Nissan study shows big match anticipation more exciting than match itself

As the climax of the UEFA Champions League came, football fans around the globe suffered from lack of sleep, sweaty palms and rising heart rates.

New research released by Nissan — the global automotive sponsor of the tournament — showed anticipation ahead of the big game was physically more exciting than kickoff itself and even goals.

During an experiment conducted alongside experts of Loughborough University, as part of the Nissan Excitement Index, Nissan sent Atletico Madrid fanatic Robbie Dunne to the crunch semifinal second leg match against Real Madrid C.F. and monitored his excitement throughout the build-up to the match.

Robbie was fitted with wearable technology to monitor and gather a combined index of data. This included his heart rate, breathing rate and electro-dermal activity, in order to examine the physiological effect of the exciting moments he experienced in the build-up to kick-off on May 10.

Robbie said: “My hopes for the game were slim being 3-0 down, however there was a moment ahead of the game where I saw a video Antoine Greizmann posted on twitter about the greatest comebacks of all time. It made me excited for the team to just get down to business….I couldn’t wait.”

Dale Esliger from Loughborough University said: “Whilst we could have hypothesised we would have seen the physical signs of excitement — such as increased breathing and heart rate — during key moments in the semifinal match, what was interesting to see was how key moments in the build-up to the game also contributed to those reactions. In a couple of instances these moments even surpassed in the excitement Robbie experienced from things like goals.”

“The most surprising surge hap- pened when he was reviewing prematch speculation and chatter on social media. As he alludes, the belief and little bit of hope that his team could make an epic comeback and reach the UEFA Champions League Final could have been a key driver of this excitement. Being the exciting, unpredictable game that football sometimes can be it’s easy to understand why this belief led to Robbie’s heart and breathing rate soaring.”

Jean-Pierre Diernaz, vice president for marketing Nissan Europe, said: “At Nissan we talk a lot about the notion of excitement and strive to bring as much excitement as possible through our partnership with the UEFA Champions League. ”