World Cup Fans – Football is Nothing Without Supporters!
Our World Cup blog’s latest instalment is all about the supporters. Which country can claim to have the best fans in the world, and can this make a difference to the team’s performance on the pitch? We also look ahead to Qatar 2022 and who has bought the most tickets so far.
The Beautiful Game is Nothing Without Fans
When the coronavirus epidemic hit the world, football was cancelled while global leaders decided how to deal with the pandemic. Well, almost as many of us were so desperate to get our football fix that we turned to obscure leagues such as the Belarus Premier League.
In March 2020, the only official league games in Europe took place in Belarus, and the derby between FC Minsk and Dinamo Minsk was watched by a capacity 3,000 crowd. We doubt that we were alone in being jealous of each and every one of those in attendance.
Fast forward a few months, and even the Eastern European country had to cease football activity, and when football did finally return, it was behind closed doors.
For a few weeks, it was quite a novel experience. You could hear the players calling for the ball, hear the crunching tackles, and you didn’t need a lip reader to understand what the players were shouting at the ref. However, the novelty didn’t last long, and although we finally got our game back, it wasn’t the same, and we yearned to be back on the terraces.
Therefore this edition of our World Cup blog is dedicated to the World Cup fans that make the beautiful game what it is.
World Cup Russia 2018 – The Best Supported Teams
When Fifa controversially announced that Russia would host the 2018 World Cup, many World Cup fans feared the worst. Mainstream media, especially in the UK, predicted nightmare scenarios in which Russian and English hooligans gangs would take to the streets in pitched battles. Also, as Russian attitudes to same-sex relationships differ from many countries, there were concerns that World Cup soccer fans who were part of the LGBT community would suffer discrimination.
Thankfully, the prophecies of doom proved incorrect. While the awarding of the World Cup to Russia (and Qatar) still leaves a nasty taste in the mouth and the smell of corruption in the nose, the World Cup in Russia was a success and a highly enjoyable tournament.
The data from the tournament surrounding World Cup fans is interesting and paints a surprising picture!
More than 600,000 World Cup fans travelled to Russia for the tournament that ran from June 14th-July 15th in 2018. Of those fans, South Korea can claim to have the best World Cup fans as they took the most, with 13.4% of all travelling support coming from the country (80,400).
The second-best supported team was Germany (12.4%) and Spain (5.2%).
The country with the fourth highest number of Fifa World Cup fans was Israel (5%). Why is this surprising? Israel didn’t qualify for the World Cup finals in 2018, and it’s fan base went there as neutrals!
Another piece of trivia about the 2018 World Cup is that 40,000 Chinese supporters travelled to Russia to attend the games. This figure is ten times higher than the 4,000 Chinese World Cup fans that went to Brazil four years earlier.
Qatar 2022 World Cup Fans – What We Know
World Cup organisers last week said that 2.45 million tickets had been sold for the World Cup in Qatar – one of the more controversial World Cup hosts in recent times. Even so, the period between July 5-16 was the busiest, with 500,000 sold.
The games which have sold the most tickets are Cameroon v. Brazil, Brazil v. Serbia, Portugal v Uruguay, Costa Rica v Germany and Australia v Denmark—indicating that Brazil and Germany will be among the best-supported teams in Qatar.
“Fans living in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, England, Argentina, Brazil, Wales and Australia led the way and the digital queues by securing the biggest number of tickets,” FIFA said.
However, as Fifa has taken a phased approach and will release a further batch of tickets next month, the dynamics could change. After the last-minute sales phase has ended, over-the-counter tickets will also be available for local fans to buy in Doha.
The World Cup this year starts a day earlier than expected and will now kick off on Sunday with Qatar playing Ecuador. It is the first World Cup to be staged in the Middle East and therefore is likely to be popular with World Cup soccer fans in the region.
However, it’s worth pointing out that the team with the most support don’t often do that well in the modern game. For example, of the 21 World Cups held since 1930, only six host teams (Uruguay 1930, Italy 1934, England 1966, Germany 1974, Argentina 1978 and France 1998) have run out champions.
That said, we are pretty sure that not many people will be backing Qatar when World Cup betting this year to be fair.
Can The Women’s Football World Cup Break More Attendance Records
The Women’s Euro 2022 final attracted over 87,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, when England lifted the trophy, beating Germany 2-1 in the final, with a record attendance for a women’s international football fixture.
