Riyadh — With Saudi Arabia’s football team preparing to take part in the FIFA World Cup 2018, Saudi fans cannot contain their excitement, especially on Twitter, where they have already begun enthusiastically supporting their team.

Over the last six months, Saudi Arabia has ranked second globally in the number of tweets about the World Cup, with Japan leading in first place and Brazil in third.

According to a survey conducted by Twitter, 97 percent of Saudi Twitter users showed excitement about the FIFA World Cup 2018, where 43 percent planned to watch every game and 92 percent plan to use Twitter as their main platform to share their thoughts.

The Saudi football team is set to play against Russia for their first World Cup 2018 match on June 14.

The Twitter survey by marketing consultancy firm Hall & Partners found that 96 percent of Twitter users in the UAE are excited about the FIFA World Cup.

When asked which country will win the World Cup, Brazil took the lead with 25% followed by Germany with 18% and Argentina with 18% as well. The majority of Twitter users backed the Brazilian team.

As for the Arab countries, 29% of users support Egypt, 27% support Saudi Arabia and 18% support Morocco.

Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah has become the third most mentioned football player globally on Twitter in the past six months, creating even more Twitter buzz recently after being injured on the field during the finals of the Champions League.

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo is the number one talked about player on Twitter. — Agencies