Explaining the relationship between the identity and loyalty of the fans on the brand evangelism of Esteghlal football club of Tehran

The purpose of the research was to explain the relationship between the identity and loyalty of the fans on the brand evangelism of the Esteghlal football Club of Tehran.

This research was Correlational and functional based on structural equation modeling that was done as a field survey.  The statistical population of the study consisted of all the fan of Esteghlal Club of Tehran, who came to the Azadi Stadium in the third week of the Premier League 2016-2017. The sample size was determined by structural equation sampling method and 252 correct questionnaires were used. The modified identity questionnaire of Mell & Ashforth (1992), the loyalty questionnaire of Mahoney et al. (2000), the intention to buy of Bacra and Carnage (2011), the positive brand advertising of Power and Associates (2008) and the negative brand advertising of Matzler et al (2007) were used. The face and content validity of the questionnaire was survey and reliability was counted by Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability. Data was analyzed by SMARTPLS software.

Findings showed that identity has a significant effect on loyalty and indicates a significant effect of loyalty on the factors contributing to brand evangelism. Also Identity had a significant effect on some of the factors contributing to brand evangelism.

Clubs managers need to associate the identity of the fans with the club, so as to increase the loyalty of the fans, will make them bargaining in the brand communities.