This study investigates the evolving landscape of sports fandom by examining how digital-era engagement practices intersect with traditional fan identities. Through semi-structured interviews with 30 Israeli sports fans, stratified into three distinct participant groups based on their engagement with traditional team support and fantasy sports participation, the research explores the multidimensional nature of contemporary fan identity construction. Findings reveal three theoretically significant themes: (1) the dialectical tension between emotional team attachment and analytical sports appreciation; (2) the contrasting community formation patterns across different fan types, from collective identity-based traditional communities to knowledge-exchange networks in fantasy sports; and (3) the spectrum between partisan emotional investment and detached analytical neutrality in sports engagement. The study's theoretical contribution lies in its development of a concentric spheres model conceptualizing sports fandom as operating across three distinct yet interconnected planes of engagement: traditional team-centric fandom characterized by emotional proximity and local identification; globalized mediated fandom marked by transnational team affiliations and digital community participation; and analytical sports appreciation centered on athletic aesthetics, entertainment value, and competitive participation. This framework advances sport sociology by reconceptualizing fandom as a dynamic continuum rather than a set of discrete categories, demonstrating how contemporary fans navigate between different engagement spheres while retaining knowledge legitimacy as a transcendent element across all fandom forms.
AgasKGeorgakarakouCMylonakisJ, et al. (2012) Traveling abroad internal and external motives toward different sports fan types. International Journal of Business and Management7(3): 111–120.
2.
ApostolouMAthanasiouM (2016) I want to watch this! An evolutionary perspective on the popularity of sports. Psychological Topics25(2): 281–297.
3.
ArchibaldMMAmbagtsheerRCCaseyMG, et al. (2019) Using zoom videoconferencing for qualitative data collection: Perceptions and experiences of researchers and participants. International Journal of Qualitative Methods18: 1–13.
4.
Ben-PoratA (2010) Football fandom: A bounded identification. Soccer & Society11(3): 277–290.
5.
BraunVClarkeV (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology3(2): 77–101.
6.
BuserMWoratschekHRidpathBD (2021) Gamification through fantasy sports–Empirical findings from professional sport leagues. Sport. Business and Management: An International Journal11(5): 575–597.
7.
ClarkeJ (1978) Football and working class fans: Tradition and change. In: InghamR (eds) Football Hooliganism: The Wider Context. London: Inter-Action Inprint, 37–60.
8.
ClelandJA (2010) From passive to active: The changing relationship between supporters and football clubs. Soccer & Society11(5): 537–552.
9.
CoopermanSRBrandãoRA (2024) AI Assistance with scientific writing: Possibilities, pitfalls, and ethical considerations. Foot & Ankle Surgery: Techniques. Reports & Cases4(1): 100350.
10.
CrawfordG (2004) Consuming sport: Fans, sport and culture. London, UK: Routledge.
11.
CrawfordG (2009) “Forget the Magic Circle (or Towards a Sociology of Video Games).” Under the mask 2 Conference. Bedfordshire, UK: University of Bedfordshire.
12.
CrawfordGGoslingVK (2009) More than a game: Sports-themed video games and player narratives. Sociology of Sport Journal26(1): 50–66.
13.
CreswellJWPothCN (2016) Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
14.
Dietz-UhlerBLanterJR (2008) The consequences of sports fan identification. In: HugenbergLWHaridakisPMEarnheardtAC (eds) Sports Mania: Essays on Fandom and the media in the 21st Century. North Carolina, USA: McFarland, 103–113.
15.
DixonK (2014) The football fan and the pub: An enduring relationship. International Review for the Sociology of Sport49(3-4): 382–399.
16.
FarquharLKMeedsR (2007) Types of fantasy sports users and their motivations. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication12(4): 1208–1228.
17.
GarciaBLlopis-GoigR (2020) Club-militants, institutionalists, critics, moderns and globalists: A quantitative governance-based typology of football supporters. International Review for the Sociology of Sport55(8): 1116–1135.
18.
GibbonsTDixonK (2010) ‘Surf’s up!’: A call to take English soccer fan interactions on the internet more seriously. Soccer & Society11(5): 599–613.
19.
GiulianottiR (2002) Supporters, followers, fans, and flâneurs: A taxonomy of spectator identities in football. Journal of Sport and Social Issues26(1): 25–46.
20.
GiulianottiRRobertsonR (2013) Sport and globalization. A companion to sport, pp.41-60.
21.
GuoM (2018) Emerging powers of influence: The rise of fan activism in China. In: YeciesBShimAGoldsmithK (eds) The Changing Face of Korean Cinema: 1960 to 2015. New York, USA: Routledge, 237–252.
22.
HaliciAAzmi YetimA (2024) Investigation of football fans’ perceptions of event quality according to their typologies. Sage Open14(3): 21582440241271131.
23.
HaliciAOtkanCÇ (2024) Determining the typologies of basketball fans. SAGE Open14(4): 21582440241297266.
24.
HalversonERHalversonR (2008) Fantasy baseball: The case for competitive fandom. Games and Culture3(3-4): 286–308.
25.
HillsM (2003) Fan cultures. London, UK: Routledge.
26.
HuntKABristolTBashawRE (1999) A conceptual approach to classifying sports fans. Journal of Services Marketing13(6): 439–452.
27.
JhaAKarAKGuptaA (2025) Fan and fantasy: Investigating the impact of fantasy sports on sports fan identity. European Sport Management Quarterly25(2): 297–321.
28.
KimYNaurightJSuveatwatanakulC (2020) The rise of e-sports and potential for Post-COVID continued growth. Sport in Society23(11): 1861–1871.
29.
LeonardD (2009) An untapped field: Exploring the world of virtual sports gaming. In: RaneyAABryantJ (eds) Handbook of Sports and media. New York: Routledge, 426–441.
30.
LevA (2022) Running through the in-between: Distance runners in a state of liminality. Leisure Studies42(5): 648–662.
31.
LevALeventalOTamirI (2023) From legends to legacy: The impact of fan influence on retiring athletes in premier league basketball. Frontiers in Psychology14: 1295487.
32.
LeventalOCarmiULevA (2021) Jinx, control, and the necessity of adjustment: Superstitions among football fans. Frontiers in Psychology12: 740645.
33.
LeventalOLaorTGalilyY (2023a) The 21st century Globetrotters’ fans: The case of Israeli transnational football Supporters’ communities before and during the pandemic. American Behavioral Scientist67(11): 1340–1357.
34.
LeventalOLev AreyDLevA (2023b) Passionate hearts, torn loyalties: Navigating the interplay between fandom and romance. Frontiers In Psychology14: 1240271.
35.
MillwardP (2011) The Global Football League: Transnational Networks, Social Movements and Sport in the New Media Age. Basingstoke: Palgrave McMillan.
36.
ParkerCScottSGeddesA (2019) Snowball sampling. SAGE research methods foundations.
37.
PopeS (2017) The feminization of sports fandom: A sociological study. New York: Routledge.
38.
PutnamRD (2000) Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York, NY: Simon and schuster.
39.
RedheadS, ed. (1993) The passion and the fashion: football fandom in the new. Aldershot, UK: Avebury.
40.
RoweD (2011) Global media sport: Flows, forms and futures. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic.
41.
SamraBWosA (2014) Consumer in sports: Fan typology analysis. Journal of Intercultural Management6(4): 263–288.
42.
SandvossC (2005) Fans: The mirror of consumption. Cambridge, UK: Polity.
43.
SchreyerD (2023) How technologies might change the European football spectators’ role in the digital age. In: 21st Century Sports: How Technologies Will Change Sports in the Digital Age. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 291–306.
44.
StevensSRosenbergerPJ (2012) The influence of involvement, following sport and fan identification on fan loyalty: An Australian perspective. International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship13(3): 57–71.
45.
SturmD (2020) The future of sport spectating: Enhancing digital fan experiences. In: ReicheDSorekT (eds) Sport, Politics and Society in the Middle East. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 184–202.
46.
TaoJBrown-DevlinNForbesA (2024) Augmented basking in reflected glory?A Case Study of Psychological Mechanisms Underlying Sport Fans’ Augmented Reality Filters. International Journal of Sport Communication1(aop): 1–12.
47.
Van BottenburgM2003. The differential popularization of sports in continental Europe. En E. Dunnig e D. Malcolm (ed.). sport.Critical Concepts in Sociology, 2, pp. 357–384.
48.
WannDLBranscombeNR (1990) Die-hard and fair-weather fans: Effects of identification on BIRGing and CORFing tendencies. Journal of Sport and Social Issues14(2): 103–117.
49.
WannDLGrieveFGZapalacRK, et al. (2008) Motivational profiles of sport fans of different sports. Sport Marketing Quarterly17(1): 6.
