Publication: Altitude as handicap in rank-order football tournaments
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2013-07
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Abstract
In 2007, based on medical reports, FIFA ruled that no international football competition could be
played in stadiums with an altitude higher than 2500 meters. We provide stark evidence which supports
the claim that playing in high altitude benefits the home team through two channels. First, in these
scenarios, high altitude teams (HAT) do better against low altitude teams than against other high
altitude teams. Second, every time that low altitude teams visit other high altitude teams they get fewer
points than if they had played in a low altitude stadium. Therefore, the HAT go up in the ranking of the
southamerican qualifiers for world cups, not only because of their own extra-advantage of playing in
high altitudes, but also because the LAT do worse in all high altitude stadiums. According to our work,
have this ruling taken effect, Ecuador would not have gone to the 2006 world cup, and therefore
Ecuador's Football Federation would have lost at least 40 million dollars given out by FIFA to all teams
going to the world cup.