FIFA World Cup: Canadian interest in Qatar tournament low, poll suggests

Right now, 63 per cent of 1,005 Canadians Ipsos surveyed exclusively for Global News Nov. 11-15 said they couldn’t care less about the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

As Canada’s men’s national soccer team prepares to play in their first FIFA World Cup in 36 years, Canadian interest in watching the Qatar tournament is low, a new poll suggests.

Right now, 63 per cent of 1,005 Canadians Ipsos surveyed exclusively for Global News Nov. 11-15 said they couldn’t care less about the World Cup, which begins Sunday. Only 34 per cent of respondents said they will be paying close attention to the tournament, while 66 per cent of Canadians surveyed said they don’t plan to pay close attention to the games.

Despite the apparent low interest among Canadians, a global Ipsos survey released Nov. 10 showed more than half of adults across 34 countries plan to watch the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

“We have to keep in mind that even if we say that interest is relatively low, if we say a third of Canadians are paying attention, that’s still over 10 million people who have the potential of watching this,” said Sébastien Dallaire, senior vice president at Ipsos Canada.

“Canada is not yet a huge soccer watching nation. There is some interest, but obviously it doesn’t compare to what we can see in other countries where you have a lot more real hardcore fans.”

Interest in the World Cup is driven by age, Ipsos’ results for Global News indicate. Canadians aged 18 to 34 are more interested in watching the event than their parents or grandparents, and they’re more likely to say the World Cup is more important to them than the Olympics.

However, their interest doesn’t translate into support for Canada, Ipsos said. While 24 per cent of respondents said they’ll mostly cheer for another nation, that proportion jumps to 45 per cent for Canadians aged 18 to 34. Inversely, 76 per cent of respondents disagree that they’ll be cheering for another country.

The difference in allegiance could be due to the fact Canada’s men’s team has only played in one World Cup, and many Canadians have grown accustomed to cheering for other nations during the World Cup, Dallaire said.