Pizzas and burgers are the top choices for UAE customers on game night.
60% football fans will be watching the games from their own home or at a friend’s place.
The foods least likely to be ordered during games are tapas, curry, and dim sum.
Euro season is on and UAE football fans have officially readjusted all priorities to catch some of this year’s most exciting games! And where fans gather to support their teams: there is undoubtedly great food. Deliveroo’s recent survey breaks down fun facts about what UAE Euro 2020 fans are most likely to eat this season, where they prefer to watch a game, and how they celebrate a win. Deliveroo has surveyed 500 football fans throughout the UAE to gather insight on Euro 2020’s biggest food trends.
Go Big while Staying Home: Where are they watching Euro 2020?
Respondents chose two of their favourite settings for watching a game.
Findings show 60% of UAE Football fans will either be watching their top teams duke it out on their at-home flat screens, while 31% will be cheering wildly for their teams at a friend’s home. Others prefer to take in the buzzing energy of the public. 20.26% of respondents shared that they will be watching the games in dedicated sports bars while 14.9% will watch the games in bars or pubs.
Food Favourites During a Game
According to the survey, most orders placed during the game are for easy to eat handheld food.
Taking a deep dive into the UAE’s football fans eating habits, the survey revealed that 34 % of fans prefer a cheesy handheld pizza, while UAE’s expansive selection of burgers made for a close second at 19%. Less popular but still in the running was pasta at 7% and hotdogs at 5.59%. Surprisingly, UAE fans choose to stay away from some of the region’s favourite items during the season with only 1% ordering tapas, dim sum, curry and poke bowls!
Food Favourites to Celebrate a Win
Fans of the winning team are more likely to order pizza to celebrate their win.
While cheering, dive-bombing a table, and making a joyous ruckus to celebrate their team’s win during the games, 41.52% of UAE football fans like to gorge on oven-hot pizzas. 17.17% of fans would celebrate their teams win with an order of juicy burgers, while 7.58% of fans would order up a fish & chips combo.
Steak Frites were also a popular choice among the respondents, as 6.79% of fans stated they would order up a steak in honour of their team’s win. Less popular, but no less delicious, was sushi at 4.59%.
Comfort Food to Deal with a Loss
Pizza remains the top food of choice among the fans – even when losing.
As pizza reigns supreme this season, 24% of fans reported that they would be most likely to order it up to comfort themselves over their team’s loss. 19% of fans stated they would prefer a burger after their crushing defeat. Only 7.39% of respondents stated they would prefer hot dogs, however, 7% also stated they would prefer no food at all should their team lose. Once again, fans do not seem to gravitate towards less filling foods, as only 1.20% order tapas, 1.60% order poke bowls and 0.60% opt for dim sum.
Plans? What plans?
With fans hooked to their TV screens, most will be trying their best to catch all the Euro 2020 games.
Hobbies? Never heard of them. This Euro season, 39% of survey respondents confidently will be glued to their screens in an attempt to catch every game. 38% of viewers would try to squeeze as many matches in as they could, while 11.98% would only watch the evening games. 11.38% of hardcore fans of one team and one team only would watch their favourite team’s matches alone. 9.78% of respondents said they would only watch the headliners.
The survey indicates that regardless of whether their team wins or loses, fans will turn to comfort food like pizza to get them through the season.