the previous performance of the english men's national football team in penalty shootouts has led to the widespread stereotype that english football players are particularly bad at scoring penalties. Research has proposed possible reasons behind this alleged "penalty curse". When looking at these reasons, the question arises if english football players per se have trouble scoring penalty kicks. therefore, we analyzed the performance of a large sample of penalty takers during all World-and european championships (N = 696) and, additionally, in some of the highest European leagues over a ten-year period (N = 4,708). The results reveal no significant differences between the success rates (on average between 71-79%, depending on the type of penalty kick and on the type of competition) of penalty takers from different nations. Therefore, we conclude that English players perform as well as players from other nations and that poor performance in penalties lay beyond the factor nationality. Penalty kicks play an important role in association football (soccer) and will likely play an important role in upcoming events like the UEFA European Championship 2021. UEFA introduced penalty shootouts to major tournaments in 1976 (FIFA followed in 1978) as a means of deciding matches in the knockout phase of major tournaments when the score is a draw at the end of the match. These shootouts have decided 18 UEFA European Championship matches including one for winning the tournament (1976) as well as 30 FIFA World Cup matches including two for winning the World Cup trophy (1994 and 2006) and can be considered as the pinnacle of high-pressure performance in football 1,2. Pertinent to the present research, studies have suggested that not all nations perform equally well in these high-stakes penalty situations 3-5. One specific result from this research has received an extraordinary amount of public attention, which has led to a well-known stereotype: English football players are extremely bad at shooting penalties. It is, in fact, nearly impossible to find opposing opinions about this stereotype in the media, and even acknowledged football experts in television commentaries openly talk about how bad England are at penalties-an opinion that vast amounts of newspaper and magazine reports seemingly support 6-9. As is often the case with stereotypes, there may be some truth behind it. A brief look at the numbers of the penalty shootouts involving the England national team does in fact show a negative balance. Since 1978, the England men's national team has only won three out of the nine shootouts they participated in (losses: World
ZusammenfassungSpielmanipulation stellt heutzutage eine der größten Bedrohungen für die Integrität des Sports dar, da sie zu einem Vertrauensverlust in die Fairness des Wettbewerbs führt. Als Reaktion auf Vorfälle in der Vergangenheit kommen im deutschen Sport deshalb zunehmend Bemühungen auf, Präventionsmaßnahmen zu entwickeln und durchzuführen. Der wissenschaftliche Stand zu den Präventionsmethoden von Spielmanipulation in Deutschland ist allerdings noch rudimentär. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Studie ist daher, eine Bestandsaufnahme der im deutschen Fußballsport vorhandenen Präventionsmaßnahmen und durchführenden Institutionen zu machen. Zudem sollten ebendiese Maßnahmen und Institutionen mit Hilfe eines Online-Fragebogens von den daran teilnehmenden Personen (Spieler, Trainer*innen/Funktionär*innen sowie Schiedsrichter*innen der Bundesliga, 2. Bundesliga und A‑Jugend-Bundesliga) bewertet werden. Die Ergebnisse der Bestandsaufnahme zeigen, dass sich der deutsche Fußballsport bereits sehr fortschrittlich mit der Prävention von Spielmanipulation auseinandersetzt und eine Vielzahl von präventiven Angeboten vorhanden ist. Die Ergebnisse der Befragung zeigen, dass die durchgeführten Maßnahmen zwar in fast allen Aspekten als gut bis sehr gut bewertet wurden, die allgemeine Kenntnis über die vorhandenen Maßnahmen muss allerdings als gering eingestuft werden (23,0% der Teilnehmer kannten keine der vorhandenen Maßnahmen und durchführenden Institutionen). Dies deutet auf ein fehlendes Bewusstsein und Reibungsverluste in der Informationsvermittlung bezüglich des Themas Spielmanipulation hin.
Scrutinizing public opinion is one of the central goals of science as the divergence between public opinion and scientific evidence can have negative consequences. The present study aimed to further investigate the alleged English ‘penalty curse’ and determine if it can be linked to the prevalent stereotype of the ‘English goalkeeper problem’. We analyzed a large sample of 2,379 penalty kicks that 629 different goalkeepers faced in World Cups and European Championships, as well as in the Champions and Europa League by comparing the goalkeeper success rates of different nations. However, the results do not reveal meaningful significant differences between these success rates (on average 22.23 %). Consequently, we conclude that English goalkeepers are not responsible for England’s poor performance in penalties in the past as they perform as well as goalkeepers from other nations and, in turn, provide a counterargument to the widespread stereotype that ‘England has a goalkeeper problem’.
Scrutinizing public opinion is one of the central goals of science as the divergence between public opinion and scientific evidence can have negative consequences. The present study aims to further investigate the alleged English ‘penalty curse’ and determine if it can be linked to the prevalent stereotype of the ‘English goalkeeper problem’. We analyzed a large sample of 2379 penalty kicks that 629 different goalkeepers faced in World Cups and European Championships, as well as in the Champions and Europa League by comparing the goalkeeper success rates of different nations by fitting a generalized linear model (binomial regression) to the data. However, the results do not reveal meaningful differences between the success rates (on average 22.23%). Consequently, we conclude that English goalkeepers are not responsible for England’s poor performance in penalties in the past as they perform as well as goalkeepers from other nations and, in turn, provide a counterargument to the widespread stereotype that ‘England has a goalkeeper problem’.
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