Millions of women are enjoying the World Cup, to such an extent their husbands are annoyed with non-stop football being played on the TV, a study has found.
More than half of the 1,500 women polled said they were watching the tournament on a daily basis.
Almost one in five said they are more excited about the World Cup than their partner is.
More than one in 10 have even faced pleas from their husband or boyfriends to change channels so they can watch something else.
But it isn’t only adult women who are following events in Russia closely, more girls than ever before are interested in football too.
A separate poll of 500 girls aged 6-16 found more girls now aspire to be a football player, 22 per cent, than WAGs (wives and girlfriends), 9 per cent.
More than one in 20 said they would like to manage a football team at some point.
The study also found 57 per cent of women believe there should be more female pundits analysing World Cup games.
However, 44 per cent of respondents believe football is an inherently sexist sport, although three quarters felt strides have been made in recent years to make football more inclusive for women.
One third of the women surveyed actively follow a Premier League or English Football League team, with 20 per cent holding season tickets to watch their side play regularly.
But 46 per cent of them said they don’t feel empowered to have an opinion about football.
SWNS
