Weather shocks and athlete performance: Evidence from the Chinese Soccer Super League

This paper investigates the impacts of weather shocks on athlete performance, focusing on soccer players in the Chinese Soccer Super League over three consecutive seasons from 2014 to 2016. Utilizing daily meteorological data, we construct the temperature and precipitation bin variables to explore the marginal effects on the physical and cognitive performance of soccer players. The empirical findings document a sizeable impact of high temperatures and heavy precipitation on players’ performance indicators, including physical performance and cognitive performance. Specifically, relative to conditions with temperatures below 15 °C, the total running distances, the number of passes, and the number of fouls for soccer players significantly decrease by 7.6%, 6.0%, and 23.1%, respectively, when temperatures exceed 30 °C. The results for precipitation bins show that relative to conditions with precipitation below 0.1mm, the total running distances, the number of passes, and the number of fouls for soccer players significantly decrease by 1.2%, 8.2%, and 4.7%, respectively, when precipitation exceeds 50mm. Moreover, the heterogeneity analysis reveals that the negative effects of high temperatures and heavy precipitation are more pronounced and significant for older players, for matches performed away from home, and for matches performed in areas with higher temperatures or more precipitation. Evidence of player adaptations suggests that players from regions with higher temperatures or more precipitation perform better in terms of physical and cognitive abilities when playing in areas with lower temperatures or less precipitation compared to players from regions with lower temperatures or less precipitation when they compete in areas with higher temperatures or more precipitation. Finally, policy suggestions are proposed to mitigate the impact of weather shocks on soccer players and to promote the sustainability of the soccer industry.