Sports and Consumption Expectations of Ecuadorians during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

Abstract

The World Cup of the International Association Football Federation (FIFA) is a tournament that alters the routines of most countries and more so if the national team is part of the participating leagues. Ecuador experienced an atmosphere of that nature after waiting for eight years following its team’s last participation in Brazil 2014. In this context, the objective of the present study is to reveal the sporting and consumption expectations that Ecuadorians had before the participation of their soccer team in the Qatar 2022 tournament. The application of a simple random survey to 1,438 participants revealed how the fans planned to experience the first game, the types of drinks and food they would choose and who they would watch it with. Additionally, the study revealed the importance of free open television for Ecuadorian society because, for the participants, it was the first option when projecting the image of the game. In addition, the study also showed that younger viewers, instead of turning on the radio while watching the match, use mobile applications and place sports bets to add fun and uncertainty to the outcome. The study also explains the commercial relationship of the fans with their team since they were asked whether they had purchased the official jersey or the replica and what was their spending perspective on that Sunday entertainment. This is the Ecuadorian fan that our research reveals, the same one who was 40 % confident that his tricolor team would advance to the round of 16 of the planetary competition.

Keywords

• fans
• sports journalism
• sports marketing