As cliché as this might sound, for many men today, football is more than just 90 minutes of kicking and catching a ball on a giant field; it is, indeed, a fundamental part of many men’s identity, emotions, and social lives.
Association football, as we all know, is arguably the biggest and most popular sport in the world, with roughly three to four billion people watching and playing the games worldwide. From the grassroots to the professional levels, football has always generated its own excitement for both players and fans.
Why do many people, particularly men, love football that much? Well, in my case, football is considered a highly affordable sport—everyone from different social classes can play and participate in it. During my childhood, we could play a football match anywhere, be it on a grass field, a dry gravel field, or asphalt. No need to rent a pitch. We also used to play the game barefoot since we had no money to buy football shoes. Besides, kicking the ball barefoot would enhance your power—at least that was what we believed then.
Goalposts? They were too fancy for us. Instead, we used our sandals and set them up as if they were the goalposts, and the height was always set to the goalkeeper’s highest jump. Thereby, if the ball passed the goalkeeper’s head while he was jumping, it would not be considered a goal. There was no need to purchase any fancy equipment to play football. As long as there was an empty field in our neighbourhood and friends to play with, a football match could begin.
How do men get attracted to football in the first place?
From my POV, there may have been more than a few reasons for it.
First, where the men live plays a huge part. Their love towards their hometown or their homeland can greatly influence how they choose which football club to support. People who live in Jakarta will most likely support Persija; those who live in Madrid will most likely support either Real Madrid or Atlético Madrid; anyone living in Manchester may most likely choose either Manchester City or Manchester United. As a person who used to live in South Sumatra for more than 20 years, I enjoyed watching Sriwijaya FC (SFC), especially during the latter club’s prime era. At the time, Sriwijaya FC was the only football club that represented the city of Palembang and the South Sumatra province as a whole.
The second reason is its convenient access to watch a football match. Nowadays, you can easily watch it on TV or subscribe to an online streaming app on your mobile phone. Even if you missed the games, the clubs’ officials will usually upload the match highlights on YouTube. As the number of fans grows, the number of matches broadcast will also usually increase exponentially. This convenience makes people, especially young men, more exposed to football content on a daily basis. Once they frequently watch matches, highlights, interviews, or football-related discussions on social media, their curiosity slowly grows into interest, and eventually, their interest grows into support.
Another reason why most men start watching football, I find, is the football players. Popular, talented, skilful football players, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Neymar Jr. (I am a Gen Z, so I live in their era), have successfully amazed us when we first saw them on TV. The way they would dribble and score goals sparks the passion within many of us—and we would like to see more of them. This excitement eventually makes many young men curious about the football clubs these players represent, the competitions they play in, and the rivalries surrounding them.
I remember the first time I started loving Liverpool FC. I was still in elementary school when I saw a picture of Liverpool’s squad showing players like Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, and Sami Hyypiä. However, as a little boy, I did not know who they were. I was simply fascinated by the red jersey they wore. Aside from its classic design, I felt that Liverpool’s red colour reflected a fighting spirit and a never-give-up mentality.
Then, how do deeply loving football clubs shape men’s behaviours and moods?
Football has had many impacts on how men, in general, carry out their activities, including how they navigate their moods.
Many men, as I have observed, admire footballers because of not only their skills but also their personalities, discipline, and lifestyles. Some fans imitate their hairstyles, fashion choices, celebrations, and even their mentality. During Cristiano Ronaldo’s peak popularity, for instance, many boys copied his haircut and his famous ‘Siu’ celebration while playing football in neighbourhood fields.
Next, football helps men socialise. It is very common to ask “Which club do you support?” as a conversation starter. Two male strangers can be quick friends simply because they support the same football club. But what if they support different clubs? Well, they might end up becoming friendly rivals and bantering with each other, especially when the clubs they support have historical rivalries, such as Liverpool vs. Manchester United, Real Madrid vs. Barcelona, and AC Milan vs. Inter Milan.
Speaking of rivalries, the post-match result also affects the men’s moods throughout the day. When their favourite club wins a match, especially against a major rival, they become the happiest men on earth and cannot stop smiling—not to mention, when the club wins a league title or an international trophy. For many supporters, their club’s victory acts as a mood booster that makes their entire day feel better and positively improves their work performance.
On the other hand, when their favourite team loses, many men usually become easily down in the dumps for the rest of the day. On top of the defeat itself, there are also usually the impending jokes from rival fans. In Indonesia, jokes like “masuk aja ke goa” (in English: “just enter a cave”) are among the most common memes to mock fan communities whose clubs have just tasted defeat. Although most of these jokes are usually meant humorously, they also show how emotionally invested football fans can become in the clubs that they support.
Like it or not, men and football run deep to this day
In the end, football, for many men out there, is never simply about 22 players chasing a ball on the pitch. For many of them, football clubs represent identity and emotions, as well as being one of the factors that shape their characteristics. No wonder, particularly for certain men, the ups and downs of a certain football club or a certain footballer are deeply attached to their interior state as well as their daily lives.
Some people may see football fans as overly emotional, but perhaps that emotional attachment is exactly what makes football the most beloved sport in the world. And with the currently growing interest in women’s football, as well as the rising number of football fans among women across the globe, this particular sport has not only broken geographic barriers but also gender-based ones. And, as the upcoming World Cup looms closer, all of us, men and women, may delightfully brace ourselves for the biggest bash of 2026 yet.