What happens inside the brain of a football fan

The research, published in Radiology and led by neuroscientist Francisco Zamorano at Clínica Alemana de Santiago, examined 60 male supporters of Chile’s two rival clubs, Colo-Colo and Universidad de Chile. Participants watched nearly half an hour of real goal footage inside an MRI scanner: goals scored by their team, by their rivals, and by neutral teams.

The team then analyzed brain activity across what they called “significant victory” and “significant defeat” events - moments when the fan’s team scored against its archrival or was scored upon by that rival. This setup allowed researchers to isolate the neural signature of rivalry itself, rather than simply the joy or disappointment of ordinary play.

When participants’ teams scored against rivals, their ventral striatum, caudate nucleus, and medial prefrontal cortex (core regions in the brain’s reward circuitry) showed strong activation. These areas are rich in dopamine pathways involved in pleasure, motivation, and reinforcement learning, similar to those stimulated by food, sex, or music.

The findings suggest that a win over a rival doesn’t just bring satisfaction - it strengthens a fan’s sense of belonging and personal identity. The researchers describe this as a neural reflection of “in-group bonding,” where collective triumph feels almost like an individual reward.

Losses, however, painted a very different picture. Rival goals activated the mentalizing network (regions linked to understanding others’ intentions) and visual areas of the brain, showing that fans became hyper-attentive to emotionally charged moments. At the same time, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), a key hub for emotional regulation and cognitive control, showed reduced activity.

This suppression, the authors suggest, may help explain why some fans lose composure after painful defeats. Those with higher scores on the Football Supporters Fanaticism Scale — indicating stronger emotional fusion with their team — showed even greater dACC deactivation, implying weaker regulation when facing loss.

The study reframes football fanaticism as a natural, measurable expression of social identity rather than a fringe behavior. Yet it also warns that extreme identification blurs the line between personal and group emotion. When the self and the team merge too tightly, the brain’s ability to stay balanced under emotional stress appears to weaken.

The researchers note that this pattern differs from ideological or political fanaticism, where cognitive control tends to increase to defend beliefs. In sports, by contrast, emotional disinhibition may prevail, fueling passion but also aggression in heated rivalries.

By mapping how fandom engages reward and regulation networks, Zamorano and colleagues provide new insight into why football can feel addictive and why rivalries sometimes escalate. Understanding these brain mechanisms, they argue, could help design strategies to prevent violence and promote healthier fan culture.

Future work will explore gender differences, real-time reactions in stadiums, and comparisons with political or religious group behaviors.

Earlier, Kazinform News Agency reported that a number of prominent football players faced a wave of controversy due to fraud allegations.