55% of Scots will be actively supporting Scotland at the World Cup, while 46% in England will be supporting the Three Lions

Key takeaways

  • 36-37% of people in England and Scotland expect to follow the 2026 World Cup at least a fair amount, alongside 24% of people in Wales
  • Interest in the tournament is similar to prior to Euro 2024 and the 2022 World Cup
  • While 51% of English people hope Scotland do well in their first World Cup since 1998, Scots are more likely to hope England do badly (32%) than hope they succeed (27%)
  • 33% of England fans believe they have a realistic hope of getting to the final

The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off with an opening match in Mexico later today, with the new 48-team tournament format seeing more than a month of matches taking place across North America.

Even before the first shot is taken, this year’s event has made headlines for a variety of controversies, while the time differences have created kick-off times that some fans might find testing. But has this dulled the enthusiasm of the Tartan Army looking to celebrate their first World Cup appearance in 28 years, or the England fans once again hopeful that men’s football might be on the way home?

Seemingly not. More than a third of adults in England (36%) say they intend to follow this year’s World Cup at least a fair amount, up from the 31% who anticipated similarly prior to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, though roughly the same as the 35% who expected they’d follow Euro 2024 to the same degree ahead of the first kick off.

Indeed, just 35% of the English public say they don’t intend to follow any of the World Cup, relative to 40-42% prior to the last two major men’s football tournaments.

With this year’s tournament marking the first Scottish participation since 1998, 37% of Scots expect to watch a great deal or fair amount of the tournament, up seven points since prior to the 2022 contest – although this means they are no more likely to be tuning in than their English counterparts, despite the rarity of the occurrence.

By contrast, intention to follow the World Cup in Wales has fallen from 32% in 2022 - for which tournament they qualified - to 24% today. Half of the Welsh public (49%) saying they don’t intend to follow any of the competition, compared to 31-35% of English and Scots.

Scots are, though, a little more likely to have caught footie fever, with 29% of Scots at least fairly excited for the tournament, compared to 24% of English people and just 17% of Welsh people.

English people want Scotland to do well in the World Cup; Scots do not reciprocate

And when it comes to overall support, Scotland have managed to rally even more of their nation behind them than England. Fully 57% of Scots say they intend to actively support their national team during their World Cup return, with a further 23% saying they want them to do well.

They also have a fair degree of well wishers in England and Wales, with 11-14% in both countries saying they’ll be cheering on the Boys in Blue and a further 36-40% saying they hope Scotland do well.

Scots don’t fully reciprocate in their feelings about England. While a similar 10% say they’ll be supporting the Three Lions, it’s only an additional 17% who would like to see England do well, with a full 32% instead hoping England do badly, more than twice the rate in Wales (14%) and compared to just 3% of English people hoping Scotland do poorly.

Nonetheless, England can count on the support of nearly half of adults in England (46%), with a further 27% hoping for success.

We still believe...

How long into the competition, though, do English and Scottish fans expect to be cheering their teams on?

Of those in England who intend to follow the World Cup, a third (33%) believe that England have a realistic hope of reaching the final, including 22% who think that England has a realistic hope of lifting the World Cup on 19 July.

A further third of English fans (33%) instead believe that England’s can only realistically get as far as the semis, while 21% don’t believe the Three Lions will get beyond the quarter finals.

Scottish football fans are less convinced that England have a realistic hope of bringing football home, with just 14% believing England could make it to the final. Instead, 36% of Scots feel English fans should not expect to see their team progress beyond the semis, 28% beyond the quarter finals and 18% think they are unlikely to make it even this far.

There’s more unity on Scotland’s prospects, though with 9% of Scottish fans feeling Scotland has a realistic hope of getting to the final, compared to a mere 3% of English fans.

The most common view in Scotland is that their national team can realistically hope to make it as far as the round of 32, according to 38% of fans, though with 24% more pessimistic and believing they cannot realistically advance beyond their group stage, which includes Brazil and reigning Afcon champions Morocco.

See the full results here for England, Scotland and Wales

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Photo: Getty

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