Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
Urmia University
Abstract
With the global promotion of football as a popular sport, the study of football fans has attracted more attention as a research field. The present study aimed to examine and determine the factors influencing the formation of club football fans' identification. This research, using the Psychological Continuum Model, seeks to comprehensively investigate all factors affecting the identification formation of Iranian football club fans. For this purpose, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 27 football fans. Given the qualitative approach of the present research and the use of content analysis, coding was performed at three levels, including open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. Ultimately, 17 unique categories emerged as influential factors on fan identification in the four-level Psychological Continuum Model. These factors at the awareness level included team identity card, sociability factors, media, place and geography, football engagement, football leisure time, and demographic factors. The influential factors at the attraction level comprised football competitive elements, personal inclinations, and collectivism and social integration. Professional club factors, fan technicality, economic participation, and emotional involvement were influential at the attachment level, and ultimately, the loyalty phase included team-centered elements, football insight, and football culture. The present research demonstrated that most influential factors on identification formation occur at the awareness level and as fans move towards the loyalty level within the Psychological Continuum Model, the number of influential factors decreases, while the specialized football inclination increases.
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