With the 2022 Fifa World Cup now completed for another 4 years, we can look back on a tournament that saw controversy, big upsets and a lot of high quality football. But as always with major tournaments like this, it’s a time when everyone likes to talk online, keep up with the latest updates on social media, and of course this is no different for Google Searches. In this blog, I’ve looked at some of the biggest spikes in search trends throughout the World Cup, and some will surprise you!
Some of the key search trends from the World Cup
**All data is over the last 5 years**
It’s Coming Home
It’s a phrase that I’m sure you’ve heard way too many times over the last month, and unfortunately yet again football certainly didn’t come home. But according to the search data, England fans were slightly less optimistic this year, with a popularity score of just 6 out of 100! The previous World Cup in 2018 saw England fans at their most optimistic as search interest peaked at this point, as well as during the Euros in 2021, but clearly getting so close in both tournaments didn’t spur the England fans to start searching the song or even the phrase anywhere near as much. There’s always the Euros in 2 years to get excited for anyway!
England Shirts
Watching England play in a major tournament can be a stressful and nervous time for fans, but it doesn’t stop us from supporting the guys and the girls! Wearing the white or red of the England team and watching intently is standard practice in England, but it seems as though wearing the team colours wasn’t of high importance this time out. Search interest for ‘England Shirts’ reached only an 18 out of 100 interest score, with yet again 2021 topping the data for the most interest. Perhaps everyone still had their superstitious and lucky (or maybe not so lucky) England shirts left over from the last tournament and the demand just wasn’t there this time.
Qatar
It’s no secret that this tournament was riddled with controversy, predominantly due to the host country and its ethics. But aside from that, we can all agree that on the pitch, Qatar hosted a fantastic World Cup, and clearly this reflected on the watchers, with a huge spike in search interest on the search terms ‘Qatar’.
Even ‘Holidays to Qatar’ saw a slight spike in search interest, reaching a 73/100 search interest score, only beaten back in 2019.
Messi Shirts
With Argentina coming out the champions of the world, the main talking point was a certain Lionel Messi, who solidified his title as the greatest player of all time after lifting the trophy. Ronaldo fans might not be too happy about that, but for the majority, it was Messi that was the shining light from the tournament, and clearly the Messi hype was seen all over the world, especially in the UK. Searches for ‘Messi Shirts’ saw a rapid climb in interest over the last few weeks, only topped back in 2019 when he made the high-profile move to PSG.
And for those looking to jump on the Argentina bandwagon, you may struggle to find an Argentina shirt in stock at the moment, with searches reaching their highest popularity immediately after the final!
World Cup Trophy
32 teams were competing to win the famous gold trophy, with Messi & Argentina being the ones to lift it aloft at the end of the competition. World Cup fever took over the world though, with fans carrying replicas in the stands and around the streets, and search intent for ‘world cup trophy’ supported this, with a clear spike over the last 4 weeks. Yet again, search interest for this term peaked back in 2018 at the last World Cup though.
Conclusion
So there we have it, the end of another World Cup! Even with an unusual winter World Cup, football fever was clear to see across the country, and the search trend data was clear to see. What was interesting to see though was how the 2018 World Cup and the 2021 Euros clearly having the bigger spikes in search interest compared to this World Cup, showing that maybe the World Cup fever just didn’t quite reach its heights of previous years. Thanks for reading, and hopefully the next time I’m writing an article like this, it may have come home for England and we’ll have a major trophy to be celebrating!
