Young soccer fans in Europe's Big 5 markets approve of the Super League – Spain scores highest
Wiesbaden, 15.12.2022: On the occasion of the final appeal of the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the Super League legal dispute, announced for December 15, the sports marketing agency ONE8Y has published a representative market research study in its global sports business database “ONE8Y DB”. As part of the results, which are based on the statements of n=10,090 soccer enthusiasts in the Big Five markets of Europe (distribution by country: Germany n=2,034, Spain n=2,000, France n=2,000, Italy n=2,000, England, n=2,056), a clear picture – which the agency already published two weeks ago as part of the first national data in a kicker article – emerges: The Super League is significantly more popular among “under-25” soccer fans than in the overall population! When asked about their support for a potential Super League, a cumulative 59% of under 25-year-olds from Europe’s Big-Five-markets answered “yes” – in contrast to the 42% in favor among all of the more than ten thousand respondents.
It is interesting to look at the individual markets: The highest level of approval for the Super League is generally found in Spain, where the approval rating among the 2,000 respondents is 60% in total and 67% among the under 25-year-olds. In England, the motherland of soccer, the generational conflict is most distinct. While slightly more than half of the young target group (54%) are in favor of a possible Super League, the corresponding figure for the over 25-year-olds is just 25%. In 2nd place of the difference comparison between the over and under 25-year-olds is already Germany, where the gap is 27% (i.e. 62% under 25-year-olds to 35% of over 25-year-olds). A similarly high level with almost the same distribution can be seen in France. In Italy, the level of supporters among all 2,000 soccer fans surveyed is on the second lowest level in all target groups, but therefore the gap in interest between the generations is the least pronounced (see slide 3).
ONE8Y CEO Hendrik Fischer: “With the exception of Spain, where an obviously stronger overall euphoria for the Super League is recognizable, the share of national supporters among all surveyed soccer fans of the other 4 markets is still clearly below 50%. A look at the younger generation, however, shows that a format such as the Super League is more likely to be supported in general – and it is precisely here that the special nature of the young target group(s) becomes apparent. This generation of “young fans” is not won over with tradition and past successes – but with diversified formats, superstars and entertainment.”
Head of Research and Managing Partner Dr. Michael Zengel adds: “The results in our database also show that 22% of all respondents across all markets consume formats such as the Champions League on average only up to a maximum of 60 minutes. Whereas just a few years ago it was common to consume a match for the full 90 minutes, the proportion of shorter consumption is getting stronger.”
Another distinctive aspect of the database results is the “national attractiveness ranking” of selected soccer competitions. While in Germany, Italy and England, the respective national league has the highest level of attractiveness, in France “Ligue 1” and in Spain “La Liga” comes in second behind the UEFA Champions League. In response to the question of where the soccer fans surveyed would rank the Super League, the currently non-existent Super League is already in 4th place out of 5 in Spain. The CEO of ONE8Y continues: “If we look at the top 1 answers (on a scale of 5), i.e. the highest level of attractiveness, we can see that the Super League is gaining ground in the attractiveness ranking across all the European markets surveyed. Even if the majority of respondents from all markets reject this league as the status quo, it is striking that a non-existent league can already gain ground on existing formats in this observation” (see slide 4).
About ONE8Y Database (ONE8Y DB):
The ONE8Y DB is the world’s first license-based market research database in the sports business. The database contains statistics on market research data from over 40 markets on a wide variety of sports business/marketing topics. Customers of the database receive, depending on the booked service package, access to all data and can use them directly in their daily operations. All further information is available at www.one8y-db.com.
Abou the agency ONE8Y:
Founded in 2018, ONE8Y advises and supports B2B and B2C clients along the entire value chain. In doing so, ONE8Y combines data-driven expertise with creativity and thus helps to reach the individual target groups of its customers in the best possible and sustainable way and across all relevant touchpoints: from digital to on-the-ground. The agency is based in Germany/Wiesbaden. More at www.one8y.de.