Football's Fans relationship with the National Team

: how to improve it? : the portuguese case

Abstract

Football fans have characteristics that differentiate them from other fans, such as the levels of loyalty and emotional connection to the teams. These fans are increasingly seeking to get closer to the teams and to be treated as customers, with appropriate strategies to their needs. The loyalty of football fans is more and more important to the success of teams. So, teams are paying more attention to the relationship with the fans and developing long-term relationship-building strategies. This study discusses the case of the Portuguese National Football Team that, besides this trend, has a transactional and sporadic relationship with fans. There is a focus on ticket sales and communicating only when there are matches. Thus, despite the Portuguese great passion for football and the connection to the team, which is considered a national symbol, their support is determined by the team's performance and has been very irregular. Therefore, the team's managers realized that they should take advantage of this emotional connection of fans, to improve the relationship with them and to develop a long-term relationship strategy. The study confirms that this is also the desire of football fans, who want to feel closer to the team, but who do not have very positive perceptions about the team and who do not show high levels of loyalty at the present moment. The conclusion is that managers should start by a characterization and segmentation of fans, which can be divided into three groups, according to their loyalty, and then create CRM strategies according to the needs and behaviours of each segment. Furthermore, some mechanisms must be implemented, such as activities of experiential marketing, an improvement in the team's media and a change in the team's identity.

Date of Award	2015
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Pedro Celeste (Supervisor)