ABSTRACT
Stakeholders play a fundamental role in the potential promotion and protection of human rights during the mega-sporting event (MSE) lifecycle. Little attention has been given to the role of one of the most important stakeholders – spectators – thus far. Spectators are those who watch, attend, comment on and ‘consume’ MSEs and include everyone from organised fans to casual viewers. As human rights criteria have been included in the bidding and hosting process of the FIFA World Cup, this chapter investigates the extent to which human rights matter to football consumers. Such consumers can potentially influence the extent and pace of the process of embedding the respect, protection and promotion of human rights by and within football contexts. Considering Italy as a case study, this chapter investigates football consumers’ knowledge of FIFA’s human rights commitments and appraises their standpoints on whether and to what extent human rights have a role in the World Cup.
