Factors Influencing Fan Loyalty in Football Clubs

Abstract

The football industry has tremendous commercial value, and fan loyalty is critical to a club’s sustained revenue and brand value. This study focuses on the factors influencing football club fan loyalty and adopts a systematic review of Chinese and English academic literature from 2012 to 2025, analyzing both theoretical models and empirical results. The study summarizes the main mechanisms of fan loyalty formation, including classic frameworks such as the investment–satisfaction–attachment three-element model, the Psychological Continuum Model (PCM), and the involvement–attitudinal loyalty–behavioral loyalty path. It also synthesizes four broad categories of external factors influencing fan loyalty—club brand image, spectator experience, club characteristics, and fan personal factors—and the patterns of their effects. The findings indicate that fan loyalty is shaped by a multitude of factors, and emerging factors such as local cultural context and digital technology play an increasingly prominent role in fostering loyalty. This study enriches theoretical understanding in the field of fan loyalty and provides practical insights for clubs to develop fan engagement strategies to enhance fan loyalty.