By Ben Reggione
The beautiful game responds to a new generation
Football is the vehicle, social media is the driver, Gen Z is the navigator. The sport’s recent ascendence has been fuelled by self-produced lifestyle content by players off the pitch and through strategic brand collaborations and activations. According to Momentum’s Fandom study, 72% of Gen Z football fans regard a team or an athlete’s lifestyle and cultural relevance, equally as important as their performance on the pitch.
From the pitch to the stands, to fan zones and beyond, a new type of supporter, ‘the expressionist’ has been developing in the UK. This comes resultant to marketers’ positioning of the game, with it passing into a more contemporary light, sitting within the intersection of music, fashion and street culture. Expressionists are the epitome of modern football fan culture. They can be seen donning their curated vintage strips as they feed on marketers’ recent tactics whilst popularising the rising ‘blokecore’ trend. This archetyping blends elements of football, urban fashion, and nostalgia. As GWI reported, Gen Z is the most nostalgic generation, with 54% admiring the Y2K fashion aesthetic, so it’s better understood why Gen Z are investing in kits over tickets. For some, upholding an image is favoured rather than indulging in match-time experiences of the beautiful game.
Whilst football attracts a wider audience on its ascent, retaining fans proves to be difficult. There exists many like Aiden (21, England) who tend to “only watch big games like the World Cup”. Pushing the trend in ‘temporary or real-time fandom’, digital transformation consultancy Bounteous found that 54% of Gen Z “often” watch a full game from start to finish, while 18% “sometimes” do and as much as 70% of 18-34-year-old fans use social media while watching games at home. Despite such varying consumption Gen Z top the table for highlight viewership by 23%. Such engagement makes permeable individuals easily locatable for brands to strategically place their ads.
Beyond the terraces and beyond screens, football fans can be recognised in alternative crowds, particularly those at festivals and gigs. Realising this, sports organisations and clubs also present themselves as lifestyle brands. Nike in particular recognised this and crafted the Mad Maximus arena at Coachella, tastefully littering it with nostalgic Total 90 branding. It became a stage for fans to display their talent in an elimination cage tournament hosted by headliner Travis Scott. This partnership had been further enriched through Toma el Juego, which platforms aspiring ‘ballers’ where teams’ Most Valuable Players (MVPs) get signed on to Nike athlete contracts and fast-tracked into US Soccer’s Talent I.D camp. This strategically acts as a funnel in channelling consumer focuses towards the upcoming 2026 World Cup in America, where in its north, soccer has become one of the top three participatory sports, outranking American Football in the US and Hockey in Canada.
Back across the pond, in Elephant and Castle, south London, Nike opened a new chapter with Southbank developed skateboarding/streetwear brand Palace, with a restoration of Manor Place. Having been furnished with a freely accessible football cage beside other amenities, the space considerably champions multidisciplinarianism.
Similar movements have led purists in Gen Z to witness the game they love become perceivably more commercialized; turning into a fashionable trend. Posed by 21-year-old Sports Coaching student, Ashley, sports washing has become rife, with a prominent example being Kim Kardashian in attendance to “watch Lionel Messi” make his debut at Inter Miami. Whilst she’s there due to her son being ‘obsessed with soccer’ and his favourite player being Messi, such displays can present levels of ignorance when she’s just listing excitement about being there with particular individuals, above the game itself. Especially towards those who would give up their weekly pay cheques to watch their beloved teams play.
As Gen Z recognises the sport to be a game driven by nostalgia and community, in recent years, they’ve taken back a level of possession. This follows a stamping of their presence in forcing a rejection of the Super League and building on the success of the Lionesses, which has inspired the upcoming generation, presenting disfavour towards taking the game out of touch. Gen Z shouldn’t be mistaken for changing the game, they admire it for its pre-established values, similarly as Millennials and Gen Xs do. Today’s youth ought to rather be recognised as injecting more life into the future of the game through engagement and development of alternative platforming, documentations and presentations of football – there’s no need to look further than Baller League to recognise this.
As many set their sights on the upcoming World Cup, be sure to recognise that influence won’t just be staged on the pitches, it’ll pour through via social media platforms and the wave will be ridden by Gen Z.
