I believe that soccer (or "football," as it is called in Britain) is, indeed, quite popular here in Europe.
I have lived here in Germany for nigh on to 40 years, and every now and then, Fußball manages to rise above the background noise of my everyday life and tangentially impinge upon my consciousness - rather like the "Eurovision" contest televised annually, of which I generally become aware a few days after the broadcast.
In the course of the four decades I have spent here, I have actually watched 2-3 minutes of it on airport tv screens and such.
My impression is that it is about as popular here as American football is in the States.
Regards,
I’m in western Canada, football and hockey are common, but these days it seems that as more people wake up and look around, they’re not tuning as much anymore, wondered if that was the case there too. I have no idea how many Europeans are snapping out of their comas. I know my old country Hungary is quite alert now.