Day: August 25, 2025

Whether they helped bring down Jose Mourinho at Manchester United, led marches against their club’s owners at Chelsea or pushed back against plans to commercialize football, fans are a powerful force in the game. But while their protests may be less dramatic than the giant tifos of the past, their fight is more important than ever.

On a street corner in Hollywood, fans held signs like “#SaveTheOA” and a stuffed octopus (representing Old Night, an ancient octopus character who appears in season two of Netflix’s sci-fi drama “The OA”). They stood for hours in the sun, soaking up the honks and waves from cars on the busy stretch of road. Two of them even took turns running a YouTube livestream for folks who couldn’t make it to the location.

Across the country, fans are using their passion for football to fight for important social issues. Using the power of their numbers, they’re using their voices to demand respect, change and a better future for all.

The following fan protest stories come from a few different countries and show the variety of ways in which supporters express their views. They can address different counterparts such as other fans, their team, club management or associations, political leaders, police and security forces or local authorities. Depending on the reason for their activism, they can also organize protests in public spaces like streets and stadiums.

In the last decade, several gender equality (GE) initiatives have taken root in sports to address gender discrimination that exists among female athletes. However, GE in sport remains a challenge for several reasons, most notably the lack of public awareness about it. Fortunately, social movements such as the #MeToo and #SeAcabo have brought awareness about this issue to the forefront of the public debate.

Nevertheless, there is much more to do, particularly in the area of equal opportunities for male and female athletes, where attitudes are largely determined by culture, values, and beliefs. To this end, the present article uses data from the Special Eurobarometer 525 (2022) to explore Europeans’ attitudes towards GE in sport and identify key determinants using Fuzzy-Hybrid TOPSIS, latent profile analysis and multinomial logistic regression.

The initial research reveals that a direct relationship exists between the level of sports participation and support for GE in sport. Those who play more sports tend to be more supportive of gender equality in sport, suggesting that more exposure to sporting environments helps people understand and recognise the need for it.

Furthermore, the results show remarkable geographical differences in attitudes to GE in sport. The Nordic countries, led by Sweden and Finland, have high levels of support for GE in sport. By contrast, Austria and Eastern European countries have low levels of support for GE in sport. This can be explained, in part, by a combination of very strong traditional gender norms, religious conservatism and older socio-political structures.