Football fever grips India with 49% rooting for Brazil: Report

Mumbai: The FIFA World Cup football fever has gripped India, as 49 per cent of the countrymen supporting hosts Brazil, while Argentina skipper Lionel Messi voted the "hottest footballer of the season", according to a recent survey report released here on Thursday.

About 49 per cent of Indians surveyed supported five-time champions Brazil, a survey by global travel search site Skyscanner said. Argentina and Germany shared the second spot in the list, with 15 per cent support from the Indians, it said. Last edition runners-up, the Netherlands, which drubbed defending champions Spain 5-1 in their group match, had seven per cent of Indians rooting for them. "While New Delhi and Mumbai vouch for Germany at the second spot, Kolkata supports Argentina, the team that visited Salt Lake stadium back in 2011," the Skyscanner report said. Argentina skipper and four-time Ballon D`Or winner Messi bagged the top spot as "hottest footballer of the season", with 38 per cent women voting for him, while Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo claimed the second spot with 22 per cent women voting for him. Barcelona forward Messi was the favourite among men, with nearly half the respondents supporting him, while Ronaldo found support from 26 per cent of the men.