Football fans in European countries

82% of adult Europeans are «somehow» interested in football, and 25% show «greater interest» in it. As a result, in contemporaiy Europe football fans represent a numerous enough company and an active social group which needs a detailed analysis. Most football fans are identified and identify themselves with a football club which has gained their confidence. In England a certain football tradition was formed - «to support your local team». However, the intensity of social mobility diluted the uncertainty of fans’ identification with the teams which were within their area of residence. However, constant social mobility growth (including territory mobility) made football fans identification with the local teams less possible. For example, during World War II many Londoners were evacuated outside of the capital but they continued to support their local teams. Later fans passed their love and support for the team to their children. As a result, there were fans supporting the team from the region they did not live in; they supported the team from the location their parents and grandparents had lived in. Besides, some football fans (especially those from the regions without football teams or teams with low rating) identify themselves with the leading football clubs. This can also be explained by the spread of television that allowed fans to watch the game being far from the team location. Therefore, football fans from European countries now represent a numerous social group consisting of diverse subgroups with their own member criteria, identity markers and social practice. Support for the football team as a contemporary European society phenomenon crossed the national borders and functions as a phenomenon of the at least the whole of Europe. The market of trade articles and services concerning football forms a considerable economic segment making football clubs think of football fans as of a significant money enrolling resource. Violation level decrease allows people of different income to find target goods and service. Football fans have a certain political power which is used by certain political party leaders. Nowadays it has not yet been widely spread because of low control over the fans on the part of the officials. Social connections within the given group are thought of as stable enough and they largely define the status of a person in the society structure. One can speak of this as a very important element for social status identification and social mobility perspectives. Besides, football fans are characterized by a specific world view making them different from other modern European population categories. Football fans behavior stereotypes largely define their activity during matches and in the intervals between the matches.

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