Britain’s football fans are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to avoid missing a World Cup match, with new research revealing supporters are booking annual leave, dodging meetings and even calling in sick to make sure they’re in front of the TV for kick-off.
The study of more than 2,000 UK football fans, commissioned by TV experts at Currys, found one in seven (14%) have taken annual leave to watch football, while 11% admit avoiding scheduling meetings during important matches, and almost one in 10 (9%) said they have pretended to be ill – or would consider doing so – rather than miss a major game.
How Football Fans Compare Across Britain
The research also uncovered stark regional differences in how supporters prepare for tournament football.
| City | Top insight | Stat |
| Liverpool | Most likely to call in sick to watch football | 14% called in sick; 6% used a medical appointment as an excuse |
| Birmingham | The most superstitious football fans | 70% have matchday rituals; 13% mark themselves as “busy” or “in a meeting”; 5% fake technical issues |
| Norwich | The most pragmatic approach to watching football | 69% have no matchday superstitions; 22% book annual leave instead of making excuses |
Liverpool emerged as the city most likely to pull a sickie for football, with 14% admitting they have called in sick to watch a match, while 6% said they have used a medical appointment as an excuse to clear their diary.
Meanwhile, Birmingham was crowned Britain’s most superstitious football city, with seven in 10 (70%) saying they follow matchday rituals such as wearing lucky clothing or sitting in the same seat for every game. Fans in the city were also the most likely to mark themselves as “busy” or “in a meeting” during matches (13%), and 5% admitted blaming technical or internet problems for missing work commitments.
Norwich supporters appeared the most pragmatic. More than two-thirds (69%) said they have no matchday superstitions, while 22% said they simply book annual leave rather than relying on excuses.
Avoiding spoilers has also become part of modern football fandom. Nearly a quarter (23%) of supporters said social media has ruined the result of a match before they had the chance to watch it, rising to 38% among 16 to 24-year-olds.
As a result, almost one in five (19%) now avoid social media entirely during major tournaments, while 18% mute platforms to stop scores and highlights appearing in their feeds.
Football Fans Remember the Emotion – But Not the Details
Despite the lengths supporters go to watch football, the research found that many struggle to remember the finer details of the sport’s most iconic moments.
Just 12% of football fans said they were “very confident” they could correctly identify details from famous World Cup moments, such as which foot scored a goal or the colour of a player’s boots.
When put to the test, many got the details wrong.
More than a third (37%) incorrectly believed Diego Maradona used his right hand for the infamous “Hand of God” goal, despite it being his left, and 82% either answered incorrectly or admitted they didn’t know how Siphiwe Tshabalala scored the iconic opening goal of the 2010 World Cup.
More than seven in ten (71%) also failed to correctly identify how Geoff Hurst scored his famous final goal in England’s 1966 World Cup victory.
Sim Shamu, a Behaviour Specialist at PBS ABA, explains
“People feel certain about sporting memories because the emotion is strong, not because every detail is accurate. Iconic moments are often emotionally accurate, but visually selective.
“When we watch something like a famous goal, attention naturally narrows and we focus on the striker, the outcome, or the celebration, and miss other details happening around it. Over time, those moments get reinforced through highlights, conversation and social media, but each retelling can simplify or subtly reshape what actually happened.”
Paul Slater, Senior Vision Buyer at Currys, said:
“Football is built on iconic moments that fans revisit again and again, so we wanted to find out how much people really remember.
“What we discovered is that many supporters remember the emotion perfectly, but the visual details are often much harder to recall. Whether it’s the colour of a ball, a player’s boots or exactly how a goal was scored, our memories aren’t always as accurate as we think.”
Photo by Soumith Soman: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-a-person-s-hand-holding-a-remote-control-4777979/
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