Mundial – this word itself is enough to send an electrifying twitch down the spines of millions. This is not the only the most important football tournament on the planet, but also one of the largest sports events, comparable only to the Olympic games. This year’s world cup has earned its place in history – there were several records beaten, many surprises, we saw some stars fading away, others lighting up brighter than ever. The most important thing, however, is that it was the first time ever that a European team won the cup at an event held away from the Old Continent. It was also the first time ever that the most precious of all cups went to the hands of the Spanish representation.
While the country of the current world champions is enjoying its great fiesta, we’ll have a glimpse at how the Mundial shaped the tastes of some of the Polish internet users and who gave them most sports emotions. We are not, however, going to base on their declarations. Using the gemiusHeatMap research results, we’ll analyse the actual (because expressed as the number of clicks) behaviour of the persons visiting the Sport.pl website belonging to Gazeta.pl Group – one of the key online publishers in Poland.
Mundial was on everybody’s tongues as early as May, but it still was not a hot topic on Sport.pl. The world cup subject gave ground to less popular sports, such as handball or speedway. No wonder – May is the month of final football league tournaments in Europe, drawing much of users’ attention. The situation changed dramatically at the beginning of June as the Mundial became the unquestionable number one topic already on 11th. What were the readers interested in most? Let’s begin by studying the frequency at which they clicked on subjects related to particular groups of the World Cup.
Chart 1. Share of clicks made on the Sport.pl website (member of Gazeta.pl Group) in areas related to the groups of teams participating in the World Cup of 2010; source: gemiusHeatMap (11.06.2010 – 09.07.2010)
None of the so-called “death groups” proved interesting for the users of Sport.pl: they preferred to follow news on group A, comprising the representations of the Republic of South Africa, France, Uruguay and Mexico. Well, it must be said that this group was simply a very interesting one. The eyes of football supporters will always turn to the host, the performance of Mexico and Uruguay (the two teams that left the group) was truly uplifting, and the French provided some extra spice. The latter did not only play in a somewhat maladroit manner, but also played a causative role in a calumnious beyond-the-pitch event that had so strong repercussions and forced the footballers to excuse themselves to President Sarkozy himself. Most apparently, we are fond of sensations, as the next most popular group was the “Italian” one, where the ex-world champions quickly said goodbye to the Mundial after a dramatic fight.
Observing the Sport.pl users also gave us some information on the popularity of particular national representations. Although it is hard to indicate any undisputable leader in the ranking, we can take a look at the general distribution of the indicator.
Chart 2. Popularity ranking for football teams participating in the 2010 World Cup by the percentage distribution of clicks made on the Sport.pl website (member of Gazeta.pl Group) in all topic areas related to the national representations; source: gemiusHeatMap (11.06.2010 – 09.07.2010)
As you can see – it was not the great Brazil or refinement of the Spaniards that won the hearts of the Sport.pl visitors. This part of the Polish internet users population was most emotional about the western neighbour of Poland, i.e. Germany. This is hardly surprising, since the geographical vicinity and the quality of German performance must have been of great importance for the Poles. The grand victory over England (4:1) and quarter-final cannonade with Argentina (4:0) will long be remembered by the supporters . By the way, it was the derring play of the Argentineans that placed it at the second position in this popularity league table of ours. By the decision of the researched site’s users, the third position on the podium was taken by the “clockwork orange” Netherlands. Although this team could not boast a spectacular game, they were the only to win all the matches on their way up to the finals, eliminating the five-time world champion: Brazil.
Finally, for the thing most interesting for many – popularity league table for the stars. While it is true that football is team sport, without its idols it would be much poorer in its magic attraction. Who was then the Mundial’s most prominent popularity sorcerers?
Chart 3. Popularity ranking for footballers participating in the 2010 World Cup by the percentage distribution of clicks on the Sport.pl website (member of Gazeta.pl Group) in all topic areas related to particular players; sourcce: gemiusHeatMap (11.06.2010 – 09.07.2010)
Not surprisingly, for the Sport.pl visitors, similarly to football supporters all over the world, the number one soccer player, also in this year’s tournament, was Cristiano Ronaldo. The fact that the Portuguese representation was not very successful was irrelevant – Ronaldo has not parted with his golden crown of popularity for years. Second came Messi – right now the best footballer of the world, who (despite his commitment and great effort) did not score even a single goal. He did, however, manage to give his team the access to the quarter-finals, which is already a lot. Both dominated the “most popular football player contest”. Materials related to other players such as Kaka, Torres or Ribery (who were not victorious at the tournament) were relatively less often clicked on by the researched site’s users.
However, all our statistical deliberations and popularity league tables become pointless when the ONE comes on stage. I mean the final match of the World Cup. Last Sunday, the Spanish and Dutch footballers played an exciting though not particularly beautiful game. When looking at the Mundial from the perspective of numbers and forecasts, one cannot forget the modest hero who was carried out a continuously coldblooded and accurate prognosis right from the beginning. If you, dear Reader, have not yet guessed who I might mean, it’s Paul the Octopus. This exceptionally talented mollusc correctly indicated the winners of all the last Mundial’s meetings. If the animal’s secret is luck – it must be extraordinary. If it is about the analytical skills of the octopus – maybe we should offer Paul a post at Gemius?
