In August, FIFA launched a fan survey aimed at gaining different insights from fans around the world, which was promoted on FIFA.com, Facebook and Twitter for three weeks. Members of the FIFA.com Club were also invited to participate.

We received an overwhelming response from more than 26,000 fans from over 200 Member Associations. Fans were invited to provide frank feedback on a number of contemporary football topics, as well as issues directly related to FIFA. Asking FIFA to deepen its relationship with fans through more regular, open communication was a recurring theme.

The CONMEBOL region saw the biggest volume of respondents (35 per cent), followed by CONCACAF (24 per cent) and AFC (24 per cent). In terms of individual countries, fans from India (18 per cent) were the biggest by-country group, followed by Colombia (10 per cent), and the USA (9 per cent). Sixty per cent of responses came from fans in the 18-35 age group.

As well as being invited to complete a survey, fans were also asked if they would like to participate in further discussion with FIFA on key themes at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich.

Of those respondents that selected this option, fans from 23 different countries, representing all six of FIFA’s Confederations, will be among the group coming to Zurich from 27-28 October.

FIFA staff will take part in a varied range of discussions with fans and FIFA will document the two days across its digital platforms.

Key findings will be shared following the conclusion of the forum as FIFA continues to seek new ways to communicate with fans, and exchange ideas on how to also improve online and offline activations.

We would like to thank all 26,000 fans who completed the survey for helping FIFA and providing valuable insights on some key areas. FIFA’s aim is to ultimately improve fan experiences at events, provide a broader, more interactive range of digital services and also aspire to provide fan services in a range of different areas throughout the year.