It is...well...erm...not quite what you think...
Thailand has been recognised as the world's second-most football obsessed nation according to Heineken with England coming out top.
Just in time for the World Cup, Heineken gets a nice instantly quotable story in the British broadsheets and a little Team England brand association - well done chaps.
I won't often quote news from The Sun, but I think you'll agree this is a worthy exception.
Research revealed English blokes spend more time watching, playing, reading and talking about the beautiful game than anywhere else on the planet.
The study found a typical soccer fan watches football — including highlights — for two hours and 22 minutes every week.
They also spend 28 minutes each day chin-wagging about the latest results, tackles, goals or transfer gossip.
In second place was Thailand, where men spend three hours talking about the sport, followed by three-time World Cup winners Brazil in third.Of course, as the saying goes, it's all about quality over quantity and given some of the opinions I've heard in both England and Thailand, I'm pretty sure neither country can claim to be the world's most knowledgeable.
At just 120 Baht (£2.50) a shirt switching your allegiance is an affordable pursuit in Thailand
Liverpool is well known for being the most popular in team in Thailand (any many other Southeast Asian countries) although Chelsea, Arsenal and Man United and others are becoming increasingly popular as the Merseysiders continue to struggle on and off the pitch.
Glory hunters, just keeping with what's on vogue or sensibly taking advantage of the bevy of cheap replica kits?
My favourite Thai football story is the fella who went to watch the recent Inter vs Bayern Munich Champions League final with both an Inter and Bayern shirt.
Back to The Sun, the top 15 countries are as below, though I still don't believe Thai men spend close to 10 hours a day talking about football.
THIS is the total amount of time blokes spend watching, playing, reading and talking about football each day around the world:
1. England — 11hrs 12mins
2. Thailand — 9hrs 56mins
3. Brazil — 9hrs 53mins
4. Ireland — 9hrs 29mins
5. Mexico — 9hrs 1min
6. Spain — 8hrs 38mins
7. Italy — 8hrs 27mins
8. China — 8hrs 21mins
9. Scotland — 8hrs 6mins
10. S. Africa — 8hrs 5mins
11. Germany — 8hrs 4mins
12. Wales — 7hrs 46mins
13. France — 7hrs 23mins
14. Russia — 7hrs 13mins
15. Holland — 6hrs 4mins
4 comments:
Jon which begs the question what about English blokes living in Thailand? Somewhere around 10 hours 30 mins perhaps?
Unless the English blokes are responsible for raising the Thai average?
I think it will be a few years before Thailand get that close again to England in any football rankings. If there was a table on units of alcohol consumed daily by international managers then Mr Robson would be near the top of the tree, Capello would be ranked well below.
Martyn, "a few years" is certainly generous, I'm more include to say never.
Robbo is apparently a bit of womaniser too, interviews with a certain female Sky presenter banned after an incident as Middlesbrough manager. Right man for the job?
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