Social media is the main way we view and talk about sports in the 21st century. And while it’s done a lot of good, it has also done a lot of harm.
The good: everyone has a voice.
The bad: a lot of these voices are expressing outrage.
Twitter (sorry, ahem, I mean “X”), Reddit, Facebook, and YouTube—these social media platforms have become football’s second stadium.
Except here, people don’t just cheer and boo. They have the power and freedom to type paragraph upon paragraph, debating and dissecting players and games to the bone.
Any post can potentially snowball into entire narratives that shape how we see and talk about the game and the players.
And often, the truth gets twisted, nuance gets stripped away, and real harm can be done to players.
Why Outrage Spreads So Quickly on Social Media
Unfortunately, humans seem to react more powerfully, more viscerally, to negative emotions.
Combining that with the lightning-fast speed of social media, where clips are getting posted just seconds after they happen on the pitch, and then everybody has a hot take before anyone has the chance to understand the entirety of a situation.
A nuanced post with paragraphs explaining tactics and refereeing laws might just get a few comments or reactions. Whereas, a post or a comment simply saying “THIS IS A DISGRACE!!!” might easily rake in thousands. And in the social media economy, clicks and attention are everything—far more important than truth or nuance.
Then, before you know it, this single moment defines the entire match. Or this single mistake is actually why this player is incredibly overrated. Or this one match proves why this coach needs to be fired.
Players Always Take the Heat
Perhaps the worst part? A lot of this negativity is almost always aimed at specific players.
During the 2024/2025 season, UEFA tracked online abuse during major competitions’ finals. The outcome was that 91% of flagged abuse posts were aimed directly at players.
UEFA used a dedicated platform to track abuse. During the latter stages of the 2024/2025 season, 1,182 posts were flagged for removal due to abusive content.
These vitriolic posts can be the result of just a few bad in-game moments that go viral.
What makes it more concerning is that some of these players are incredibly young—as young as 17, 18, or 19. These are teenagers, not grown men with a much better capacity to handle aggressive criticism.
Players have always faced criticism. That’s normal. That’s just football and sports in general.
But the difference today is that managers and players also need to deal with thousands of comments from people they’ve never met, dissecting every aspect of their mistakes. That can cut a lot deeper.
A Global Fanbase Means Louder Narratives
But it’s not just about speed either. It’s also about breadth. These outrage posts spread to millions and millions of fans.
Social media has helped football grow into a truly global sport. Barcelona’s or Madrid’s fanbase extends far, far beyond citizens of those cities.
Major European clubs have fans from every nook of the world and from countries where you need a VPN to watch the games because of geo-blocking.
So a storyline that starts as a local debate can turn into some sort of global consensus overnight. And remember: the more a talking point gets shared, the further it tends to drift from the truth.
Final Thoughts
Of course, outrage isn’t always a bad thing. Without social media, we wouldn’t be able to give enough attention to serious issues in football, like racism and corruption.
But perhaps we can all have a little more restraint whenever we’re online.
It’s hard not to feel something when you scroll across something that seems horrible, but let’s try not to hit that like, comment, or share button immediately.
Let’s not let the loudest reaction become the final word. Just remember that we’re talking about human beings here, and that football’s beauty lies in its chaos. That’s what makes it worth watching. Not the outrage afterwards.”
