<p>In this paper we identify the presumed positive effect of home games on social media activity and compared this effect before and during lockdown. This question has to be placed in the context of the sociological and leisure science discourse on soccer fans, which among others, is particularly concerned with the topic of identity and community. While most sociological approaches to explaining the social phenomenon of fandom model the behavior of individuals more or less as a reaction to external – such as social or class-specific – circumstances, in this study we employ identity theory and the social identity approach – theoretical approaches based on methodological individualism. To reach our goal, we gathered data from social media platforms over 19 months, from 460 to 562 first-division soccer clubs nested in 32–34 soccer leagues from four different continents. Data was collected on daily social media activity from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. Results showed no significant difference in social activity during the lockdown phase, with and without spectators, however, before the lockdown phase, home games led to higher social media activity. These results have important implications for interactive communication with sports fans which have been neglected by sports clubs. This negligence has resulted in diminishing sports fans’ activities on social media, while their team is playing at home, but without their physical presence in the stadiums. It shows that sports clubs need to focus on business communication via social networking platforms. In this respect, our study contributes significantly to a better understanding of the relationship between the location of a soccer match, i.e. home or away games and traffic on social media. In this way, it significantly expands the insights of sociological and leisure science discourse on soccer fans.</p>