Marital ties in the time of World Cup

A domestic beer brand recently launched an interesting advertisement campaign. It invited a star couple to enact a mini-drama, in which a man asks his wife for a 33-day leave to watch the Football World Cup, and the latter magnanimously approves and also agrees to take care of their child during that period.

Not surprisingly, the campaign has sparked a public debate on couples' relationships during the 2014 World Cup. Many men tend to watch all the World Cup matches while their wives reluctantly assume greater responsibility in household work and other family matters. No wonder, many people see the World Cup as a challenge to marital relationships across the globe.

But contrary to popular belief that the World Cup leads to a rise in the divorce rate, experts with a British divorce service provider website, Divorce-Online, have found that during the four soccer-crazy weeks in 2010, the number of divorce cases in England and Wales declined by 36 percent. Therefore, we can't say that many couples' relationships deteriorate to the point of crisis during the World Cup.