The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar has been criticised for numerous social, political, and environmental issues. While an important call to boycott the tournament spread worldwide, research has yet to document the motives underlying a boycott of such a mega sporting event. We investigated fans’ intentions to boycott the 2022 FIFA World Cup in four countries of the Francophonie engaged in the World Cup (N = 1,635). We found that being highly identified with the team and enjoying football for aesthetic pleasures predicted rejection of the boycott, while the most robust predictor of boycott intentions was a concern for environmental issues. When assessing actual boycott behaviours among fans after the World Cup (N = 286), we found a significant decrease compared to boycott intentions. Importantly, this downward trend was true even for politicised fans with high awareness of social and environmental issues who initially planned to boycott the tournament. We discuss the paradox of calls to boycott mega sporting events: Unlike other consumption products, these events often have no alternatives, which influences fans’ decisions not to boycott. As a consequence, boycott behaviours mirror one’s fandom rather than political values.

Le séminaire aura lieu dans la salle de réunion du CeSCuP ainsi qu’en ligne, via ce lien :

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3a34a093c9eea043c0a6dd9b5cd4cdd2a8%40thread.tacv2/1713961064624?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2230a5145e-75bd-4212-bb02-8ff9c0ea4ae9%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22e5543702-1628-4726-b5c4-a1eac25bde08%22%7d