Home-sharing giant Airbnb welcomed over 277,000 guests across homes in Russia during the nail-biting Fifa World Cup - four times more compared to the same period last year - with 76 per cent of its guests coming from abroad, mainly from the US, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, UK, France, Germany and Peru.

Looking into the booking data of such a large guest group, Airbnb has revealed some surprising patterns among its guests and has also identified the most die-hard fans who were the most confident about their team winning all along

Devastated fans of the Three Lions made the most bookings, proving that the Brits are the most die-hard and loyal soccer fans. Admirers of the French team were not far behind. Similarly, optimistic travellers from Germany, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico also booked accommodation for July 15.

Despite the fact that the Italians, the Dutch or the Americans did not qualify, nothing could stop them buying tickets for matches. There have been over 54,000 guest arrivals from the US, 1,200 guest arrivals from Italy and over a 1,000 guest arrivals from the Netherlands to Russia during the four week period.

Soccer fever took over the host nation too: Following Russia’s surprisingly good performance in the group phase over 38,000 domestic guests decided to book an Airbnb listed home while the tournament was already in full swing. Among other countries who’ve booked a last minute stay in Russia were US, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia.

With 11 cities hosting world cup matches, fans had to travel far and wide to support their teams. Moscow was the most visited with over 97,000 guest arrivals, followed by Saint Petersburg (82,000 guest arrivals), Kazan (26,000), Samara (over 17,000) and Nizhny Novgorod (over 15,000). Fifty-eight per cent per cent of hosts during the World Cup were first-timers. - TradeArabia News Service