While some fan taxonomies have been identified in the football literature to serve as a starting point for analysis, there is still a lack of work that establishes a relationship between the pressures of these typologies and the sustainability outcomes of football clubs (10). The foundational works on fan typologies were developed by Mitchell and Wood (33) and Senaux (34). These authors proposed three criteria for classifying fans that help explain their different levels of identity: legitimacy, power and sense of urgency. The concept of legitimacy is related to aspects such as the trust that fans have in the football club, which leads to loyalty and long-term commitment (22, 44, 45).

The power of fans depends on their ability to influence the financial decisions of football clubs, both in the short and long term. This is achieved through a variety of means, including attendance at matches, the purchase of broadcast rights and the acquisition of club-related merchandise (27, 32). Conversely, a sense of urgency is the most salient characteristic of fans who are truly committed to their football club. When the club's performance is suboptimal, they demand appropriate reinforcement or perceive that managers are not providing it. In the absence of a genuine sporting project, these individuals are the most vocal in their demands (26, 46, 47).

Table 1 identifies four typologies of fans: direct, indirect, passive and potential. In the case of direct fans, it must be recognized that these are those who directly follow the football club with which they typically identify. This is usually achieved either by attending matches and purchasing season or individual tickets (51, 52). This type of fan is perceived as having high legitimacy due to their demonstrated loyalty and trust in the football club (11, 24, 29). Likewise, they have considerable influence as their commitment is essential for the long-term financial stability of the football club (22, 35, 53). In addition, there is a heightened sense of urgency as any adverse events that affect the club's performance are perceived as personal, including losses in important games, finals, or unfavorable outcomes (26, 45).

Conversely, indirect fans exhibit a heightened sense of urgency due to their identification with the club. This generates a high level of legitimacy, as sporting results do not affect their loyalty to the clubs they support. This type of fan typically follows the club via television or the Internet, through a subscription to the operators that broadcast the matches (48, 54). This behavior gives the fan considerable influence over the club's finances (26). In contrast, passive fans may follow the club intermittently through various broadcast media. However, they tend to have a low sense of urgency, which ultimately leads to a reduced sense of legitimacy due to their limited identification with the football club. As a result, they have a minimal influence over the financial aspects of the club. A review of the literature shows that this classification is similar to that proposed by Giulianotti (48) and Jaeger (26), who referred to these individuals as “fans” and “followers,” respectively.

It is also possible to identify a category of potential fans who do not currently support any football club. This group may not feel a sense of urgency, legitimacy, or power in following or demanding the services of a club. However, they may become emotionally attached to a club if the club offers something that appeals to them. This phenomenon has been termed “green consumers” by Cayolla et al. (23). These types of fans have a pro-environmental mentality and thus demonstrate a certain willingness to participate in sports initiatives that include sustainability components (20, 55). Among the activities related to sustainability components that clubs can implement are those of a social nature, such as community engagement (56), approaches to gender perspectives and the promotion of women's football (57, 58), and the orientation towards the development of projects that promote environmental awareness among fans (21, 22).

Fan behavior can influence a number of groups involved in sport, including referees (59), coaches (60), players (61), and visiting clubs (62). However, in this study, the focus of pressure shifts to sports organizations (63). This type of pressure is a consequence of the unique nature of football and the deep attachment that fans have to the club they support (23). In order to address the type of pressure that fans exert on the football industry, institutional theory is required as it explains how organizations, including football organizations, respond to pressure from different stakeholders, which represent the expectations and demands to be met (26, 45). In this context, the concept of isomorphism is key to understanding the pressures that fans place on football organizations. Isomorphism can be defined as the standardized or homogenized behavior of firms that results from social norms and behaviors (19). Accordingly, DiMaggio and Powell (64) propose three types of pressure that shape the conceptualization of isomorphism: coercive, mimetic and normative.

Coercive pressures are defined as those that are mandatory or, in the absence of a requirement, those that become common practice within an industry or society, thereby influencing firms to conform to this type of demand (65). In this regard, McCullough et al. (9) note that they are most prevalent in the early stages of environmental sustainability practices. These types of pressures mainly originate from government stakeholders and football bodies, given their significant influence on legislative and regulatory matters (21, 22, 66). Mimetic pressures, on the other hand, are more closely associated with the football industry, as they tend to emulate the actions of their counterparts (18, 67). As a result, they have typically emerged during the second wave of sustainability practices, as outlined by McCullough et al. (9). Likewise, there are normative pressures, which are more closely associated with the dissemination efforts of educational institutions (5, 8), and refer to customs, traditions, and social behaviors (68). In the context of football, traditions and customs have a significant influence on the behavior of a range of stakeholders, including football institutions, government institutions, fans and society at large (43).

Additionally, de Witte and Zglinski (69) provide a more detailed typology of fan pressure, which can come from three sources: identity commitment, sporting merit and solidarity. The concept of identity commitment has been defined in different ways. Nevertheless, the majority of the existing literature has linked this phenomenon to the local traditions of the city or region (70). Indeed, for some, football constitutes a symbolic space for the construction of regional identities (71). The commitment to identity is also linked to the processes that contribute to the reduction of information asymmetries and better communication with the public of interest, including fans, since much of the management is focused on building fan loyalty (46). Consequently, the business model should be oriented towards the positive management of fans' emotions (24). Some scholars have suggested that managers should be fans of the clubs they manage. Others have even suggested that, in order to improve management, we should move towards a model where fans are also owners of clubs (72). The emphasis on sporting achievement suggests that fans attach importance to their clubs winning local and international tournaments. Consequently, there is a need for clubs to focus on achieving sporting success. Moreover, the emotional bond between fans and their clubs leads to a sense of personal responsibility for the club's performance, including their defeats (45, 53). One way to achieve sporting merit is for managers to acquire skilled player (26) and even a competent coaching staff, as coaches serve as the public face of the club and are the focus of fans' positive and negative feelings about the club's performance (73).

The pressure associated with solidarity is linked to selected initiatives of the SDGs agenda (57) and is generated because fans positively value the fact that the club they support supports social programs (32). Among these programs, work with children's foundations and support for training centers stand out (74). In addition, the variables that make up the pressure associated with solidarity, shown in Table 2, are also linked to the elimination of discriminatory practices. This is illustrated by international campaigns against discrimination, such as the “Not to Racism” initiative (82). Furthermore, there is a correlation between these pressures and the support of current SDG initiatives, including gender equality and the promotion of women's football (57), strategies and actions promoting the protection of the environment, and the dissemination of environmental awareness among stakeholders (22). It is worth noting that, of the potential fans mentioned in Table 1, the “green consumers” identified by Fernández-Villarino (11) and Cayolla et al. (23) may be more likely to experience solidarity pressures stemming from environmental practices and awareness.

The football industry is no stranger to international debates and movements on environmental issues and sustainability. However, despite its social and economic importance, it has been slower than other sectors to integrate sustainability principles into its management (11, 36, 83). This is because the issue is not yet binding or mandatory. As a result, most football organizations engage in these initiatives driven by cost savings and economic incentives. In some cases, such initiatives are undertaken with the aim of increasing the positive perceptions and goodwill that fans have towards the organization (84). However, the present study postulates that the main reason for the more definitive forays of football clubs or clubs into sustainability practices is the influence of stakeholders (20), especially fans, as evidenced in the present study.

In this context, sustainability represents a higher purpose, namely the creation of value that goes beyond mere monetary profit (16). Rather, it begins to be expressed as a triple bottom line, which according to Elkington (85) reflects expected outcomes in the economic, social and environmental spheres (14, 86). However, a review of the literature revealed that many studies have focused solely on the economic dimension of sustainability, as this is essential for the long-term survival of the football club or club. Other researchers were tasked with examining the environmental dimension of sustainability, focusing on pro-environmental actions (21), particularly in stadiums and other venues where large numbers of people attend sporting events. This is because in situ sustainability is closely linked to the logistical operations of such events (87).

The term 'shared value' has been attributed to various authors, but the essence of the concept transcends traditional shareholder or owner-based value creation (16). This evolution in thinking has led to a shift in focus from a short-term, shareholder-centric approach to a long-term, sustainable one (88). This transition has implications for the business model (89), with sustainability expectations influencing the desired outcomes (84). This, in turn, requires a triple balance between economic, social, and environmental factors (14). In the case of studies that has focused on the relationship between sport industries and sustainability, McCullough and Cunningham (19) can be taken as a starting point for presenting four types of expected outcomes of sustainability, derived from the functional, social and political pressures exerted by fans. These include cost savings, competitive advantage, perceptions of the goodwill of the football club and fan identification. When these outcomes are grouped according to the dimensions of sustainability, it can be argued that cost savings and competitive advantage fall within the economic dimension, whereas football club goodwill and fan identification fall within the social dimension. The above work is one of the pioneering studies in the field, but it did not consider the environmental dimension in its performance results.

In the context of the football industry, the work of Daddi et al. (21) proposes a model in which a number of mimetic, normative and coercive pressures have an impact on environmental performance outcomes in terms of governance practices, environmental practices and environmental operational practices. It is noteworthy that the work in question includes the environmental aspect of sustainability, but does not consider the other dimensions, as the primary focus was on the environmental domain. In contrast, Todaro et al. (22) present a model that considers the three dimensions of sustainability and incorporates the influence of different stakeholders, including government stakeholders, football institutions and market and societal stakeholders such as local communities, fans and sponsors. The pressures exerted by these different actors affect performance outcomes, which are expressed in four expected benefits: internal management, environmental performance, reputation and goodwill, and business and sponsorship. Cayolla et al. (23) state that fan pressure influences a number of performance outcomes, which they refer to as social, environmental and economic benefits. This work is the most like the one presented in this paper as it addresses the same audience (fans) and covers the three dimensions of sustainability.

Consequently, the present study is based on the triple bottom line approach, encompassing economic, social, and environmental considerations (14). About the economic dimension, it has been established that fans can generate income for football clubs in several ways. These include the purchase of individual or season tickets (51, 52), the purchase of club merchandise or services such as souvenirs and sportswear (31, 32, 35), and through broadcast revenue when they subscribe to a sports channel (26, 34, 53). In terms of the social dimension, the most common variable is reputation and goodwill (20–22). On the other hand, within the environmental dimension, environmental practices and dissemination of environmental awareness among fans are identified as the most prominent (10, 23, 36). Table 3 illustrates the expected sustainability outcomes in the football industry and their associated variables.

The conceptual elements of this study therefore focus on fan typologies, solidarity related pressures and expected sustainability outcomes. Their integration constitutes the conceptual model underpinning the measurement of the impact of the pressures of fans on the performance of football clubs, which is discussed in the methodology section.

The pressures associated with sporting identity and merit are primarily focused on the sporting performance of the club (69). To achieve this, football clubs and clubs must have players and coaching staff capable of performing at the highest level (90). Moreover, studies have shown a correlation between sports performance indicators and financial performance indicators of clubs (91). Consequently, the outcome of sporting events can also have a significant impact on the valuation of a football club (92). However, the fans who have a more direct impact on club finances are the active fans, i.e., those who attend the stadium through individual or season tickets (51), such individuals purchase goods and services from football clubs, or pay for subscriptions to sports channels (27, 28, 53). However, the evidence did not support the hypothesis that an active fan (direct or indirect) would be more supportive of the club, or that non-active fans (passive and potential) would become new fans or more committed to a football club due to the pressures associated with solidarity (43). Given that these are fan evaluations or assessments, this does not necessarily mean that these are actual revenues for the football clubs, so Hypothesis 1 would be as follows:

H1: The solidarity-based pressure exerted by fans has a significant impact on the economic performance of football clubs.

Similarly, football clubs that demonstrate greater social commitment, such as such as support for children's foundations and training centers (74), initiatives to promote women's football (57), the implementation of anti-discrimination and anti-racism programs (82), strategies to promote environmental practices in the stadium and environmental awareness among fans (10, 36), have been shown to have a positive impact on the reputation and goodwill of football clubs (43). In addition, goodwill has been identified as a key expected outcome in conceptual models developed by scholars examining the pressures exerted on football clubs by various stakeholders. These include models proposed by McCullough et al. (18), Daddi et al. (21), Cayolla et al. (10), and Todaro et al. (22). Given the evidence, this study proposes the following hypothesis:

H2: The solidarity-based pressure exerted by fans has a significant impact on the social performance of football clubs.

The solidarity pressure associated with environmental commitment facilitates the implementation of environmental practices within the stadium and contributes to the promotion of environmental awareness among fans (11, 23). In this context, the third hypothesis can be formulated as follows:

H3: The solidarity-based pressure exerted by fans has a significant impact on the environmental performance of football clubs.

Table A1 from Appendix A presents the variables that make up the conceptual solidarity pressure exerted by fans and the sustainability outcomes of football clubs, while Figure 1 presents the conceptual model that underpins the hypotheses formulated. In this model, solidarity pressure represents a construct, or first-order latent, made up of several observed variables, such as support for women's football, the fight against discrimination and racism, social commitment and environmental commitment. The expected outcomes of sustainability, covering the economic, social and environmental dimensions, in turn constitute the second-order latent variables. These are further constituted by several observable variables, including income from individual and season tickets, income from merchandising, income from broadcasting rights, reputation and goodwill, environmental practices in the stadium and the development of environmental awareness among fans.

In order to investigate the influence of fan pressure on the long-term viability of football clubs in Colombia, a questionnaire shown in Appendix B (Tables B1–B7) about perception on fan solidarity pressure and its impact on the sustainability of football clubs was designed.

In the first part of the questionnaire, respondents were informed that their data would not be published as the purpose of this survey was purely academic. The questionnaire included a general section in which respondents were asked to provide information on their first name, surname, place of residence, age group and gender. A taxonomic classification of the profiles was then made based on a question designed to categorize the respondents according to the typology of fans identified, including four categories of fans (direct fans, indirect fans, passive fans, potential fans) and two different groups of fans, called active and non-active fans. Active fans were classified as direct and indirect (29), while non-active fans were classified as passive (43) and potential (23). To do this, respondents were asked to indicate which of the statements in Table 4 best describes their status as a fan.

In the second part of the questionnaire, respondents are asked about solidarity pressures and their relationship to the dimensions of sustainability, in order to establish their appreciation and importance of solidarity pressures such as support for women's football, the fight against racism and discrimination, social commitment and environmental commitment, and the incidence of these pressures on sustainable outcomes related to the economic, social and environmental dimensions.

The questionnaire from Appendix B asked for the respondents' assessment of the four variables associated with solidarity pressure, namely support for women's football, the fight against racism and discrimination, social commitment and environmental commitment, as shown in Table 5, with responses elicited on a five-point Likert scale.

In addition, a scenario was presented for each variable in which the different sustainability outcomes were inquired about. As shown in Table 6, in the economic dimension, questions were asked about stadium attendance, purchases of merchandise and subscriptions to sports TV channels. Similarly, in the social dimension, questions focused on the impact on reputation and goodwill. In the environmental dimension, the questions focused on environmental practices in the stadium and the development of environmental awareness among fans. As shown in Appendix B, each response option was presented on a Likert scale where (1) strongly disagree, (2) disagree, (3) neither agree nor disagree, (4) agree and (5) strongly agree. In this way, the four solidarity pressure variables are related to the expected sustainability outcomes of football clubs, including economic, social and environmental impacts. Note that the environmental outcomes are only related to the environmental commitment variable, while the economic and social outcomes are related to the four solidarity pressure variables.

In order to find a representative sample for the study, an infinite population was considered because the population of football fans in Colombia is so large that it cannot be practically counted, and because the population is constantly changing, so there is no fixed total number of people to count. In this sense, the sample size calculation was based on Equation (1), where Z is the value in the standard normal distribution associated with the desired confidence level, which in this case is 1.96 for a confidence level of 95%. Also, p is the expected proportion in the population, which is assumed to be 0.5 as a conservative value, and E is the acceptable margin of error, which in this case is 0.05 for a margin of 5%, resulting in a required sample size of at least 384 surveys.(1)n=Z2⋅p⋅(1−p)E2

The recruitment of participants to achieve the sample size was carried out during June–July 2024, using the convenience sampling method, with the aim of obtaining as many responses as possible. In this way, the survey collected responses from 604 individuals, of which 501 responses were validated by obtaining complete and coherent information from the questions asked and by classifying them into one of the four categories of fans identified in the study. The final sample of 501 responses, which also meets the representativeness criteria established for the sample size, was made up of 17.0% direct fans, 34.1% indirect fans, 41.5% passive fans and 7.4% potential fans, i.e., 51.2% active fans and 48.8% non-active fans. The demographic breakdown of the sample shows that 60.3% of respondents are male and 39.7% are female, 58.7% of respondents are aged 18–24, 14.6% are aged 25–34, 12.0% of respondents are aged 35–44 and the remaining 14.8% are aged 45 or older. In addition, 96.0% of respondents live in the region of Antioquia, Colombia, which is home to the football club with the largest number of fans in Colombia and the most recognition in international football club tournaments.

After obtaining the survey responses, and in order to obtain the values of the observable variables of the conceptual model, Table C1 of Appendix C shows how the information from the questionnaire questions was used to calculate values for the variables of solidarity pressure and sustainability outcomes. This allows a structural equation model to be set up and run, whose constructs, as shown in the proposed theoretical model, are solidarity pressure, economic outcomes, social outcomes and environmental outcomes.

Since one of the main contributions of this study is the fact of including the pressures generated by different types of fans, the hypotheses of the conceptual model should be tested in two groups: a model tested with active fans and a model tested with non-active fans. The hypotheses are empirically tested using structural equation modeling, specifically using the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) method, which is an increasingly applied multivariate analysis technique in management research (93). This allows the analysis of complex relationships between variables, both observed and latent, to test a theoretical framework from a predictive perspective, including a structural path model for formatively measured constructs, without imposing distributional assumptions on the data (94). In addition, we used Smart PLS 4 software since it has an intuitive and easy-to-use interface and offers versatility across a wide range of disciplines, including management and social sciences, with advanced capabilities for multivariate analysis, particularly in PLS-SEM modelling. The software makes it easy to visualize models and obtain results with graphs and has been widely used in Ph.D. theses and advanced research studies and is a suitable choice over older tools such as AMOS and MPLUS.

The path coefficients are useful to test whether the predictor variables contribute to explaining the variance of the endogenous variable (96). These are significant if they are greater than 0.2 (97). However, to be more stringent, they should be greater than 0.3 (98).

To check the reliability of the constructs, the Cronbach Alpha analysis is required, which, according to Nunnally (99), should be greater than 0.7. Similarly, to check the internal consistency of the model, an analysis of the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) should be carried out, which is only applicable to reflective indicators, which is the case in this research. According to Chin (100), this value should be greater than 0.5. Similarly, the structured evaluation of the model must be verified by the R-squared, which according to Miles (101) should be greater than 0.1.

To analyze the individual reliability of the constructs, outer loadings should be checked, which should be greater than 0.707 according to Carmines and Zeller (102) or 0.55 according to Hwang et al. (103). In this work, for the outer loadings to be significant, we take as a criterion that the indicators must be higher than 0.707, as this is the one used as a reference in the Smart PLS 4 software. Multicollinearity analysis (variance inflation factor—VIF) helps to understand whether some variables explain the same construct as other variables. For some authors, a high and unacceptable value of VIF would be equal to ten, and a low and therefore acceptable value would be less than four (104). Other authors argue that this value should not be higher than 5 (105) and still others argue that this value should not be higher than three (95). By default, Smart PLS 4 assumes multicollinearity problems with a VIF greater than five.

This paper aims to advance the state of the art of fan pressure, as it differs from previous works by presenting some types of pressure generated by fans, known as solidarity-based pressure (69), from which four variables have been identified: the empowerment of women's football (VAL-WS) (57, 77), the fight against racism and discrimination (VAL-FTR) (78, 80, 81), social commitment reflected in social programs with the community (VAL-SC) (32), and environmental commitment, which has two components, environmental practices in stadiums (VAL-EP) (20–22, 106) and diffusion of environmental awareness among fans (23, 36).

Similarly, another differentiating factor presented in this study is the focus on sustainability performance based on the triple bottom line of economic, social and environmental dimensions. Thus, economic outcomes were related to income from single and season ticket sales (TIC) (30, 47), merchandising of the football club (MER) (30, 32) and income from broadcasting rights (BR and income from broadcasting rights (BR). In the case of social outcomes, aspects such as goodwill and reputation (GW), developed in works such as Daddi et al. (20), Daddi et al. (21), and Todaro et al. (22), have been included. Environmental outcomes are associated either with environmental practices in the stadium (EP) or with the club's commitment to generating environmental awareness among fans (EA) (11, 23, 36, 106). All these elements constitute the novelty of this study.

Another contribution of this study is that it addresses a theoretical model with two types of fans, considered as active fans and non-active fans. Active fans can be direct or indirect (29), where direct fans are those who continuously attend the stadium by purchasing individual tickets or season ticket plans (51, 52), while indirect fans sometimes attend and follow their clubs through television channels, many of them with subscription payments (107, 108). For their part, non-active fans can be passive or potential. Passive ones would be those who, as fans, have a very low level of loyalty (26, 45), while potential ones are those generally known as green consumers (11, 23), who are motivated by issues related to sustainability, climate change or the SDG agenda. Although fan typologies are not new, what is innovative is the study of how these typologies generate different pressures on football club managers, as the pressures generated by fans differ according to their level of loyalty and support for the football club (43).

In the case of Colombian football, the main revenues for football clubs come mainly from broadcasting and television rights, the sale of individual and season tickets, and the sale of merchandise (42). Regarding broadcasting rights, there is a great potential for revenue generation, where football institutions such as the Colombian Football Association (Dimayor) and the Colombian Football Federation, subscription broadcasters and football club managers need to work together so that the business model derived from broadcasting rights is beneficial to the parties involved, as this translates into an improvement in their financial sustainability.

The conventional approach to the management of football clubs has focused on the pursuit of improved sporting performance in order to enhance reputation (43). The results of this study show that all solidarity pressures, including social engagement, anti-racism, promotion of women's football and environmental engagement, have a positive impact on the reputation or goodwill of football clubs, which in turn can generate positive societal impacts. These include supporting children's foundations (74), combating racism and discrimination (82), and promoting women's football (57). In addition to contributing to a fairer society, these actions can also contribute to sporting performance and the valorization of the football club (92).

Similarly, the results related to the environmental dimension offer valuable insights for the management of football clubs. These insights include the potential for environmental practices to be applied in stadiums and the possibility of a formative component linked to the intention of increasing fans' environmental awareness. Although the project is still in its infancy, the recommended next step is to disseminate environmental practices and raise awareness among fans (106). This does not mean that football clubs have a duty to replace the work of governmental institutions such as national, regional and local governments (22), but rather that they should complement them, using the potential for social change that football clubs have through their fan base (36).

Due to the affective connection of fans, it might be easier to retain active fans rather than constantly finding ways to engage new fans because active fans are almost unconditional fans for life (45, 53). Furthermore, the pressures associated with solidarity, which are linked to social pressures (19), such as gender equality promoted by the 2030 Agenda and reflected in the empowerment of women's football, environmental protection promoted by the Environmental Pledge, represent valuable opportunities for football clubs to increase their fan base through activities aimed at attracting passive and potential fans (43).

However, these activities should provide new experiences for both active and non-active fans. In this sense, potential fans can be encouraged to attend women's football matches that include a cultural or artistic experience, complemented by concerts and incentives that involve the participation of new fans. Similarly, events can be organized to promote environmental practices and the development of environmental awareness through participatory activities that reward fans. In this sense, the management of football clubs will focus not only on football matches, but also on related goods and services through an experience economy. This would tap into the emotions of fans through a sophisticated value proposition focused on the fan experience (24).

The model proposed in this study has some limitations. The first is the sample size of the different types of fans, especially direct fans, who represent 33% of active fans and only 17% of the total sample, and the participation of potential fans, who represent 15% of non-active fans and only 7% of the total sample. This situation makes the ratings of indirect and passive fans (the typologies with the least emotional attachment) weigh more heavily in the proposed model. The second limitation is related to the collinearity generated by some variables related to solidarity pressures in terms of social engagement, such as women's football and the fight against racism and discrimination. This could be corrected by including the variables of women's football and the fight against racism in the variables explaining social engagement, as these activities are also related to the social engagement of football clubs. Thirdly, the impact of the evaluations may be influenced by the percentage of fans responding to the survey who are fans of a particular football club and by the sporting performance of that club at the time of the survey. For the latter, a sample of fans of different Colombian football club was sought. These limitations will have to be considered in future work that seeks to replicate the proposed model in different South American countries. Despite these limitations, the results are consistent and reveal important aspects on which football club managers could focus their management.

Future research into the pressure of different fan typologies on sustainability outcomes could be conducted on a larger scale and with larger samples in the same country, and similar studies could be replicated in countries other than European leagues, such as the major leagues in South and Central America. This would allow comparisons to be made based on fan pressure and whether it has a significant impact on sustainability outcomes. Similarly, future studies could compare the research findings on fan pressure with the attitudes and actions of managers. Similarly, future research could include a wider range of stakeholders in the football sector and their impact on sustainability performance.