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GOOOAL! Get ready for the 2018 FIFA World Cup™ on YouTube

By The YouTube Team

As the world eagerly awaits the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, football fans are turning to YouTube to research and gear up for this summer’s tournament. In fact, global interest for the 2018 FIFA World Cup continues to grow, with search volume across Google and YouTube besting that of the Olympics, as well as other major sporting events.

To better understand what football fans are watching on YouTube, we researched which national teams, players, and football-related videos were trending on the platform over the past year:

Latin American teams and players lead the world in viewership

YouTube users around the world spent the most time watching videos related to Latin American teams. When it comes to watch time in 2017, the top five most popular national teams consist of Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Portugal, and Mexico.

Videos of superstar football players, including Lionel Messi, Neymar da Silva Santos Jr., and Cristiano Ronaldo, all had an 80 percent increase in watch time last year (versus the year prior).

Match recaps, game highlights and trick shots scored high with soccer fans
When it comes to football-related content on YouTube, match recaps, game highlights and trick shots proved popular. Over the past two years, the amount of time people spent watching match recaps on YouTube has more than doubled, and since the last FIFA World Cup, watch time for soccer game highlights has grown by 9x, while watch time for soccer-related trick shots has gone up by 50 percent in the last year.

On YouTube, football fans don’t just watch, they participate
People are also turning to YouTube to improve their own soccer skills, with watch time of “Drills and Skills” videos increasing 6x since 2014. Check out some popular soccer tutorials here:


How to watch your favorite 2018 FIFA World Cup moments this summer

Miss a game? Can’t get enough of the action? On YouTube globally, you can catch up on your favorite 2018 FIFA World Cup moments with select video highlights from official FIFA broadcasters in more than 80 countries around the world, including from Telemundo in the U.S., the BBC in the U.K., ARD Sportschau in Germany, NHK in Japan, Kwese in Nigeria and across Africa, Televisa in Mexico, Latina Televisión in Peru, and more. In the U.S., you’ll be able to watch all games live in markets where YouTube TV is available, with the additional option of using the YouTube TV cloud DVR feature to record matches you can’t catch in the moment.

The excitement doesn’t end on the pitch. There are hundreds of YouTube channels that will take you beyond the games for the complete 2018 FIFA World Cup experience, with live shows, training footage, interviews, banter and match analysis. The official FIFA channel will share content from around the tournament and keep users up-to-date with the latest news. A number of channels will have regular original and exclusive content including the FA with daily content from the English national football team, Germany’s DFB Die Mannschaft will report from the training camp as well as the team’s base camp, and FC Barcelona will even host interviews with Barça World Cup legends.

Join us in the countdown to the official kickoff …

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