Turns Out North Carolina Is Not That Interested In The 2022 World Cup

DOHA, QATAR – NOVEMBER 14: Images of Harry Kane of England and Virgil van Dijk of Netherlands are seen on sky skrapers in the West Bay area ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 on November 14, 2022 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

(Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

Are you ready for the World Cup? If you are, you are in the minority. At least among North Carolinians, who thus far, have shown limited interest in the sporting event. In fact, a study by Gambling.com found that North Carolina is not that interested in the World Cup. Which, as someone who could care less, resonates with me. I'm a sports fan, but nothing about soccer has ever interested me. From playing or watching it's just not my thing. But the amount of kids in this area who grow up playing soccer is huge. And the interest is reflected in the excitement surrounding the new Charlotte Football Club team. So, considering that interest I guess I would have thought the interest would be there in what I assume is soccer's (as I die-hard American football fan, I just can't call it "football') biggest event. Feel free to send me hate mail if you disagree with that stance. I can take it.

The 2022 Fifa World Cup

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Al Bayt stadium will host the opening game of the Qatar World Cup on Nov. 20. The home team will take on Ecuador as the opening event. With domestic soccer starting to wind down across the globe, anticipation is building worldwide for the international men's tournament. The USA will begin its journey to a title the following day, Nov. 21st. The team's first match will be against Wales. And some states cannot wait! Others, like North Carolina, have been a little apathetic ahead of the competition. But this could very well change as the tournament begins.

The World Cup research team at Gambling.com was on a mission to find out which U.S. states have the most interest in the competition. To do this, they analyzed the Google search popularity of twelve different World Cup-related terms in each state. This was the metric to determine which one is most engrossed in the global event. All results are presented per 100k residents to ensure equal weighting. Keep reading to see where North Carolina ranked, hint they are one of the top 10 least interest states in the World Cup. Following that list, you will find the 10 most interested states. Are you counting down the minutes to the event? Let us know!

Top 10 U.S. States Least Interested In The World Cup

1. California

DOHA, QATAR - NOVEMBER 14: An image of Salem Al Dawsari of Saudi Arabia adorns a skyscraper in West Bay ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 on November 14, 2022 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images)

Average Monthly Searches: 32,808

Population: 39,995,077

Searches Per 100,000 People (Monthly): 82

2. Texas

DOHA, QATAR - NOVEMBER 14: Lights are seen from Doha Corniche ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 on November 14, 2022 in Doha, Qatar.

Average Monthly Searches: 25,239

Population: 29,945,493

Searches Per 100,000 People (Monthly): 84

3. Florida

DOHA, QATAR - NOVEMBER 14: Doha Skyline buildings display an animation of a football on its facade ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 at on November 14, 2022 in Doha, Qatar (Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images)

Average Monthly Searches: 21,964

Population: 22,085,563

Searches Per 100,000 People (Monthly): 99

4. Ohio

DOHA, QATAR - NOVEMBER 14: People play football at the Corniche Waterfront ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 at on November 14, 2022 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

Average Monthly Searches: 12,631

Population: 11,852,036

Searches Per 100,000 People (Monthly): 107

5. New York

DOHA, QATAR - NOVEMBER 14: The Hublot timer for the countdown to the start of the tournament is seen ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 on November 14, 2022 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

Average Monthly Searches: 25,014

Population: 20,365,879

Searches Per 100,000 People (Monthly): 123

6. Pennsylvania

DOHA, QATAR - NOVEMBER 14: Images of Harry Kane of England and Virgil van Dijk of Netherlands are seen on sky skrapers in the West Bay area ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 on November 14, 2022 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

Average Monthly Searches: 16,122

Population: 13,062,764

Searches Per 100,000 People (Monthly): 123

7. Michigan

Average Monthly Searches: 13,171

Population: 10,116,069

Searches Per 100,000 People (Monthly): 130

8. North Carolina

DOHA, QATAR - NOVEMBER 14: FIFA World Cup signage is seen ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 on November 14, 2022 in Doha, Qatar.

Average Monthly Searches: 17,017

Population: 10,620,168

Searches Per 100,000 People (Monthly): 160

9. Tennessee

DOHA, QATAR - NOVEMBER 14: People gather at the Corniche Waterfront ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 at on November 14, 2022 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

Average Monthly Searches: 11,341

Population: 7,023,788

Searches Per 100,000 People (Monthly): 161

10. Georgia

DOHA, QATAR - NOVEMBER 14: People gather at the Corniche Waterfront ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 on November 14, 2022 in Doha, Qatar.

Average Monthly Searches:

Population:

Searches Per 100,000 People (Monthly):

The Top 10 U.S. States Most Interested In The World Cup

District of Columbia
Vermont
Delaware
Wyoming
Rhode Island
Alaska
North Dakota
New Hampshire
South Dakota
Montana

Methodology

The data team at Gambling.com set out to discover which U.S. States are most interested in the Qatar World Cup, based on Google search volume.
They began by listing the 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia.
D.C. was included in the study as it has a higher population than many US states, combined with its governmental significance.
Next they used Ahrefs to gather how frequently twelve different ‘World Cup’ related terms had each been input into Google in the US over the past year.
The value provided by Ahrefs was an average monthly search volume spread across the previous twelve months, and did not go into the differences between certain months.
The twelve different phrases used to measure interest were “world cup”, “world cup qatar”, “world cup 2022”, “fifa world cup”, ‘fifa world cup qatar”, “copa mundial”, “copa del mundo”, “copa del mundo 2022”, “usmnt world cup”, “usmnt squad”, “usa world cup”, “usmnt world cup roster”.
The Gambling.com research team then utilized Google Trends to see how the total US search volume for each phrase is allocated per state.
The Google Trend state breakdown for each phrase was analyzed alongside the previous Ahrefs figure for total nationwide search volume, to calculate the approximate number of monthly searches for each phrase in each state.
The totals for every search term were then added together, to find the total number of searches for all terms in each US state.
To ensure that all states were being weighted equally, the Gambling.com analysts then used World Population Review to gather up to date population statistics for each.
The population figures for each state were then divided into the total number of searches, to provide the total number of searches per person. This result was then multiplied by 100,000 to gauge the popularity of the World Cup per 100,000 residents.
Finally, each state was ranked from most to least interested in the 2022 World Cup.
All data was collected on 11/04/2022 and correct on that date.

FIFA World Cup Local North Carolina

Melanie DayWriter

Melanie Day is a graduate of North Carolina State University. She has worked for Beasley since 2012 in a variety of behind-the-scenes roles in both digital and promotions. Melanie writes about a diverse range of topics some of her favorites include travel, restaurants, Taylor Swift, and college athletics. When not at work you'll find her at a country concert or NC State sporting event.