English fans’ optimism around EURO 2024 close to being rewarded

With England heading to the semi-final of EURO 2024 tonight, the optimism shown by their fans in a survey done by bet365, could be rewarded.

Four in ten English fans think “it’s coming home”

Despite never having won the Euros, English fans are fairly confident that their nation will finally end a trophy drought that has lasted 58 years. England lost out to Italy in a heartbreaking penalty shootout at Euro 2020, but 40 percent of the respondents believe that they’ll overcome that final hump this time out. With England in the semi-finals, it is possible that the Southgate’s men can bring it home!

The level of optimism around the Three Lions is approximately the same across age groups, though it’s slightly higher amongst fans aged between 35 to 54. bet365 too had England as favourites to win it all, with Southgate’s side marked as 3/1 favourites at the start of the tournament.

The second-most favoured nation by English fans was the one across the channel - France. Les Bleus recently came second at the FIFA World Cup and boast an exceptionally deep squad that includes a certain Kylian Mbappe. These factors, however, weren’t enough in English fans’ eyes as only 19 percent of the respondents believe that the French will lay claim to their third Euro title. They ended up losing to Spain, who were fourth-favorites in English fans’ eyes.

Hosts Germany were the third favourites as per the respondents, with 12 percent choosing the three-time champions to make it four. They crashed out in the QF stage

Should Gareth Southgate be able to bring home a first major tournament trophy since 1966, many a football fan’s dreams will come true. Whether it’s a successful campaign for England or not, bet365 are offering a free chance at celebrating in style by winning £1,000,000 in the ‘Euro Finals Group Stage Predictor’ game.  

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Jude Bellingham touted to be biggest star of EURO 2024

When it comes to predicting who the biggest star of the tournament will be, English fans have gone with Jude Bellingham over his soon to be Real Madrid teammate, Kylian Mbappe.

A fifth of the respondents picked Jude Bellingham to be the biggest star of Euro 2024 while four in 25 picked Mbappe. He's not been imperious but match-winning performances in the semi-final and final could change things.

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Euro 96 still the most iconic for English fans

Blame it on Baddiel, Skinner and Lightning Seeds for coming out with “Three Lions” that year, or the fact that England hosted the tournament, or even Terry Venables leading the hosts to a semi-final. The fact remains that Euro 96 still evokes iconic moments in the minds of English fans and that is evident by their responses.

One in every six respondents chose England’s semi-final heartbreak against Germany in 1996 as the most iconic Euro moment. It was Southgate who missed the decisive penalty that broke English hearts. Despite it being a negative memory, English fans have still termed it as the most iconic Euro moment in their view.

The second most popular choice was from the same tournament, and it had to be Paul Gascoigne’s fantastic strike against Scotland. 11 percent of respondents picked Gazza’s wondrous goal, where he flicked the ball over Colin Hendry before rifling it past Andy Goram.

Interestingly, while the semi-final heartbreak saw similar response rates from different age groups, Gazza’s goal was picked as the most iconic predominantly by people over the age of 35.

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Research Methodology

Bet365 commissioned Research Without Barriers (https://www.researchwithoutbarriers.com/) to conduct a survey of a total of 2,008 football fans residing in the United Kingdom.

The survey was conducted between 31 May 2024 and 2 June 2024 and is subject to the standards of the ICC/ESOMAR World Research Guidelines.