Research study on Fortuna - Fortuna Düsseldorf fans polled

What is the financial and social significance of the second division football club Fortuna for Düsseldorf as a sporting city? This question is to be answered by a research study performed by the Faculty of Business at Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences under the supervision of Professor Dr. Sven Pagel and Professor Dr. Horst Peters. The study, initiated by sportAgentur Düsseldorf and commissioned jointly with Fortuna, will actively involve the fans. During the second division game against Rot-Weiss Oberhausen on Sunday, 13th December, some 30 students were deployed all around the ESPRIT arena to record the opinions of the stadium visitors in a questionnaire. Each set of questions took less than five minutes.

The research study aims to obtain quantitive and qualitative information on the structure of Fortuna's fan base and to establish the direct and indirect turnover for the hotel and catering trade and taxis. The study additionally intends to provide evidence on the advertising and image effects that Fortuna has for Düsseldorf as a sporting city. The results should be available by mid-2010.

"Fortuna Düsseldorf is an important promotional vehicle for sport in Düsseldorf. Working together with Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences, we want to gauge this image and advertising factor in order to obtain a wider knowledge base for Düsseldorf as a sporting city", said Christina Begale, manager of sportAgentur.

"The university has always seen itself as a partner for the area and the regional capital Düsseldorf. Thus one of the main intentions of this research project is to support Fortuna as a major player in the sporting city of Düsseldorf", explained Prof. Dr. Horst Peters. Prof. Peters is the dean of the Faculty of Business and Professor of business science, specialising in economic mathematics and statistics, at Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences.