe_W	−0.42705***	−0.0688*	−0.7331***	0.0748***
	(0.0838)	(0.0364)	(0.1021)	(0.0126)
Nor_M	−1.1875***	−0.3537***	−1.4696***	0.1316***
	(0.0955)	(0.0576)	(0.0968)	(0.0129)
Nor_W	−0.3929***	−0.0800**	−0.5226***	0.0487***
	(0.0892)	(0.0388)	(0.1200)	(0.0123)
Intercept	10.767	−1.7614	26.2249***	−0.9025
	(8.7275)	(5.0156)	(7.9217)	(1.1495)
R ^2	0.7687	0.3744	0.8606	0.7418

^* Significant at the 10% level.

^** Significant at the 5% level.

^*** Significant at the 1% level.

Table 9. Average number of goals per game in Scandinavian football over the period 1996–2015

Goals/Game	Denmark		Sweden		Norway
Gender	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women
1996–2015	2.87	4.42	2.69	3.50	3.15	3.95
1996–2005	3.04	4.54	2.74	3.80	3.32	4.25
2006–2015	2.71	4.31	2.65	3.19	2.98	3.65