In Spain, 89 per cent of adults said they had followed the qualifying campaign, compared to 77 per cent in the UK and 69 per cent in France. Italy topped the list for the percentage of people planning to follow their national team's progress at the tournament, with 83 per cent, compared to 68 per cent in the UK and 62 per cent in France.

KantarSport said the relatively low levels of engagement in France and the UK correlated with the level of confidence in the national teams' success. While seven in 10 Spanish respondents thought their team would win the trophy, just 2 in every 10 of French respondents were backing France to win.

KantarSport also surveyed awareness of World Cup sponsors, with Coca-Cola coming out top in the five markets involved – France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.