Liverpool FC’s Fandom Expands Global Reach

I sometimes sit at home during a match, when the crew allows for the sounds of You’ll Never Walk Alone to waft through the audio feed, and wonder if the Kop can sense that we’re all singing, too. That though we may be separated by oceans and continents, the ties that bind us are colored Red and sport a lovebird on the fringe. That those of us far from the hallowed ground of Anfield still draw inspiration from the images sent to us from there and that, in return, we lift up our voices and whatever magic they might contain to join into the effort to lift our lads up.

I imagine that most fans don’t sit and think about the ones that aren’t there in the stands with them. That the thought simply doesn’t cross their minds. And that’s no shame; it’s a weird thing to let the mind wander and think of the people who aren’t part of a given moment. The ones who aren’t around to toast with or to hug or to give a knowing glance when Trent Alexander-Arnold plays a cheeky corner to Divock Origi.

But I’m weird. So, I wonder a lot about that. Not specifically about Anfield, but about other events. And because I’m a foreign fan myself, I sometimes wonder how the rest of the fandom views us. How the locals that live on Merseyside think of fans from abroad who have latched onto their club despite having no ties to the community or not having been raised to love this club from birth.

I thought about that today as the official site announced that they have officially added 20 new supporters groups into the heading of being officially sanctioned. That’s a lot of official business!

Liverpool’s newest set of official supporters groups span a list of 10 different countries and only serve to widen the net of Liverpool’s fan base. Liverpool are a global club and it shows.

At the end of the day, while there may be some tension between foreign fans and those that are local - especially as it relates to things like ticket sales and availability - my hope is that people locally know just how much the team means to those of us abroad. Not just the quality of the squad and the soccer they play, though, yes, that’s pretty great. But also because in the history of the team and town, we sometimes see a little bit of our own story. That what this means is that when they sing You’ll Never Walk Alone on Merseyside, the echo overseas is an affirmation. A signal. A Promise.