Beyond the Game: Does Football Contribute to Gender-based Violence?

There is ample causal evidence for the global north of a link between violence and sports related to mechanisms such as the reinforcement of negative masculine identities, the exacerbation of emotions, and increased alcohol consumption. However, the empirical evidence on this topic for other countries is scarce. In this paper, we study the occurrence of crimes against women before, during, and after football matches played by the most relevant Uruguayan football teams between 2017 and 2023. We analyse the impacts of complaints at the police station and telephone calls to anti-violence advice lines following different empirical strategies. We find there is no increase in domestic violence associated with football matches in Uruguay, and our event-study approach shows the effect of football on gender violence in weekdays is negative. Our study highlights the relevance of the country context to understand gender violence determinants and dynamics associated with sport and violence