Big German invasion and even the US fans will be out in force

WORLD Cup holders Germany are likely to be the best-supported foreign team at Russia 2018, judging from flight bookings to football’s flagship tournament.

Data from the global travel tech firm, Travelport, reveals actual numbers of passengers booked to fly to Russia between June 14 and July 15, which is the duration of the tournament.

The strongest absolute growth in flight bookings is from Germany, with 16,213 more travellers booked than in the corresponding period last year — an increase of 44%. German fans have so far bought over 62,000 tickets.

Two-thirds more Americans will fly to Russia, representing 13,654 travellers.

More tickets have been bought by US fans than by any other foreign nation, even though their team failed to qualify.

China, Spain and Brazil fill the next spots. Argentina is sixth, with an astonishing growth of 939%, representing 6,199 more travellers.

The UK (rather than just England) takes seventh place. A 51% rise will see 6,159 additional passengers fly to Russia.

England supporters have bought only around 33,000 tickets, barely half as many as German fans and fewer than the number sold to Australian fans.