Sunday 02 July 2017, 08:09

Chile or Germany: which team will Russia support?

The FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017 has been extremely popular in the host country. Russian fans flocked to stadiums for the Tournament of Champions to cheer for the participating teams: the way the whole of the Saint Petersburg Stadium cheered for Cameroon during the group stage, for example, was unforgettable.

But who will Russians side with in today’s final: Chile or Germany? The world champions were stunned by the reception they received in Sochi to the point where the German Football Federation published a direct message to Russian fans from team captain Julian Draxler in Russian. The Chile team have also won favour with many Russian fans thanks to their colourful supporters, self-assured play and the heroics of Claudio Bravo in the penalty shootout against Portugal.

We used the official FIFA page on VKontakte, a popular social network in Russia, to ask fans who they will cheer for in the final. More than 95,000 people** responded to the survey **with 51 per cent voting for Germany and 49 per cent for Chile.

How the fans in the Saint Petersburg Stadium split their loyalties will only become clear after the match kicks off at 21.00 local time, but what is clear is that neither team will lack for enthusiastic support.

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