Football fans are optimistic ahead of England’s first game at Euro 2024 – with almost half saying they expect Gareth Southgate’s side to reach the semi-finals.
England will face Serbia in the first of three group stage matches on Sunday, before facing Slovenia and Denmark next week.
Ahead of the game, a YouGov-Sky News poll found that 47% of football fans think England will at least reach the semi-finals – with 12% saying they expect England to win the entire tournament.
A total of 6% of respondents said they believe England will reach the final but lose, and 29% think they will be eliminated in the semi-finals.
Only 3% of fans think England will not progress past the group stage and 33% predict the team will be eliminated in the quarter-finals.
The survey had 2,111 adults interviewed on June 10th and 11th.
Preparations are underway in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, where England will face Serbia in a match that was considered “high risk” by the police.
This is “because of history, because of the hooligans that both sides have,” Chief Inspector Christof Burghardt previously told Sky News.
“Serbia has a lot of hooligans,” he added. “The English, with alcohol, are sometimes very aggressive. So it’s a great job to do that, to prepare, so that nothing happens.”
British police have been sharing intelligence and will send their largest deployment of officers since 2016.
Enhanced safety measures will include low-alcohol beer for fans and a ban on drinking in the stands.
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The England team left for Germany on Monday – after receiving a visit from Prince William, who passed advice to his youngest son’s teamPrince Louis.
England were defeated 1-0 by Iceland in their final warm-up friendly on Friday and Jack Grealish, James Maddison and Harry Maguire were left out of the final squad.
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