Factors Affecting the Loyalty of Football Clubs' Fans

Football is a sport that is closely linked to the entertainment industry, as it elicits a wide range of emotions among the audience, both positive and negative. Due to its spectacular nature, the number of football fans continues to increase every year. With the growing number of supporters, it is essential for football clubs to cultivate loyalty by maintaining and managing it among their fan base, as well as utilizing tools to enhance it and attract new fans. This study is therefore relevant, as there are currently few works that fully characterize the behavior of dedicated football supporters. This paper is based on the research question: What factors help football clubs retain the loyalty of their supporters? Within this framework, both qualitative and quantitative research methods have been employed. Qualitative research was used to identify factors affecting the loyalty of football supporters through in-depth interviews and to formulate hypotheses that will be validated through quantitative research.The quantitative stage involves an online survey of football fans, who will confirm or refute hypotheses, as well as identify the degree of influence of various factors. The results of the analysis conducted is to determine which factors are important for fans of Russian football clubs and which are significant for those of foreign clubs. Thus, the aim of this work is to compile a list of validated factors that directly influence the loyalty of fans towards specific football clubs, which can serve as foundation for developing practical recommendations in the future.