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Only a fifth of England fans are backing the Three Lions to win the Fifa World Cup despite being among the favourites to win, trailing behind rivals when it comes to patriotic punting, according to bookies.

Betting data from Ladbrokes and Coral owner Entain sheds light on how strongly people are backing their home nations, ahead of the men’s football tournament kicking off on Wednesday.

Portugal has the most loyal betters with 57% of domestic slips placed on the team.

This is well above the second-most patriotic country, France, with 29% of bets backing the team in the home market, followed by Austria at 25% and Germany at 24%.

In Britain, England trails behind with 20% home backing, but Scots are even less optimistic of lifting the World Cup trophy this year.

Some 9% of all bets placed in Scotland are backing the team, with the odds of them winning at 300/1.

The data from Entain covers bets placed up to and including June 3, with figures relating to the percentage of slips and stakes placed by betters in each market on their respective home nation.

The betting stakes from Entain’s global markets shows Spain in the lead as the most-backed team overall, followed by France, while England and Portugal are level at third.

Despite confidence among rival countries, Spanish punters are less patriotic with 16% of bets placed backing the home nation.

The data also revealed that there is limited cross-border support with 8% of Scots putting money on England to win, and just 1% of English betters backing Scotland to lift the trophy.

Tom Ritzema, group trading director at Entain, said the stakes show that “football loyalty and betting logic don’t always go hand in hand”.

“England fans are passionate, but years of near misses have made them think beyond their own country,” he said.

“Portugal clearly stands out as the most patriotic market, with fans firmly backing their team, while countries like France and Germany also show strong belief.

“What’s striking, though, is in the global picture Spain remains the most popular choice across our markets, showing that when it comes to this World Cup, neutrals and patriots alike are looking beyond national borders for their winner.”