Waterford in Ireland's Top 10 World Cup counties

Waterford is the ninth most World Cup-obsessed county in Ireland, according to new research released ahead of this year's tournament kicking off this coming Thursday.

The study found that Waterford fans are searching for the tournament at a rate of 793 searches per 100,000 people.

Ireland's appetite for the World Cup shows no sign of cooling, even after the Boys in Green missed out on the tournament following their playoff defeat to Czechia in March.

Analysis by Legacy Communications, a creative Digital PR and communications agency, examined monthly Google search volumes for top World Cup terms, including 'FIFA World Cup', 'World Cup 2026', 'how to watch World Cup' and 'World Cup live stream' across all 26 counties. To compare counties fairly regardless of size, searches were measured per 100,000 people.

Dublin tops the list with 1,773 searches per 100,000 people, comfortably ahead of every other county and the county's 25,850 monthly searches accounted for almost half of all World Cup searches in the entire country.

However, interest from the south east is also very high with Wexford ranking in second place with 1,525 searches per 100,000, out-searching far larger footballing counties like Cork, Galway and Limerick on a per-head basis. 

Louth (902), Kildare (896) and Westmeath (852) rounded out the top five with Waterford coming in ninth in the country in terms of World Cup related searches.

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The ten most World Cup-obsessed counties in Ireland are: Dublin (1,773 searches); Wexford (1,525 searches); Louth (902 searches); Kildare (896 searches); Westmeath (852 searches); Cork (837 searches); Carlow (823 searches); Wicklow (802 searches); Waterford (793 searches) and Galway (792 searches). 

As the biggest county outside the capital, Cork racked up the second-highest raw search volume in the country at 4,890, but once measured per head, it slipped to sixth, which the analysts said proved that sheer size doesn't equal the deepest obsession. 

"Just behind comes Carlow in seventh (823), one of the smallest counties on the list yet more World Cup-mad per person, than counties many times its size," said a spokesperson for the analysts.

"Completing the top ten are two counties carrying the flag for the south and west," said the spokesperson.

"Waterford sits ninth on 793, the second Munster County to make the cut after Cork and a reminder that the appetite for the World Cup is alive and well," she added.

Galway, was the only Connacht county to break into the top ten. 

Mary McGuire, Head of Sponsorship at Legacy Communications commented: "Even after Ireland’s playoff heartbreak, the World Cup still has a huge emotional pull here in Ireland."

"From Dublin’s sheer volume to standout interest in places like Wexford and Carlow, fans across the country are gearing up for kick-off in their own way; whether that’s 4am watch parties or just keeping up with the drama," she added.