Spain may be the bookies' favourite to win the 2010 World Cup, but Brazil remains by far the world's most popular team, an international survey reveals.
The 22-nation opinion poll, conducted prior to the tournament kickoff by the US-based Pew Research Center, shows Brazil is the people's favourite in 14 countries, including three whose own teams are playing in the Cup. Of the rest, support for Brazil is next only to their home teams. The poll results were released on Thursday.
In India, 19% of the respondents felt Brazil would win. However, the poor understanding of football among Indians in general came through in the poll with Australia being the next-favoured team — 14% of respondents said the country had the best chance of winning the Cup. Australia was the second favourite in Pakistan as well.
Among countries playing in the Cup, Brazilians were the most confident of their team's chances — 75% of respondents in Brazil predicted their country would be the eventual victors. Self-confidence was also high in Spain, where 58% saw a Spanish victory in this year's Cup, followed by Argentina (43%), Germany (36%) and Nigeria (35%).
In Britain, just 20% felt England would emerge as world champions. Almost an equal number of Britons felt Brazil would win (18%). Similarly, Brazil was nearly as popular a pick in France (22%) and the US (12%) as was the home country. It was the overwhelming favourite in South Korea (43%) and China (31%).
The Japanese were the least confident of their team's chances with just 4% thinking their country will win the World Cup. South Koreans, who co-hosted the 2002 World Cup with Japan, also had low expectations of their team, as did Americans; only 11% and 13%, respectively, named their own countries when asked who will win this years tournament.
After Brazil, most people named Spain and Argentina as most likely to win the tournament.
The poll was part of Pew Research Center's global attitudes survey.
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