Euro 2012 so far has truly been a bag of surprises. Russia, who I drew in the office sweepstake looked certain to qualify, only to be dumped out by Greece. On the other hand England started the tournament nervously and defensively with no real expectation of winning – and they not only qualified, but topped their group and are now the tournament dark horses.

Who would have thought it? Judging by the weight of UK Internet searches, not many. One of the interesting things we observed before the kick off of the Euros was that people were visiting gambling websites a lot less than before the start of the South Africa World Cup. In fact people were six times more likely to visit a gambling site in the week before the World Cup than they were in the week before the Euros, an indication of the nation’s confidence in the England team.

UK Internet searches containing the word 'england' are up 67%.

As the tournament has progressed however we’ve seen faith restored. UK Internet searches including the word ‘england’ have increased by 67% since the start of the tournament as people begin searching for fixtures, results, kick off times and paraphernalia such as flags. Dispirited England fans have had their passion reignited since qualification to the quarter finals with flight searches for Poland and Ukraine up 51% in the last two weeks.

Of course, not everyone will be able to get away to support England as they face Italy on Sunday but there will be millions of fans cheering England on from the comfort of their sofas. Encouraging news for Euro 2012 sponsors Sharp is that searches for Sharp TVs have increased 57% since the start of the tournament, the most popular model being the Sharp 32 inch HD ready LCD TV.

Enjoy the rest of the Euros. You can find out more about Hitwise by visiting our website, checking out our YouTube channel or following us on Twitter.