Tournament outsiders Norway have attracted twice as many bets on them to win the 2026 World Cup as England, surprising new data has revealed.

Ahead of England’s first match of the tournament, against Croatia tonight in Dallas, Thomas Tuchel’s team have attracted five per cent of all betting tickets handled by Sportradar on behalf of more than 250 gambling firms worldwide.

Norway, however, account for 10 per cent of bets on the World Cup winner. The data was compiled before the Scandinavians began their campaign against Iraq on Tuesday night.

Patriotic Nordic gamblers placed around 70 per cent of all bets on their team to break their major tournament duck, with the remainder coming from the rest of the world. 

Their faith in a side spearheaded by free-scoring Manchester City forward Erling Haaland is all the more remarkable given that this is only Norway’s fourth appearance at the World Cup. They last qualified in 1998 and have never progressed beyond the last 16.

Only France, Portugal and Spain have been favoured more by punters, albeit at significantly shorter odds. Norway were priced at between 28/1 and 40/1 to lift the trophy before their first game of the tournament.

England fancied to beat Croatia in opener

Fans around the planet appear to have lost faith in England in recent weeks, with their share of bets on the World Cup winner market falling from eight per cent in April to five per cent now. They are third favourites in the market, behind France and Spain.

“With the tournament well underway fans worldwide are responding to how teams are performing on the pitch,” said Darren Small, SVP Managed Trading Services at Sportradar. 

“Spain and the Netherlands both underwhelmed in their opening games, which explains the continued support for France in the outright market.

“England haven’t kicked a ball yet and they’re drifting, so it will be interesting to see how the fans respond following the result on Wednesday.”

They may not fancy England to win the World Cup, but football fans do expect them to beat Croatia, with around 60 per cent of 1m betting tickets handled by Sportradar backing the result.