The football World Cup could cause major headaches for UK businesses, according to a survey by Eclipse, the internet providers.

It has found that 54 per cent of workers risk causing computer chaos by logging on to watch World Cup games online while at work.

Millions are planning to tune into games when they are streamed live but experts warn this could play havoc by slowing down – or in extreme cases – crashing office computer systems.

Clodagh Murphy, director of Eclipse, said: “UK workers clearly want to watch World Cup matches live on their PCs. However, we advise all businesses to be mindful about the impact this could have on their day-to-day business operations. Streamed content uses a lot of bandwidth and this could seriously impact the performance of their business internet connection.

“It could take much longer to download important files or use business-critical applications such as e-commerce sites, email or online backup. It might even lead to office computer systems crashing,” she said.

Fifty-six per cent of those polled did not know whether their organisation had any restrictions or guidelines in place to stop them accessing sites to watch the tournament. And 37 per cent thought that watching World Cup matches would not affect their work productivity.