{"id":493977,"date":"2026-06-11T08:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T08:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/493977\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T08:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T08:45:12","slug":"you-had-your-say-heres-who-ireland-fans-are-supporting-at-the-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/493977\/","title":{"rendered":"You had your say: Here’s who Ireland fans are supporting at the World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is finally here as it all kicks off on Thursday night with Mexico taking on South Africa from the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s set to be the biggest World Cup in history, with 48 teams participating across Mexico, Canada and the United States of America. However, as we all know, the Republic of Ireland won\u2019t be part of the proceedings this tournament.<\/p>\n

Despite the heroics of Troy Parrott in qualifying, Heimir Hallgrimsson\u2019s side fell short in the play-off semi-final against Czechia, losing heartbreakingly on penalties in Prague.<\/p>\n

\"\"Troy Parrott. Pic: Seb Daly\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

It means Ireland\u2019s wait for a World Cup<\/a> adventure goes on, but while there won\u2019t be any Ireland representation (besides Pico Lopes<\/a>) at the World Cup, there\u2019s still a huge number of football fans in Ireland who\u2019ll be watching it. <\/p>\n

But who will they be supporting? We put out a poll to find out.<\/p>\n

Who are Irish fans supporting at this World Cup?<\/p>\n

We gave people nearly a dozen options, covering the big names like the World Cup holders Argentina, France, Brazil and England, while also throwing in a couple of non-favourites like Scotland, for the vocal Celtic supporter wanting to cheer on their team\u2019s players, and the Ivory Coast, whose flag is a mirror image of the Ireland flag. We also threw in a curveball.<\/p>\n

\"\"Neymar Jr of Brazil. Pic: Sarah Stier \u2013 FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images<\/p>\n

In third place in our poll, 12% of voters went for Scotland. Obviously, there\u2019s a lot of sentiment for our Celtic neighbours who are in their first World Cup since France 1998. <\/p>\n

They\u2019re in a very fun group with the legendary Brazil, African Cup of Nations (sort of) winners Morocco and Haiti, who are no slouches with their recent slew of call-ups.<\/p>\n

In a three-way tie for second place, 16% voted for Brazil, Spain and Portugal.<\/p>\n

Brazil, with Carlo Ancelotti at the helm are looking to win their sixth World Cup title and first since 2002. When the World Cup was last held in the USA in 1994, Brazil ended a 24-year drought by beating Italy on penalties in California. Could they end another 24-year World Cup drought in New Jersey this summer?<\/p>\n

The Iberian pair of Spain and Portugal are two of the heavy favourites, alongside France and England, and it\u2019s easy to see why. <\/p>\n

For Portugal, it\u2019s their sheer amount of midfield talent. PSG pair Vitinha and Joao Neves have dominated European club football for two seasons now, winning back-to-back Champions League titles, and in Bruno Fernandes, they have the best creator in Premier League history, off the back of a 21-assist season with Manchester United.<\/p>\n

\"worldPSG\u2019s Portuguese quartet of Nuno Mendes, Joao Neves, Vitinha and Goncalo Ramos pose for a photo with the UEFA Champions League trophy. Pic: Michael Regan \u2013 UEFA\/UEFA via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Reigning European Champions Spain are looking very dangerous heading into this World Cup. They haven\u2019t lost a competitive match since Scotland beat them 2-0 at Hampden Park back in 2023. <\/p>\n

In Lamine Yamal, Pedri and Inaki Williams, they have one of the most talented attacks in the competition. Can they repeat their 2010 glory?<\/p>\n

Then, the pick which topped the poll with 20% of the share of the votes was our curveball, \u2018Anyone but England\u2019. <\/p>\n

While there may not be the same tensions between the nations that once existed, Irish fans clearly still don\u2019t want to see their English neighbours do too well, with\u00a0another survey\u00a0revealing that\u00a070% of Irish fans say they enjoy seeing England fail.<\/p>\n

With the hiring of Thomas Tuchel, England have gone all in on trying to win this summer\u2019s World Cup, 60 years on from their last and only triumph back on home soil in 1966. Will they finally bring football home?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 FIFA World Cup is finally here as it all kicks off on Thursday night with Mexico…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-493977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}