As England prepare to board the plane to Russia, the number of fans following them has nosedived, with English World Cup ticket sales sluggish compared to other nations and twice as many sold to fans of Colombia.

Heightened political tensions between the UK and Russia, fears of racism and homophobia and the high cost of travel to the World Cup appears to have put some fans off, with just 32,362 tickets being sold to England supporters.

This number puts them 10th on the list of countries that have purchased tickets with 2,403,116 sold globally.

Russian fans have bought nearly half of them, with 871,797 - nearly 10 times as many as second place USA with 88,825. The USA did not qualify for the World Cup, and neither did China, whose fans have bought 40,251 tickets.

Ahead of England is Australia (36,359 tickets sold), Peru (43,583 tickets sold) and Colombia (65,234).

In Brazil at the 2014 tournament, England fans bought around 58,000 tickets.

As it stands, international demand accounts for 54 per cent of ticket sales, but they remain on sale until July 15.