Watching the FIFA World Cup under cosmopolitanisation: how football fans in Hong Kong followed the 2018 World Cup

ABSTRACT

Few scholarly studies have attempted to explain the global appeal of the FIFA World Cup, one of the most popular sporting mega-events in the world. Based on an online survey and more than 50 qualitative interviews, this study shows that Hong Kong football fans followed the 2018 World Cup in three main ways. Some supported one of the 32 national teams that qualified for the finals; some were interested in the World Cup because of their favourite European clubs or favourite players; and some followed it because they perceived the World Cup to be a unique tournament deserving their attention. How Hong Kong football fans followed the 2018 World Cup can only be explained by taking account of their everyday exposure to European club football. Therefore, the findings contribute to the literature on cosmopolitanism and sports.

KEYWORDS:

• World cup
• cosmopolitanisation
• cosmopolitanism
• mega-event
• fandom
• globalisation

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the CPCE Research Fund 4.8C.xx.EZ0M. The author thanks Mr Yang Haocheng for his research support work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. See, Gibbons (2014) for a recent exception.

2. For a recent review of the literature on points of attachment, see Chapter 3 of Wann and James (2019).

3. The emergence of global sports in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries might also be regarded as projects promoting a kind of cosmopolitanism. (see Dauncey & Hare, 2014; Roche, 2011).

4. It is likely that Italy and the Netherlands would have attracted more support than Belgium had they qualified for the 2018 finals.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the College of Professional and Continuing Education, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University [4.8C.xx.EZ0M].

Notes on contributors

Chun Wing Lee

Chun Wing Lee is currently a lecturer at the College of Professional and Continuing Education, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His major research interests include class analysis and the political/sociological aspects of sport.