Why do we become football fans?: Types of supporters and the psychology behind it

There were record breaking numbers of football fans supporting teams at Euro 2025 and watching on various media streams. At the 2019 World Cup in France, an estimated 82 million people were watching. This increased to 293 million for the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. But what makes us support teams and players in the first place?

It would seem obvious that when a team is doing well, we all want to join in the success. That’s an easy one to answer. It does go deeper than that, though. So I chatted with a couple of members of Her Football Hub, and their responses brought the research literature to life, confirming our thoughts around what makes a football fan.

As humans, we have a number of basic psychological needs. These include autonomy (wanting to have free choice over what we do), competence (wanting to be good at something), and relatedness (wanting to be connected to others). The relatedness need plays a huge part in wanting to belong — to be part of a group with a common focus.

Football can easily fit into that common focus. It’s an exciting and unpredictable game. Especially international tournaments, where knockout rounds can lead to penalty shootouts. These are arguably some of the most painful and exciting moments in football, and the 2025 Euros delivered this in fine form.

“I got really hooked during 2019 World Cup… I began watching matches wherever I could and learned about all aspects of the game. “

Sometimes there are strong family traditions and ties to following a team — ‘wearing the scarf my father wore’. Upholding these household rituals and taking over the mantle may be a free choice or could be an act of remembrance. Honouring a loved one no longer with us and keeping a connection with their memories. Over time, the magic of football fandom may become part of our choice after all.

“Although my dad loves football, I wasn’t overly into it when I was younger. The women’s Euros in 2022, that is what got me back. I found it a lot more accessible… I have been diehard fan ever since then.”

There are other categories of fandom, these are labelled passionate fans, core fans and hardcore fans. We can all argue that we are passionate in the lived experience of a football match. However, these fans will go out of their way to support their team. They will buy team merchandise and often travel miles to watch their team play. In this category, the ‘superfan’ will try to get to every game and watch other team matches.