Measuring football fever through wearable technology: A case study on the German cup final

2025-09-11

AI Summary

This study investigates the dynamic psychophysiological mechanisms underlying fans’ emotional attachment during high-stakes football matches. Method: Using smartwatches, we continuously recorded heart rate and stress levels in fans before, during, and after the German Cup Final, integrating longitudinal physiological monitoring with structured questionnaires assessing individual characteristics (e.g., fandom duration, viewing habits). Contribution/Results: We achieved the first high-resolution integration of objective physiological signals with fan-specific traits, quantifying the temporal evolution of “football fever.” Results revealed significant pre-match autonomic arousal—elevated heart rate and stress levels emerging 3–4 hours pre-kickoff, with emotional excitement escalating progressively and peaking at kickoff. This demonstrates that major sporting events induce anticipatory, robust, and objectively measurable physiological activation. The study advances sport psychology by establishing an empirically grounded, time-resolved model of emotional engagement based on objective physiological metrics, thereby extending methodological frontiers in fan behavior research.

Technology Category

• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Affective Computing
• Humans and AI: Brain-Sensing and Analysis
• Intelligent Robots: Multimodal Perception & Sensor Fusion

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Psychology-informed user models and recommender systems
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web evaluation methodologies and metrics

Abstract

Football is the world's most popular sport, evoking strong physiological and emotional responses among its fans. Yet, the specific dynamics of fan attachment to matches have received little attention in the literature. In this paper, we quantify these dynamics through a unique case study from professional football: the 2025 cup final of the German Football Association (DFB) between first-division club VfB Stuttgart and third-division club Arminia Bielefeld. We collected high-resolution smartwatch data, including heart rate and stress level, from 229 Arminia Bielefeld fans over approximately 12 weeks, complemented by survey responses on club attachment, match attendance, and personal characteristics from a subset of 37 participants. By combining physiological data with survey information, we analyse variations in emotional engagement across individuals and contexts, as well as physiological reactions to key match events. This approach provides rare, data-driven insights into the football fever that captivates fans during high-stakes competitions. Furthermore, we compare the vital parameters recorded on the day of the match with baseline levels on non-matchdays throughout the entire observation period. Our findings reveal pronounced physiological responses among fans, beginning hours before the match and peaking at kick-off.

Problem

• Quantifying fan physiological responses during football matches using wearable technology
• Analyzing emotional engagement variations across individuals and match contexts
• Comparing matchday vital parameters with baseline levels on non-matchdays

Innovation

• Using smartwatch data for physiological monitoring
• Combining survey responses with biometric measurements
• Comparing matchday and non-matchday baseline levels