SOCIOS.COM DELVES INTO FOOTBALL FANDOM IN PORTUGAL
Last year, we commissioned Nielsen Sports & Entertainment to provide an in-depth look at football fandom in 6 key markets — Brazil, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. We wanted to understand the potential for Socios.com amongst football fans, but we also wanted to take a closer look at the football landscape including how fans interact with their clubs. We surveyed 2793 football fans in total (457 in Portugal), all of whom support a football team.
Football is the most popular sport in Portugal and has produced arguably the world’s most popular and famous player, Cristiano Ronaldo, not to mention the likes of Eusébio da Silva Ferreira and Luís Figo. We delved deeper into how the beautiful game has shaped the country and found some interesting results.
Out of the six markets we covered, Portugal registered the highest interest in football standing at 75% of the entire population equating to 7.7 million passionate fans. Italy came in second at 71% and Spain a close third at 70%.
44% of Portuguese fans said that football was their favorite sport above all others while 36% said that football was in their top 2 out of 3 sports. Football seems also to be a family affair with 35% of fans saying that a parent had introduced them to their favorite football club and 18% stating that football was a very important to their community, the highest figure of all markets interviewed.
When it comes to participating and following football, 55% of fans from Portugal said that they were very interested in watching football on TV which was more or less the same in other markets. 41% said that they were very interested in watching football in stadia, which was second only to Brazil with 48%.
In terms of support for clubs, 95% of Portuguese fans said that they supported only one team above all others, the highest figure in this category with the most popular club being Benfica at 50% followed, by Porto at 25% and Sporting Lisbon at 20%.
Support for their clubs is high with 61% of of fans talking to friends, relatives and colleagues about football and taking that support public with 48% of fans going to watch a match at a pub, bar or cafe, and 40% of fans going to stadia to watch the match.
When engaging with their favorite teams, 56% of fans in Portugal are very interested in using social media to get club news, followed by 45% who want results and scores and the same percentage to find out information on games.
26% of Portuguese fans expressed feeling alienated while 45% say that they feel fans like themselves should have more influence on club decisions.
In terms of club perceptions, 64% of Portoguese fans believe the primary role of a football club is to keep fans happy and 50% believe their only goal should be to win trophies. Just over 31% believe that clubs could engage with them on other platforms and 70% believe new technology could improve the fan experience. Three quarters believe clubs focus too much on making money and 50% of fans believe clubs could engage better by keeping ticket prices stable.
When it comes to how much fans would spend on fan tokens, Portuguese fans said they would spend the least of all the markets at €8.
However, despite their passion, 26% of fans felt alienated by their club and 19% felt that their views were not valued. 26% believe fans should be given more autonomy and there’s demand for fans to have more influence over club decisions — 45% of respondents.
