When Lionel Messi swapped Barcelona for the pink of Inter Miami in 2023, something unusual happened. Fans who had never set foot in Florida began wearing the club's colours, buying up tickets at inflated prices and flooding the club's social media accounts. It wasn't devotion to Miami driving the surge — it was devotion to Messi.
That phenomenon is now being examined as part of a broader shift in football fandom, one where allegiance to individual stars increasingly rivals, or even eclipses, loyalty to clubs. Sports brand strategist James Kirkham argues the trend has been building for years, fuelled largely by gaming culture. "It's been happening for a while, ever since the sheer impact and influence of gaming, particularly on young fans," he said, pointing to earlier examples such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic drawing a similar following.
According to Kirkham, younger supporters raised on titles like EA Sports FC and Football Manager tend to be "less rigid or tribal" than previous generations, having built a "more encyclopaedic knowledge" of players across leagues through gaming, YouTube and trading cards. "There is a really thin line between virtual and real life," he explained, noting that assembling a favourite player into a virtual Ultimate Team can feel just as meaningful as wearing their name on a real shirt.
Data backs up the shift. A pre-World Cup study titled "The Rise of the Second Club Fan," produced by Engage and MTM, found that 80% of global supporters now follow a second club in addition to their primary one. Matthew Kyle, head of insights at the firm, said this doesn't mean fans are abandoning original allegiances, but rather adding new ones — often triggered by a favourite player moving clubs. "For this audience, they are the club," the report states. "These fans track individuals, not institutions."
The report traces an evolution in how players manage their own image, from Antoine Griezmann's much-mocked 2018 documentary revealing his decision to stay at Atletico Madrid, to today's stars such as Erling Haaland, Cristiano Ronaldo and Jude Bellingham running their own YouTube channels. Kyle noted that similar self-promotion tactics would resonate far more strongly today than they did with Griezmann. Kirkham added that players are becoming "their own distribution levers," building personal platforms independent of their clubs, and that fans respond strongly when stars appear to stand for something beyond football, citing Marcus Rashford's campaigning during the pandemic as an example.
This summer's World Cup underlined the trend. Little-known Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha saw his Instagram following rocket from 50,000 to nearly 30 million after a string of standout performances, while established figures such as Lamine Yamal, Bellingham and Ronaldo also saw notable spikes. Haaland was the biggest winner, according to Kyle, gaining more than 51 million followers across his social platforms since July 1 — compared with just 11 million in the first six months of the year. Kyle attributed this to Haaland's relatable personality, playful social media presence and viral moments, combined with Norway's run to the World Cup quarter-finals.
The growing power of individual players raises questions for clubs when stars eventually depart. Kyle pointed to Son Heung-min's decade at Tottenham, during which the club became the most-followed foreign side in South Korea, surpassing Manchester United. When Son left for LAFC last summer, Spurs did not see a mass exodus of followers, though his new club experienced a modest bump. Kyle suggested clubs should focus on building engaging content beyond match action, using players as valuable assets while they are there, since "every player leaves eventually, even if they leave by retiring at your club."
As football increasingly resembles a long-running drama with recurring characters, Kirkham believes fans are the ultimate beneficiaries. "Fans have an insatiable appetite for football," he said, adding that the game "can't be fully quenched" no matter how much content is produced.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport.