‘€100 million was inevitable’ – Football fans as co-creators of market values in professional football

This article examines how the online fan community on the German platform transfermarkt.deco-constructs the market values of professional footballers. Through a qualitative text analysisof 1,030 forum posts, the study identifies six central justificatory conventions: performance,comparison, market, speculation, reputation, and yield. Fans’ arguments encompassassessments of sporting performance, statistical data, comparisons with peers, current transferoffers, speculative projections, club-specific contributions, and considerations of publicreputation. Market values thus arise as dynamic and collectively negotiated constructs,reflecting multiple, sometimes conflicting, norms of evaluation. The findings demonstrate thatfans are not passive observers but active participants who shape the criteria and legitimacy ofmarket values. In doing so, they contribute both to the ongoing economisation of professionalfootball and to the social legitimation of market value as a key category within the sport.