With over a thousand fans surveyed, the study “Loyalty and animosity through fans in football clubs in Spain: Malaga CF and Granada CF” aims to study the behaviour and emotional ties of football fans. In collaboration with José Alberto Callejo and Gema Lobillo, Alfonso Méndiz has conducted the study published in a first quartile journal and which has had repercussions in numerous media.

In the research, the authors put the emotional ties that fans maintain with their teams under a magnifying glass. The survey results show that loyalty to a club is closely tied to its exclusivity. It concludes that among the supporters of both teams there is both a unique and shared loyalty, and different types of animosity depending on different variables studied. 

This research proposes a unique view of the complexity in the feelings of both Malaguistas and Granadinistas, and explains that many of them sympathise with other teams. The objective is to propose an analysis model that serves for other geographical areas, with the intention of understanding the emotional ties of the club fans and be able to develop effective communication strategies in this area.

[Photo: Mario Klassen en Unsplash]