As a concept that is not new, with the iterative development of social media, sports fans are receiving attention and scrutiny from both inside and outside the sports field. Breaking the circle in the field of sports, sports fans are gradually becoming a social phenomenon, closely related to the economy and society. Is research on sports fans lagging behind practice? How is research on sports fans developing? Where should future research be directed? These questions are still to be answered. [Methodology/Process] Based on scientometrics, CiteSpace, a scientific knowledge graph analysis tool, was used to analyze and research the published literature on sports fans at home and abroad in the past ten years. Techniques such as trend analysis of publication volume, keyword co-occurrence analysis, author and institution network analysis, cluster analysis and inflated word detection algorithm were used to reveal the research power, research hotspots, evolutionary development pulse and research frontiers in the field of sports fans at home and abroad. [Results/Conclusions] This study finds that sports fan research is at an early stage of development and has great potential for growth in the world. This study locates the development trends and core strengths of sports fan research in the past ten years, identifies the hotspots of sports fan research at three levels: psychological, social and economic, and explores future research on uncertainty, involvement, group dependence of sports fans, and motivation to participate in sports activities.The findings of this study can be used as a guide for future research on sports fans. The findings of this study may provide insights to guide future research in the field of sports fandom and to regulate sports fan practices.