Walk through any city centre in Britain on a weekend and you will spot it: the flamingo pink of Inter Miami on someone who has almost certainly never set foot in Florida. Not a tourist souvenir, not fancy dress — just a shirt worn with genuine pride. The reason is obvious. Lionel Messi is on the back.

It is a phenomenon that sports brand strategist James Kirkham knows well. "A lot of people are walking around cities and towns in the UK and Europe wearing that flamingo pink of Inter Miami with zero affiliation to Miami, having never been there," he explains. "It's quite a normal thing now. But it is the player who has done the job."

A shift that predates Messi and Ronaldo

The temptation is to treat this as a story purely about two generational talents — Messi at Miami, Cristiano Ronaldo lighting up the Saudi Pro League with Al-Nassr. Their rivalry has always generated fierce debate, from playground arguments to social media comment sections bristling with statistics and memes. But the deeper trend extends well beyond them.

Kirkham points to the influence of gaming as a key driver, noting a similar swell of support around Zlatan Ibrahimovic at various clubs over the years. Younger supporters, he argues, are "less rigid or tribal than they used to be" and have developed what he describes as a "more encyclopaedic knowledge" of the game through titles such as EA Sports FC and Football Manager. YouTube compilations and trading cards fill in the gaps. The result is a generation of fans who will follow a player — and by extension, a club — regardless of geography or any traditional emotional bond.

"Fans play as these players in games," Kirkham says. "So there is a really thin line between virtual and real life. Following a player and buying them as part of your Ultimate Team and then wearing that player's name on the back of your shirt, be that Atletico Madrid or Chelsea or Dortmund, kind of makes no difference."

The rise of the second club

Research published ahead of this summer's World Cup offers some striking numbers to back this up. A study titled The Rise of the Second Club Fan, authored by Matthew Kyle for research firm Engage and MTM, found that 80 per cent of global supporters now follow a second team alongside their primary club.

Kyle is careful to stress this does not mean fans are turning their backs on lifelong allegiances. Rather, they are choosing additional teams to follow — sometimes several. The most powerful entry point to that second club? Players. "For this audience, they are the club," the report states. "These fans track individuals, not institutions." The implication is uncomfortable for any club that has built its brand around a marquee name: loyalty to the badge may travel with the player when he moves on.

Players taking control of the narrative

The balance of power between players and clubs has also shifted in how stars present themselves publicly. The summer of 2018 offered an early, if clumsy, illustration of this. Antoine Griezmann — a self-confessed NBA fan who had watched LeBron James' theatrical announcement of his move to the Miami Heat in 2010 — produced a half-hour documentary to reveal his own transfer decision. Barcelona were widely expected to be the destination. In a reportedly pre-filmed alternative ending designed to keep the choice secret, Griezmann stood in front of the Wanda Metropolitano and announced he was staying at Atletico Madrid. The stunt attracted criticism at the time, but it demonstrated how far footballers had moved towards owning their own story.

Kyle calls this "self-commercialisation" — and while Griezmann's execution was imperfect, the instinct behind it has only grown more pronounced since. Today, players manage personal brands across multiple platforms, cultivate global fanbases independent of any club, and arrive at new teams with an audience already in place.

What this means for the game

None of this is necessarily bad for football. Clubs in regions without a dominant domestic league have long understood that a star signing can broaden their global reach almost overnight, as Inter Miami's social media explosion after Messi's arrival confirmed. For broadcasters and commercial partners, player-driven fandom opens new markets.

The question worth asking, though, is what happens to those pink shirts when Messi eventually stops playing. Whether the fans wearing them graduate into something deeper — a genuine connection with a club, a league, a local team — or simply move on to the next global icon will tell us a great deal about where football sits as a sport versus football as entertainment. For now, at least, the name on the back is winning.

Frequently asked

Why are people in the UK wearing Inter Miami shirts?
Lionel Messi's move to Inter Miami in 2023 turned the club into a global brand almost overnight. Many fans wear the shirt as a show of support for Messi himself rather than any connection to the club or Miami as a city.
Do modern football fans still support one club or do they follow multiple teams?
Research suggests 80 per cent of global football supporters now follow a second team in addition to their main club. Experts say this is especially driven by star players — fans often adopt a second team because of a particular player rather than any geographic or family tie.
How have video games changed the way young fans follow football?
Games such as EA Sports FC and Football Manager give younger fans detailed knowledge of players across many leagues and countries. Building squads in game modes like Ultimate Team encourages attachment to individual players regardless of which club they play for, blurring the line between virtual fandom and real-world support.