Brazil Emerges as Clear World Cup Favorite in New Mindshare Survey

When it comes to the World Cup 2010, Brazil is by far the favorite team of digitally savvy soccer fans around the world, according to a new study.

More than 40 percent of all fans surveyed said they plan to root for Brazil in the upcoming tournament, scheduled to begin June 11 in host country South Africa. The next highest team was Argentina with 30 percent of respondents offering their support. So, while Spain is the bookies’ favorite to lift the trophy on July 11, Brazil is the popular favorite around the world.

In contrast, seven nations were tied for dead last with only one percent of respondents claiming support. They were Slovakia, Algeria, Slovenia, Honduras, Serbia, South Korea, and North Korea.

The results were revealed in a new online survey conducted by media and marketing services agency Mindshare as part of its “Mindreader” series. The new study covers 29 markets with a representative sample of 29,000 Internet users.

“Mindreader is a really powerful way of looking at what is important to people across the globe,” said Mindshare’s Marco Rimini. “The World Cup is the most popular event in the sporting calendar. Mindreader helps us understand what it means to consumers.”

Only four nations included in the survey did not have teams set to play in the tournament, and each said they will support the Brazilians more than any other team. These included India, with 69 percent of the respondents indicating their support for Brazil, Singapore (65 percent), Poland (53 percent) and Canada (47 percent).

Additionally, Brazil easily came in second behind the home team among a wide majority of nations with tournament representation. These included France (37 percent), Germany (22 percent), Italy (36 percent), South Africa (53 percent), Spain (41 percent), the U.K. (29 percent), and the U.S. (33 percent).

Not only was Brazil the overwhelming fan favorite of the 32 national teams scheduled to play in the quadrennial event, but it was also favored more than any other team to play in the final. Fifty-seven percent of the respondents picked Brazil for the final contest while 28 percent chose Spain and 27 percent picked Argentina.

The survey also revealed the following:

Overall levels of interest in following the World Cup ranged widely from 92 percent of respondents in Argentina indicating they planned to follow at least some of the tournament to 23 percent in the U.S.

Twelve percent of all respondents said they would root for the host country, South Africa, in the tournament. Other levels of support ranged from Spain (29 percent), England (26 percent) and Germany (25 percent) on the high end, to Denmark, Paraguay and Japan with 2 percent each on the low end.

Fans in a handful of nations had the confidence to predict that their home team will make it all the way to the final match. They included Argentina, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.S. The team each group predicted as their opponent? Who else—Brazil.

The full Mindreader World Cup 2010 Report, complete with all relevant market data, is available on request.

About Mindshare
Mindshare is a global marketing and media services network with billings in excess of $23 billion (source: RECMA). The network consists of 115 offices in 82 countries throughout the U., Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific; each dedicated to forging competitive marketing advantage for businesses and their brands. Mindshare is a member of WPP, the world’s leading communications service group with $63.5B in billings (source: RECMA). For more information, please visit www.mindshareworld.com.

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