FIFA World Cup 2018 kicks off Yesterday, June 14, in Russia with a match between Russia and Saudi Arabia. Football fans from all around the world are now in Russia to support their favorite teams. Looking at the number of plane tickets sold to foreigners, it seems like Germany is the best-supported foreign team competing in the World Cup 2018. The data was obtained from Travelport, an international travel tech company, based out in Berkshire, the United Kingdom.
According to Travelport, around 62,000 Germans will fly to Russia between June 14 and July 15 to support their national team. The total is 16,213 more than the previous World Cup, which was held in Brazil. Almost 66 percent more Americans will fly to the host country during the same time, taking the total to 13,654 travelers.
There have been a good many bookings from the United States despite their national team failing to qualify for the World Cup.
China, Spain, and Brazil take up next three spots. On the other hand, Argentina saw a whopping 939 percent growth in flight bookings from 600 in 2017 to 6,799 travelers in 2018. This has given rise to the Betway sports betting, which allows people to bet on their favorite teams to win and take away huge cash prizes.
More support from the United Kingdom
England, from the United Kingdom, saw a huge increase of 51 percent as 6,000 more English fans will fly to the host country. 33,000 English fans had visited Brazil for World Cup 2014.
Surprisingly, more number of flight tickets were sold to Australia. According to the data obtained, most travelers flew into Russia by the end of May 2018, so that they enjoy a month-long vacation in the beautiful country.
Stephen Shurrock, chief commercial officer, Travelport, said that German supporters seem optimistic about retaining the title they won in 2014 as they bought the most number of flight tickets to watch their team pay. It’s nice to see that distance doesn’t influence their decision to come support their national team. Many people from South American countries of Argentina and Brazil are flying halfway across the world, a 1,000 percent hike from the usual traffic.
An Interesting Statistic That We Probably Didn’t Expect
Not all news is as expected though.
Unfortunately, the only country to see a decrease in supporters in Italy. 5,204 less Italians will be traveling to Russia this world cup to support their team, which is an 18 percent from flight bookings made for World Cup 2014. That might probably be because Italy’s national team didn’t qualify for this year’s world cup, which has happened for the first time in history.
All national teams are all prepared for the 21st edition of FIFA World Cup. It was announced yesterday that North America won the bid to host World Cup 2026 against Morocco, and we sure are excited!
What do you feel about North America hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup? Let us know below!