Beyond Matchday: Enabling Everyday Identity Integration Through Football Merchandise Understanding Merchandise Design and Female Fan Inclusion

Abstract

Football clubs have increasingly expanded beyond their traditional role as sports organisations, becoming lifestyle brands embedded within everyday consumer practices. This study explores how FC Porto merchandise operates, focusing on the relationship between merchandise design, identity expression and everyday consumption. The study adopted a qualitative research approach combining merchandise analysis with semi-structured interviews conducted with FC Porto female supporters. The merchandise analysis examined distinct product categories as context of use, gender orientation, style orientation, symbol visibility and colour palette, while the interviews explored the fans’ impression on current merchandise. The findings reveal that FC Porto’s merchandise offering remains dominated by traditional fan merchandise designs, combining highly visible identity markers suitable for matchday contexts. While certain products demonstrate a shift toward a subtle design, the overall merchandise shows limited integration into broader social contexts. Participants expressed a desire for more discreet and versatile products that allowed everyday integration. The findings also highlight tensions around the persistence of male-coded design and stereotypical approaches to women’s products. Additionally, the study identified inconsistencies in the merchandising strategy, where subtle products exist with outdated merchandising designs dominating the overall strategy. This study contributes to broader discussions surrounding football fandom, football merchandising and consumer identity by demonstrating how football merchandise functions as a tool to display fan identity. The findings also provide managerial implications from clubs seeking to expand merchandise integration beyond matchday contexts