A state-funded poll has found that fewer than 5 percent of Russian football fans believe in their national squad’s championship chances to win the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Russia, 63rd in the FIFA men’s ranking, will host the World Cup in 11 cities this summer. One of the 32 participating teams will get to raise the trophy at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on July 15.
A mere 4 percent of Russians surveyed by the state-backed Public Opinion Fund (FOM) said they think Russia will win the world championship this summer.
Fourteen percent predicted that the national squad would not make it out of the group stage, while 17 percent said the team would not advance past the first knockout stage. Fewer than 10 percent gave their team a chance to reach the quarter-finals.
Three-quarters expressed the opinion that it is “personally” important for Russia to perform “successfully” on home turf.
FOM carried out the survey among 1,500 people across 53 Russian regions on April 1.
