EUFoot & FANZinE

Football Fandom and European Practices of Social Cohesion: How Football Fandom Shapes and Structures Cross-Border Communication and Travel in Europe - International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure This paper investigates how football fandom as a highly popular and socially diverse leisure activity contributes to practices of social cohesion within Europe and interacts with underlying socio-demo...

Happy to share that my first solo-authored article has just been published in the International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

The results come with a call for more effective, more inclusive, and more democratic governance of football to preserve and strenghten these effects that are threatened by the growing exclusivity and stratification of European football

The book substantiates and expands our previous work, and shows how constructions of European identity, communities of solidarity and cooperation, and ultimately stronger social cohesion can emerge in football fan culture.

In this book we explored one big question: Can football fandom help build social cohesion and European identity? Through media analysis, a representative survey, and interviews with experts from the field, we analysed how football connects people across borders.

Uniting Europe through Football The book explores how football fandom as a leisure and lifeworld activity can contribute to strengthening identification with and social cohesion in Europe

As the culmination of our three-year research project funded by BMBF, our book "Uniting Europe through Football - The Interplay between Fandom, Identity and Social Cohesion" is finally here.
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

We identify five central dimensions of social, community, and identity dynamics in Europeanised football. Based on this, we find six clusters of fans that present distinct types of fans. This shows that the Europeanisation of football has transformed the lived reality of fans across the continent.

From local isolation to transnational engagement: Differentiation in European football fan culture - Ramón Llopis-Goig, Jonas Biel, Tobias Finger, Arne Niemann, Vincent Reinke, 2025 As a highly popular cultural phenomenon, football connects people across social cleavages and entails manifold social interactions, constructions of community, ...

🚨 New publication! 🚨
Our paper is out in International Review for the Sociology of Sport - From local isolation to transnational engagement: Differentiation in European football fan culture

Read here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

2) Football belongs to the fans, but they are largely excluded from any decision-making. We call for:
✔️ Institutionalised fan consultation with clubs & associations
✔️ Legal and regulatory reforms to mandate fan representation in decision-making structure
✔️ Funding for fan engagement projects

1) Football connects people across borders, but fan communities still face repression and lack of representation. We propose:
✔️ Expanding socio-pedagogical fan work across Europe
✔️ Establishing formal networks for European fan initiatives
✔️ Increasing financial & institutional support

As our results show, football is more than just a game - It’s a powerful catalyst for exchanges, cooperation, identity formation, and social cohesion in Europe. Our two policy papers provide concrete, research-based recommendations to harness this unifying potential of football.

The Football Effect: Comparing European Identity Between Fans and Non‐Fans The formation of European identities is a pivotal issue for the cohesion of the European community in times of multiple crises. Based on theories of identity formation through habitualisation, we pos...

Finally, we found that fandom creates habitual European experiences, strengthening a sense of European belonging. Fans exhibit stronger identifications, preferences for further integration, and more positive views of EU membership than non-fans.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

No longer sidelined? Football fandom, belonging, and the boundaries of Europe In times of ‘polycrisis’, numerous challenges threaten unity and cohesion on the European continent. European identities can play an important part in navigating these challenges and fostering soli...

Who is seen as part of Europe? Our study finds that football fans define Europe's boundaries more inclusively than non-fans, more readily including countries at the periphery of Europe into their understanding of Europe.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

A European Public Sphere United by Football: A Comparative Quantitative Text Analysis of German, Norwegian, Polish and Spanish Football Media The ability of the European community to respond to the multiple crises threatening the European Union and Europe depends in part on citizens' shared European identity giving legitimacy and support t...

Does football media create a European public sphere? This paper finds that football coverage from Germany, Norway, Poland, and Spain strongly converges across borders, which - while fostering shared identity - also leaves parts of Europe on the sidelines.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Our conceptual paper explores how football fandom fosters European identity and strengthens social ties across borders. It suggests that football-based interactions promote cohesion and make Europe more connected “from below”.
hrcak.srce.hr/ojs/index.ph...

How does football fandom shape European identity and social cohesion? Our research explores these questions using surveys, media analysis, and interviews.
Find a few of our recent papers below:

If you're interested in research at the intersection of political science, European studies, and sports sociology, this is the place for you - we’ll be sharing our research findings, publications, and project updates right here.

The FANZinE (2021-2024) project studied how football fosters shared European identity and social cohesion in Europe. We showed how football can strengthen social bonds and unity in Europe “from below.”
🔗 fanzine-research.github.io

EUFoot (2018–2021) examined how football contributes to the Europeanisation of fan identities, exploring whether it creates shared identifications beyond national borders.
🔗 eufoot.github.io

This account represents two research projects exploring the connections between football fandom and European identity. We previously shared our work on Twitter/X, but from now on, you'll find us here. Follow for insights on how football shapes social cohesion and shared identities in Europe. ⚽🇪🇺