Soccer fans in Africa know their trade according to a pre-tournament survey which showed that the first four of the five teams they ranked as capable of winning the trophy are in the quarterfinals and boasting a chance of becoming the next World Champion.

Nearly Two-Thirds to Wager on World Cup Matches

The survey conducted by GeoPoll just days before the beginning of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar among 1,853 users of the researchers’ mobile app across Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda ranked their favorites to win the tournament as follows: Brazil, Argentina, France, England, and Germany.

Of those five, only the fifth-ranked Germany could not pass beyond the group stage after losing their opening match against Japan proved costly, while the first four favorites progressed to the quarterfinals.

And Africans are keen bettors, too, with 61% planning to wager on the World Cup matches, and almost two-thirds (64%) of the respondents have placed a bet in the past twelve months, predominantly those from Kenya and Ghana with 68% and 60%, respectively.

African soccer audiences rank the upcoming World Cup as the most popular tournament in the sport, with 93% planning to watch the matches in Qatar. The finding showed an increase from the 85% who watched the previous edition of the tournament, FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia, which boasted a combined 3.572 billion viewers globally.

TV and Mobile Phones Preferred to Watch the Action

The survey revealed that soccer matches are being watched more than once a week by 59% of the respondents and 55% keep watching the half-time commentary, while 46% switch to their mobile phones, and only 29% move to other activities. Almost a third (28%) said that they would be either placing or checking their bets at half-time.

Among the platforms used to follow the World Cup action, TV remained the most preferred choice with 82%, despite the notable shift towards the mobile space with 54% planning to follow the matches on their phones. A factor that may have influenced their responses is the time zone difference as at the time of the kick-offs most of them would be still at work, school or commuting.

The survey respondents who were predominantly young males due to the methodology used in the research also revealed that soccer enjoys quite an interest in Africa with 35% rating it in the highest possible segment of between 1 and 10, 13% putting it in the second category and 16% placing the sport in the third segment.