Unless you have been living under a rock for the last month you will have heard about the Euros 2016!
The 2016 UEFA European Championship is currently being held throughout France. The football tournament is held once every 4 years, with 24 European teams qualifying to compete for the coveted title of European Champions 2016.
This week brought about the announcement of final 16 who enter the knockout phase of the tournament. The lineup features some of the usual favourites such as France, Germany and Spain, but also includes a number of teams viewed as underdogs, such as Iceland, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
By the end of the knockout stages, starting this weekend, we will find out who makes the quarterfinals and continues their bid for the coveted title.
We used our Adoreboard real-time emotional analytics to analyse the fan interaction on Twitter regarding the Favourites and the Underdogs to see who had the ‘happiest’ fans. The result a Fan Index for the Euros.
The “Favourites”
The three “favourites” analysed were France, Germany and Spain.
France
The host of this year’s championship have been performing well, finishing top in their group during the group stages. The official hashtag for France #FRA currently has a high Adorescore of 59 with ecstasy, admiration and vigilance as the three leading high activation emotions. This isn’t surprising as a high level of positivity comes with not only being the host country but also from great match performances.
Germany
Despite being the current world champions, Germany (#GER) have a lower Adorescore of 34 with the main three high activation emotions being ecstasy, admiration and grief. The majority of the negative emotions stem from the worry over Boateng’s fitness to play since obtaining a calf muscle injury during their win over Northern Ireland on Tuesday.
Spain
Spain, #ESP, has the lowest Adorescore of 24, with the main three high activation emotions expressed by fans being ecstasy, admiration and loathing. A lot of the negativity surrounding the Spanish team comes from Italy fans tweeting their fears of being beaten during their game with Spain this Monday. Spanish fans may also be starting to worry about Spain’s chances in Euro 2016, with the team only qualifying second in their group to Croatia.
The “Underdogs”
The 2016 Euros have brought people together in celebration with many smaller teams somewhat overachieving and getting through to the final 16.
The three “underdogs” analysed were Iceland, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland’s official hashtag #NIR currently has an Adorescore of 53 with high levels of ecstasy, admiration and amazement. This is the first time the Northern Ireland team have qualified for the European Championships and has brought a lot of celebration to the country. Songs such as “Will Grigg’s on Fire” and hashtags such as #GAWA and #DareToDream have got the positive vibes going especially now they have qualified for the next round.
Republic of Ireland
The Republic of Ireland #IRE are fresh out of a great win against Italy. The Irish fans have been celebrating with their Adorescore sitting at a high 57 with the main activation emotions being ecstasy, admiration and vigilance. This is the Republic of Ireland’s third European Championship with their first time getting through to the final 16 knockout stage. Fans are taking to twitter with the hashtag #COYBIG and winning over the French with their joyous sing songs on the streets of France.
Iceland
The fact that this tiny nation has qualified is a great success. Iceland currently have a high Adorescore of 60 with high activation emotions such as admiration, ecstasy and amazement. This is Iceland’s first major tournament and spirits are definitely high throughout the small population. Iceland may face England for their round of 16 next week but they have a relatively strong team and anything can happen.
The Adoreboard analysis shows that the “underdogs” have the happiest fans with their Adorescores being relatively higher than the three main favourites. It is amazing the impact that a football tournament can have on emotion. People love an underdog story, hearing about teams achieving something that seemed almost impossible. The moral to every underdog story if you work hard and believe in something enough, it could happen.
Could there be an underdog winning story to tell?
