Between a third and half say they are likely to follow at least a fair amount
The FIFA Women's World Cup kicks off on 20 July, hosted this year by Australia and New Zealand.
The profile for women’s international football has never been higher – so how many people in Europe will be following this year’s tournament?
Here in England, 16% of people say they expect to follow a great deal or fair amount of the Women’s world cup. A similar number of Italians say the same (16%), while slightly more people in France and Spain (20%) as well as Germany (22%) will keep a track of the tournament’s progress.
Looking at football fans specifically, French and German fans are the most likely to say they will follow at least a fair amount of the tournament (48-49%), as do 44% of Spanish fans. English and Italian fans are the least likely to (39% and 36%, respectively).
By comparison, asked a month ahead of the men’s tournament in Qatar last year, between 57% (Italy) and 82% (Spain) of football fans expected to follow the tournament to this degree – although some of this disparity will be due to the significant time zone difference for this year’s women’s tournament.
The majority of football fans in each country would be pleased by a women’s World Cup victory
In each country, the public would be about equally pleased for their men’s and women’s teams to win their respective football world cup (53-58% here in England).
Among football fans, there is a notable difference. While the number of fans in each country who would be pleased is higher than the wider public for both men’s and women’s teams, more fans would be pleased for the men’s team to win than the women’s.
In England, for example, 92% of football fans would be pleased if the men’s team won the World Cup, compared to 75% for the women’s team. While only 5% would be indifferent about the men’s team’s success, this rises to 18% for the women’s side.
Photo: Getty
