Flashscore Survey Highlights World Cup Betting Trend

A new survey commissioned by Flashscore in partnership with TGM Research highlights strong anticipation for the 2026 FIFA World Cup among UK sports fans, with football betting expected to remain closely tied to tournament engagement.

The study, which surveyed 2,000 UK sports fans, found that 86.8% of male online sports followers and 81.6% of female fans plan to follow the World Cup either very closely or extremely closely.

The findings also suggest that late kick-off times are unlikely to reduce viewing interest. Among respondents aged between 18 and 34, 41.5% said they definitely plan to watch England’s late-night matches live, while another 34.3% said they probably would. Interest remained strong across older age groups, with 35% of respondents aged 35 to 54 and 30.1% of those aged 55 and above also intending to watch matches live.

Football betting activity continues to show high engagement levels among UK fans. Of the respondents who identified as active bettors, 92% said they had placed at least one football bet during the previous three months.

Goals-related betting markets proved more popular than traditional match-result wagers. According to the survey, 64% of bettors had placed Both Teams to Score (BTTS) bets, while 59% had wagered on Over/Under goals markets. In comparison, 49% reported betting on standard 1X2 match outcomes.

Flashscore said the research demonstrates continued demand for football betting ahead of the World Cup, particularly for markets linked to goals and live match action.

The sports data platform stated that it currently attracts around four million monthly users in the UK and generates more than two billion monthly impressions. Globally, Flashscore reported more than 200 million app downloads and over 125 million monthly users worldwide.

Martin Matejka, Marketing Director at Flashscore, said the World Cup remains one of the biggest events in sport and noted that betting audiences rely heavily on fast and reliable live scores and statistics during matches.