FIFA Controls the Tournament, But Fans Give it Meaning & Shape the Story
Where the tournament lives and comes to life.
FIFA have done their best to make this World Cup inaccessible with extortionate ticket prices that is making it the most expensive tournament ever to attend, but away from the stadium is where the vast majority of tournament fandom always lives and stories will be told.
In today’s article I outline what makes the tournament special, through where it’s experienced and how the story and narratives take shape.
Communal moments
Tournaments have always been a communal experience. Watching in our homes, around friends, in pubs, at watch parties or fan parks and public viewing spaces is how most of us will experience the tournament.
At home you’ll have different generations debating why their era was better, but united in their nation’s support. Around friends you’ll debate the GOAT and team selection while everyone plays to their roles in the group watch dynamic from host to who ends up bringing the most beer.
Down the pub, bar or coffee house you’ll connect with people whose name you won’t know or remember, but embrace during the times of euphoria and despair.
Watch parties and fan gatherings have evolved into cultural events in their own right from wild scenes in Croydon Boxpark in the UK to public square celebrations across capital cities. Who can forget the mass street parties in Buenos Aires when Argentina won the World Cup during their nation’s summer?
Cultural & societal rituals and routines form the structure for how fandom is expressed so from one country to another, things can look similar in some comparisons and widely different to others. The experience in the UK, Germany, Australia and France can feel very similar for example. Images of pubs, bars, beer gardens and pints in hand. In Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the social architecture of football looks different. The match is still public, emotional and collective, but it often happens through cafes and restaurants.
Emotional bonds and escapism
A tournament’s communal moments create a shared emotional release that turns fandom into something bigger. Club loyalties, political persuasion and whatever is going on in your life at this moment gets put aside as it feels like nearly everyone is going through the country’s tournament ebbs and flows together.
Your colleague at work who you thought didn’t like football, is suddenly caught up in the energy only an international tournament can bring. Speaking of work, good luck to anyone that gets anything done during the tournament.
It doesn’t mean football is more important than whatever is going on in your life, nor can it take precedence over some truly awful things happening in the world right now, some of which one of the tournament host’s presidents is presiding over. Football has always been the most important of the least important things in life.
Football has always provided a mode of escapism. Football has always offered an outlet for someone to express identity and find belonging. In a world of increasing loneliness, the belonging that football can provide and in particular when it’s at a national level during a tournament, can only be a welcoming thing, even if it’s just for a few weeks or simply the 90 minutes.
Timezones test commitment and dictate the modes of engagement
World Cup’s always provide a test of stamina and support depending on how the host nation(s) time difference impacts you. Late night and early morning games may disrupt the tried and tested social norms, but they also create different ways to watch, stay engaged and follow the tournament.
I can always remember staying up late to watch Italy’s games at USA 94 as I was obsessed with Roberto Baggio. While the World Cup in Japan and South Korea in 2002 meant a final England group game happening while sitting a college exam and a memorable club night turned into breakfast at the local pub for England vs Brazil. The lack of sleep felt worth it when Michael Owen scored the opener, less so when David Seaman flapped at Ronaldinho’s cross-shot.
A North America World Cup will see late-night viewing in Europe and Africa to early-morning matches in Asia. Games will be competing with work, school and sleep which will see catch up media, highlights and social conversation come into its own to stay informed.
The 90 minutes fuels the content eco-system
Sport is the last monoculture that brings people together for those you had to be there euphoric moments, that have to be experienced in real time for the most optimum feeling.
The match is still the main event for the majority of fans and it feeds an eco-system of reaction, analysis and perspective where fans get to delve into a feast of football content. For some fans, the match is simply raw material feeding the short-form ecosystem: highlights to stay updated, edits, remixes and reactions to reshape the story in real time.
Many will follow the World Cup without watching much or any of the 90 minutes. Sometimes timezones will dictate that, while for others it’s just how they engage with the game as they flip between platforms constantly, consuming what feels relevant in the moment.
Multiplatform experience
WARC Media projects the tournament will inject $10.5B into the global ad market, which is less than in Russia 2018 where a $12.6B boost was generated. What’s changing is the evolution in attention from a linear broadcast and captive audiences to multi-platform experiences and audiences who are participating, creating and engaging in the feeds and comments sections.
Fans are no longer just watching games, they are co-creating its narrative in real time. Fans will be creating edits, reactions and storytelling formats that shape how the tournament is experienced.
The big brands will still be present across the linear broadcasts and the hydration ad breaks during games, but increasing brand focus is chasing the fragmented audience attention. The mico-moments outside of the 90 minutes in-between games where anticipation and reaction is shared and lived through has always been an important facet of a fans tournament experience.
The traditional broadcasters play their role as the ones showing the games but the rising independent media class like Versus, Copa90, The Rest is Football and Men In Blazers will be the ones that become the go to for the moments in between.
The Creator-led World Cup
Back in 2022, I don’t remember the term creator being used much. YouTubers and Influencers were the names of the people who helped provide an alternative look at the World Cup away from the traditional broadcasters and media. Now that term and industry around it has exploded and it feels like the story and narratives of the World Cup will be heavily told this way, making this the creator led World Cup.
Creators will shape how fans watch, feel and follow the tournament acting as daily storytellers, cultural interpreters and emotional anchors. Creators now hold such influence that 44% of fans say they’d choose a creator over an official broadcast or watch both together (Rising Ballers FWC Heartbeats Report).
TikTok have partnered with FIFA to bring 30 global Creator Correspondents who will provide behind-the-scenes access and storytelling throughout the tournament. DAZN ran a competition for people to nominate their favourite creators per qualified team to bring fan-led perspectives.
We’ve already had a pre-tournament creator led story show their influence, by raising the awareness of New Zealand’s Tim Payne. Argentine creator El Scarso galvanised his followers to put the spotlight on a lesser known and followed player, now Payne has gone from 5,000 followers to over 5 million, becoming a global sensation.
One aspect of content I’ve been enjoying so far is the story of the host cities told through its culture, whether its OnlyScrans showing us the best places to eat or MattyFC exploring the respective football scenes. It’s these stories that fans want to consume and seems a missed opportunity by brands who could have partnered with creators or created their own host city based content.
Football is nothing without the fans
This World Cup may go down as the most commercialised of all time, with real issues in how FIFA and one of the hosts have handled how it comes to life. This can’t be forgotten but it also should not take away from how World Cups bring people together and how they’re experienced in all their facets around the world. This World Cup will be as emotive as ever and the biggest expression of fandom on a global stage that we’ve ever seen.