New World Cup Survey Reveals Who The Home Nations Are Backing This Summer

Fabio Capello's England team received a welcome boost last night, after it emerged one in five Scots are supporting our boys.

A staggering 19 per cent of blokes north of the border admit they're right behind the English as they face Algeria on Friday 18th June. Spain emerged as their second favourites securing 12 per cent of the vote, while Brazil came third with the support of one in ten fans.

But the English have more reason to cheer as it emerged four in ten Welsh footy-lovers are waving the flag for England. A spokesman for Continental Tyres, an Official Sponsor of the FIFA World Cup™, which carried out the poll of 4,000 Brits said: "What we have revealed is that we are rather better neighbours than many had predicted.

"Clearly the ABE 'Anyone But England' campaign is more about friendly banter than genuine opposition. The World Cup has clearly got Welsh and Scottish fans excited even though their national teams did not qualify.

"The whole nation is behind England, so let’s hope they pull off that all important win against Algeria.

"But the joy of watching the silky skills of Spain and Brazil helped them to appear at the top of our ‘favourites list’."

The survey found seven in ten Scottish and Welsh fans have an 'adopted team' to support for the duration of this summer's tournament. Spain, Brazil and Argentina emerged as their favourites, but behind England who came first.

Forty five per cent secretly hope England get dumped out of the World Cup early and more than a third will avoid the pub if England matches are being shown. The survey found the average Welsh fan will view 19 World Cup games in total, Scots will tune in to 18, while the English will watch 16.

But a whopping nine in ten Scots and Welsh said they'll probably end up watching the England matches.

It also emerged one in eight fans see themselves falling out with mates over who they're each supporting during the tournament. Four in ten workers have an office sweepstake, and a third admit they will support their sweepstake team rather than England if they face each other.

The average employee has invested £3 but is set to win £50 if their sweepstake team lifts the trophy. And if England don't make the knock-out stages, Brazil, Spain and Italy have the backing of English fans.

Favourite Teams
1. England
2. Spain
3. Brazil
4. Italy
5. Argentina
6. Holland
7. USA
8. Germany
9. South Africa
10. France


If you don't agree with these results, Continental's new Twitter poll is giving football fans from all the home nations the chance to set the record straight. Head over to Twtpoll and vote now! (http://twtpoll.com/s30d5d)