In modern times of Industry 4.0, digital solutions are used in an increasing number of branches of the economy, and this also applies to sports. Generational cohorts provide a way to understand how different life experiences affect people’s views of the world. There is a new growing group of sports fans—modern fans—who have been functioning in the digital world since birth, and therefore have their specific behavioral patterns, habits, and expectations. For this reason the sports industry must adapt properly to continue to develop. This article aims to identify how consumers representing various generations on the Polish market consume sports products provided by digitized channels. The study focused on three areas: the source of information about the sport, devices on which consumers watch sports and the evaluation of the attractiveness of sports products (full games, game highlights and behind the scenes). The study was conducted in the form of an online survey in 2021, and 581 Polish volleyball fans took part in it. The results indicate that younger generations are more likely to get sports information from social media and less likely to watch games on TV than older generations.

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Purpose: Digital transformation has significant growth potential for countries and organizations, and this also applies to sports. One of the examples of digital transformation is the use of social media by football clubs. Their goal is to arouse interest and maintain relationships with as many fans as possible. The article aims to present the significance of social media in football clubs, as well as to identify factors that may affect the number of clubs’ followers. Design/methodology/approach: The article presents which football clubs are the most popular on social media today, and on the example of FC Barcelona, Juventus F.C., and Paris Saint-Germain F.C. shows how the number of followers has changed in last few years. What's more, on the example of the top Polish football league – Ekstraklasa, it was checked what factors affect the number of clubs’ followers. Findings: In the analysed clubs, the highest increase in followers was recorded among Instagram users. The study based on Ekstraklasa, showed that there is a significant correlation between sports results and the number of followers. This means that a better position in the league is associated with more followers on social media. The example of the Ekstraklasa also showed that the club's city population is strongly positively correlated with the number of its followers. Research and practical limitations/implications: The limitation of the study is that it focuses only on football and selected clubs. Accordingly, in some countries or sports may occur different dependencies. Originality/value: Nowadays, the number of social media followers is an indicator of a club’s popularity and commercial appeal, all of which is directly related to the finances of a club. Therefore, identifying the factors that may affect the number of football clubs’ followers seems to be important from the perspective of the whole professional sport.

Projekt okładki, łamanie tekstuTrevo -Martins Publikacja ukazała się dzięki wsparciu Ministerstwa Edukacji i Nauki z programu Doskonała Nauka -Wsparcie monografii naukowych.

Conditions of the EU development policy 7.2. e institutional structure of the EU's assistance for developing countries 7.3. e geographic structure of the EU's assistance for developing countries 7.4. Perspectives for the EU development policy for developing countries