Abstract: Adopting the Mapping Knowledge Domain tool Citespace, this paper analyzed 257 sports fan literature from WOS. It finds that an increasing number of scholars taking interests in such topics as sports fan's identification, emotion, intention and behavior. These studies are generally conducted from cultural, psychological and social perspectives. As for researchers and institutions, cooperation is quite common and a solid research foundation has been laid and certain classical literature has been published, providing important reference to Chinese scholars.

Key words: sports fan, mapping knowledge domain, studies abroad, citespace