If you have been wondering why your favourite Football team is on a losing spree, we may have an answer for you.
As per paper published by a group of German scientists, air pollution may be responsible for the deteriorating performance of professional footballers.
The scientists produced their paper for the Institute for the Study of Labour in Bonn.
In their study, they examined the players’ form in Bundesliga between the years 1999 and 2011. The performance was then cross-checked with the air quality data outside.
As per the research, players whose performance will be affected the most are the ones in their 30s. In a 12-year time span, 2956 matches played across 32 stadiums were thoroughly examined. An increase of a percentage of particulate matter results in the decrease of 00.2 percent passes.
The defenders and midfielders are the worst sufferers as these players are more into the game and have the job of passing the ball number of times as compared to the forwards. Even in areas where a moderate amount of pollution exists affects the performance of young players.
Over the years, the bad performance of a particular has been blamed on several factors including a problem with the pitch, the ball being a little too bouncy or some of the star players missing from the game. However, now it seems it was air pollution all along.
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