The sports world is eagerly awaiting the draw for the 2026 World Cup on Friday evening (6 p.m.). However, the Germans are not yet in the World Cup mood shortly beforehand.
According to a Forsa survey commissioned by RTL and ntv Only 38 percent of Germans are looking forward to the tournament in the USA, Canada and Mexico. 58 percent don’t feel any anticipation yet.
The result is significantly different for those interested in football: here, at 74 percent, almost twice as many respondents feel excited about the World Cup, while the opposite is the case for 25 percent.
The fact that the field of participants at the 2026 World Cup will be expanded from 32 to 48 teams and thus the diversity of the teams will increase is causing mixed reactions in Germany. 31 percent of those surveyed think that more diversity among the participants makes the World Cup more attractive. 15 percent say it makes the tournament less attractive. For the majority (53 percent), greater diversity does not matter.
Among those interested in football, the opinions are almost identical: 34 percent say it makes the World Cup more attractive, 32 percent feel the opposite, 33 percent don’t care.
Due to the time difference, most World Cup games take place in the late evening or at night in Central Europe. This is also important for viewers’ TV planning. 41 percent of those surveyed said they don’t watch any World Cup games at all. At least 29 percent plan to only watch the German team’s games, while another 27 percent of all respondents are also interested in other World Cup games. The latter applies especially to those interested in football: 54 percent also want to watch games without German participation.
In keeping with the topic of the 2026 World Cup, world champions Lothar Matthäus and Thomas Müller have also been in exclusive interviews in the last few days RTL, ntv and sport.de expressed.
Lothar Matthäus: “America was already somehow strange for me as a player in 1994. The USA is not as enthusiastic about football now and there are long distances. You have to take the team with you in your head about what awaits them there. Security, travel hardships, preparation, fan support and other things are a little different in a country as big as North America than here in Europe. But ultimately, football is played there on the pitch like it is here in Europe. (…) There will be interesting months ahead, and not just for Julian Nagelsmann, but also for the players who have hopes of being at this World Cup. There will be tough decisions that the national coach will have to make.”
Thomas Müller: “A World Cup is the highlight in world football. Vancouver is happy. I’m excited to see which teams come here – the draw is still pending. There’s a lot of anticipation. The German team has enough talent to compete for the title, but we’re not the favorites.”