The Euros is one of the most important football tournaments for England football fans, with 37% of fans admitting to being nervous ahead of the group stages.
But what are they doing to help bring luck to the squad and keep the nerves at bay? Betway’s new survey reveals the most common rituals and lucky charms, gathering data from over 2,000 England football fans from different areas of the country.
One in five England fans set to pray ahead of matches during the Euros
|
Rank |
Ritual |
Percentage of fans who do this |
|
1 |
Saying a prayer |
22.2% |
|
2 |
Wearing a certain sports shirt or jersey |
22.1% |
|
3 |
Sitting in the same spot |
20.4% |
|
4 |
Kissing the badge or emblem of the team |
19.5% |
|
5 |
Wearing a specific outfit |
19.3% |
|
6 |
Superstitious actions e.g knocking on wood or crossing fingers |
16.3% |
|
7 |
Putting on a pair of lucky socks |
16.2% |
|
8 |
Wearing a lucky scarf |
16.0% |
|
9 |
Watching the game at a 'lucky' pub |
14.5% |
|
10 |
Eating a 'lucky' meal before a game |
14.5% |
Praying is the most common ritual for fans before a Euros game with one in five (22.2%) fans admitting to doing this before their team play. Fans in Leeds are pre-match praying the most (30.4%).
A further one in five (22.1%) of those surveyed said they wear a specific sports shirt or jersey to bring good luck to the team. The third most common ritual is sitting in the exact same spot during a game, with 20.4% of fans saying this is their game-day ritual.
Kissing a team emblem also makes the top five in the list. 19.5% of all football fans we surveyed said they do this during a match. Notably, one in ten (10.7%) football fans in London say they refuse to shower during the tournament to help bring good luck to the England team.
A football shirt is the luckiest charm for England football fans, with 35.2% admitting to having one to hand
|
Rank |
Lucky charm |
Percentage of fans who call this their lucky charm |
|
1 |
Football shirt |
35.2% |
|
2 |
Football scarf |
24.0% |
|
3 |
Football hat |
19.7% |
|
4 |
Socks |
19.4% |
|
5 |
Jewellery |
160% |
|
6 |
Keychain |
15.2% |
|
7 |
Teddy bear |
15.0% |
|
8 |
Coins |
14.2% |
|
9 |
Photographs |
12.3% |
|
10 |
Stone or crystal |
10.9% |
35.2% of fans admitted to having a specific shirt as a lucky charm during an important Euros match. Fans in Southampton are most likely to have a football shirt lucky charm (46.34%), while fans in Bristol are the least likely (15.9%).
A football scarf comes next, with just under a quarter (24%) of all football fans voting for this. This is followed by a football hat (19.7%), specific socks (19.4%) and lucky jewellery (16%).
