Ryder Cup: Does red USA have advantage over blue Europe?

By Adam Smith, Data and Analysis @AdamDatasmith

The Ryder Cup tees off this week with blue Europe looking to reclaim the trophy from red USA - but which colour shirt has won more titles in English football's top flight?

Clubs wearing blue home shirts have won the Premier League in each of the last five seasons, as worn by Leicester City, Chelsea and Manchester City.

However, a remarkable 44 per cent of top-flight champions in England have worn red since 1889.

That rises to 59 per cent during the Premier League era, with Manchester United claiming 13 titles and Arsenal wearing 75/25 red and white in 1997/98, 2001/02 and 2003/04

Over the last 129 years, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest have also won titles wearing predominantly red home shirts, while Sunderland have been the top club on six occasions in 50/50 red and white stripes.

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Unfortunately for Europe, blue is the second most common colour for champions on 27 per cent, with Everton and Portsmouth joining Manchester City, Chelsea and Leicester as being the only teams to wear all-blue shirts.

Aston Villa claimed the title with blue sleeves on seven occasions, as did Burnley in 1920/21 and 1959/60, while Ipswich wore a majority blue in 1961/62.

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Meanwhile, Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield and West Brom had all finished top in blue stripes by the 1930s.

It's not a home colour of choice for any leading team these days, perhaps not any team at all - but Everton won the 1890/91 First Division with an all-salmon shirt - before switching to their famous blue.

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So do the USA actually hold an advantage by wearing red? Former Liverpool boss Bill Shankly certainly thought so.

He said "red for danger, red for power", ahead of Liverpool changing their traditionally white shorts to red in 1964.

Former Kop striker Ian St John recalled in his autobiography: "Shankly thought the colour scheme would carry psychological impact.

"He came into the dressing room one day and threw a pair of red shorts to Ronnie Yeats. 'Get into those shorts and let's see how you look,' he said. 'Ronnie, you look awesome, terrifying. You look 7ft tall.'"

Image: Leicester City are one of three teams in blue to have won the Premier League over the last five years

But will red or blue emerge victorious at Le Golf National? Watch the Ryder Cup live on Sky Sports Golf from September 24 at 6.30pm

For this study, we counted home shirts only, as displayed on historicalkits.co.uk.

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