Football in the TikTok era: when likes beat passion

The national team has caught the taste of matches played behind closed doors. The stadiums are full regardless of the opponent and this is a commendable thing. Older football fans have noticed, however, one thing, on TV or on site, some of the spectators are not busy watching the match but are caught in the webs of mobile phones, taking photos, posting, checking messages, likes and other things that social networks offer. It has become fashionable to dress in yellow and show up at the stadium when the tricolors play. To avoid confusion of interpretation, a stadium full of people, regardless of their concerns, is preferable to a completely empty one. But a few clarifications are worth making.

In the past, going to the stadium meant being part of a story. You felt the pulse of the stands, you rose and fell emotionally with each phase, you experienced each goal as a deliverance or a fall into the void. Today, however, more and more spectators seem more concerned with how the experience looks than why they really live there. Football has entered the TikTok era. The score, the opponent or the stakes of the match no longer matter. What is important is to make a successful clip, to take a selfie with the stadium in the background, and possibly to correctly label the location. Authentic emotion is replaced by attention to the cameras on your phone. The match becomes the background, not the main event.

You have probably noticed cheers at less usual moments, devoid of aesthetic importance or in the economy of the game. Part of the audience wants to capture the joy on camera, but knowing quite little about the game, they miss the essence.

At the moment, the phenomenon is positive: the stands are colorful, full, social media is vibrating. But in the long run, it is a slow emptying of content of what it means to be a supporter. The real connection with the game, with the team, with the suffering and joy that football instinctively brought is lost. Only the aesthetics, the packaging remain. It is not a rejection of technology or platforms, but an invitation to balance. Football (and not only it) deserves more than 15 seconds of fame on TikTok. It is worth living, feeling, understanding. Otherwise, we risk being left with only pictures - and forgetting what is truly important.