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.

Keywords:

• football
• visual perception
• colour
• performance analysis
• outfit
• soccer

Acknowledgements

The research was conducted at the Kandinsky College and the amateur football club SV Orion, both located in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Sincere thanks to the following contributors: Dr Cathrien Eggink, ophthalmologist, Department of Ophthalmology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, for her valuable comments on our study methods and design; Paul de Haas, physicist and teacher at the Kandinsky College, for his stimulating support at all stages; football club SV Orion, which allowed us to use their facilities for our research, and Professor Michiel A.J. Kompier, football coach and psychologist at the Behavioural Science Institute (Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, Radboud University, Nijmegen), for his valuable comments.