England’s journey through the stages of the FIFA World Cup have seen changes in consumer spending habits both out of home and at home.
Takeaway and delivery platforms are expected to see a significant surge in demand following England’s World Cup semi-final against Argentina tonight, according to new analysis from Zilch, the payments platform.
It has analysed sales across Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats, throughout England’s 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign, and found supporters have repeatedly increased ordering immediately after major England victories, suggesting Wednesday’s semi-final could create one of the “biggest takeaway trading moments” of the tournament.
Takeaway spending increased 66.6% in the hour (12:30am) after England’s quarter-final victory over Norway, the largest uplift recorded across comparable fixtures.
This follows takeaway spending rising by 41.3% following England’s victory over Panama (12am).
Zilch also revealed that spending was 36.4% higher after England’s opening match against Croatia (11pm), highlighting a “consistent post-match pattern” throughout the tournament.
Andreas Andreou, Chief Revenue Officer at Zilch, said: “England’s World Cup run has created clear and consistent shifts in consumer spending behaviour. Across the tournament we’ve seen supporters increasingly turn to takeaway platforms after major victories, using food delivery as part of how they celebrate and extend the occasion.”
Meanwhile, Fourth, the hospitality software company, found similar trends during the semi-final on Saturday (11th July 2026) in England’s match against Norway which kicked off at 10pm.
It found that while quick service restaurants had suppressed sales before the match, they were up overall by 13.2% on the day, with surges both in delivery and counter service peaking in the 1am to 3am time slot.
Pubs were the standout performers up 37% on the day, with wet sales up in the morning by 28% well before kick-off. While trading in pubs ran below normal from midday to around 7pm, at its lowest at 6pm sales were down 11%, right in the heart of normal dinner service.
However, from 8pm it started to climb with an uplift of +137% by 11pm. And rather than settling down at midnight like a normal Saturday, it stayed dramatically elevated deep into the early hours +87.6% at 1am, only calming down around 4am. More than twice as many venues recorded a sale at midnight as on a normal Saturday, Fourth said.
Meanwhile, the British Beer & Pub Association has said it expects tonight’s match to be the most successful of the tournament in terms of beer sales.
Emma McClarkin, CEO of the British Beer and Pub Association, said: “Thanks to the World Cup, we’ve seen millions of extra pints sold off the back of homenations matches.
“Given the nail-biting stakes, we expect Wednesday to be the most successful night of the tournament, with more than six million extra pints potentially sold –which is a bigger boost than we’d normally see on a Bank Holiday or New Year’s Eve.”
