--- title: 5 Weird Statistics About the World Cup description: From Kim Kardashian to island nations, here are some of the weirdest facts about the World Cup canonical: https://time.com/2917496/5-weird-facts-about-the-world-cup/ author: Jack Linshi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-24T17:39:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:11:06.554Z og:title: 5 Weird Facts About the World Cup og:description: From Kim Kardashian to island nations, here are some of the weirdest statistics about the World Cup og:url: https://time.com/2917496/5-weird-facts-about-the-world-cup/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf32c5f3a8683522/6986958dadae4444f8543791/cristiano-ronaldo.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Cristiano Ronaldo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 5 Weird Facts About the World Cup twitter:description: From Kim Kardashian to island nations, here are some of the weirdest statistics about the World Cup twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf32c5f3a8683522/6986958dadae4444f8543791/cristiano-ronaldo.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 5 Weird Facts About the World Cup  by [Jack Linshi](https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Jun 24, 2014 5:39 PM UTC  Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid reacts during the UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atletico de Madrid at Estadio da Luz stadium in Lisbon on May 24, 2014. Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid reacts during the UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atletico de Madrid at Estadio da Luz stadium in Lisbon on May 24, 2014.Jean Catuffe—Getty Images  by [Jack Linshi](https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Jun 24, 2014 5:39 PM UTC **1\. The Solomon Islands has the world’s highest Google search volume index for “World Cup.”** Yes, this [tiny archipelago](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Solomon+Islands/@-9.2263493,159.1873907,7z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x68d351e0555009d1:0xb44cc0a017442980) northeast of Australia—its team isn’t even in World Cup this year—is Googling “World Cup” like crazy. Next are [Vanuatu](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Vanuatu/@-15.4492793,167.595411,7z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x6e89605ec8926013:0x348339cfbed0266a), Liberia, South Sudan and Sierra Leone. **2\. Meanwhile, a small Oregon town called Sheridan boasts the highest search volume index in the U.S.** This tiny city with a population of roughly 7,000 is beating out giants like New York, Los Angeles and Miami. **3\. Americans were the least excited about the event, and Indonesians were the most.** In the days leading up to the World Cup, the U.S. placed last in a global survey about levels of excitement surrounding the tournament. Only 11% of Americans were very excited, while Indonesians posted the highest excitement rate. **4\. Fast food and beer are dominating World Cup ads for Hispanic viewers.** For the World Cup’s second week, the top advertisers on Univision—a Spanish-language TV network—have been McDonalds and Budweiser. Meanwhile, Microsoft and Bacardi are dominating ads on ABC/ESPN, which are English-language. **5\. On average, Kim Kardashian is way more popular than Cristiano Ronaldo—and she’s as popular as the World Cup itself.** According to worldwide Google data since 2004, interest in Kim has been nearly as high as Cristiano during the 2010 and 2014 World Cups. While Cristiano’s and the World Cup’s popularities spike every few years, Kim rules the Internet during off-season. And believe it or not, the Internet’s average interest in Kim is as high as that of the World Cup. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2917496/5-weird-facts-about-the-world-cup/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2917496/5-weird-facts-about-the-world-cup/"},"headline":"5 Weird Facts About the World Cup","datePublished":"2014-06-24T17:39:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:11:06.554Z","description":"From Kim Kardashian to island nations, here are some of the weirdest facts about the World Cup","url":"https://time.com/2917496/5-weird-facts-about-the-world-cup/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Sports topic","Soccer","World Cup","FIFA","world cup 2014"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf32c5f3a8683522/6986958dadae4444f8543791/cristiano-ronaldo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf32c5f3a8683522/6986958dadae4444f8543791/cristiano-ronaldo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cristiano Ronaldo","caption":"Cristiano Ronaldo","creditText":"Jean Catuffe—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2917496/5-weird-facts-about-the-world-cup/","name":"5 Weird Facts About the World Cup"}}]}] ```