Football conspiracies. The Prisma investigation and fans’ online discourse

The history of football is particularly rich in narratives and interpretative mechanisms associated with conspiracy theories. In the case of unfavorable events against one’s own team, it is not uncommon, especially in the case of highly identified fans, to appeal to explanations centered on external forces that have been plotting against them. This chapter explores the main characteristics of conspiracy theories within online sports fans communities, analyzing fans’ conspiracy representations and narratives. To answer the research questions, we have analyzed some online communities of Juventus FC fans. The case of Juventus appears to be of particular interest as the club has recently been at the center of a judicial affair, the so-called “Prisma investigation”, which has had great resonance and generated a great media debate. We decided to adopt qualitative content analysis as a research technique to analyze fans’ comments and content produced and distributed within online supporters’ communities. We will see how in the analyzed case fans can perceive the judicial events as the outcome of a sort of plot by different types of actors: sports, judicial, political and media actors.