ING surveyed 16,000 fans across Europe and discovered the English would give up money, holidays and 1% of their purchasing power to win the football.
Asked if they feel pride if their team wins almost 60% in both England and Italy answered “yes” while Italy had a higher proportion of “big fans” than England.
ING senior economist Ian Bright said: “Of course, football matches are not decided by the support of the fans but football matches do play a big part in the lives of many of the team’s supporters. Football is more than just a game.
“We know that people respond in an emotional way to events. Football exposes some fascinating economics lessons. One of them is the need to control emotions.
“On the field, sticking to a long-term plan and trusting objective statistics can keep emotions under control and, in the long run, may bring better results. The same can hold true off the field as well.”
ING’s Economics Department is running a dedicated Cup-o-nomics campaign for Euro 2012.
It includes surveys, economic studies and articles by well-known sports and economics author Simon Kuper.
