Measurement and segmentation of sport fans using brand association networks: Application to Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League (UCL)

• Analyzing fans’ cognitive structures related to brands, taking into account their heterogeneity, is an important issue in sport marketing.
• We propose a new research methodology to measure brand association networks.
• We present an innovative method to segment sport fans based on the brand association networks.

This article presents a new research methodology for cognitive segmentation based on brand association networks. This application illustrates how brand association networks and cognitive segmentation can identify and describe the UEFA Champions League fans’ segments as a function of their cognitive content and structure. Four segments were identified (show-business lovers, passionate fans, admirers of celebrities and fair play, and event followers). A discussion of the results, directions for future research and managerial contributions are provided.