As reported by CIES, the football observatory, in ranking the potential transfer values of all 32 squads at the World Cup, set to start in Qatar on Sunday night, the gap in playing resources between the nations is wider than might have been expected.
The collective transfer value of the 831 players travelling to Qatar this week totals €15bn, with England and Brazil boasting the most expensive squads. However, the squad with the lowest value, Costa Rica’s, rated at just €23m in potential transfer fees, is worth just 1.53% of England’s, with Gareth Southgate’s group valued at nearly €1.5bn on it’s own – over 65 times the value of Costa Rica’s.
Australia’s squad, who face France in Group D, is valued at €38m, the third lowest at the tournament, which is just 2.84% of Didier Deschamps’ €1.337bn French squad. The meeting between the two nations next Tuesday represents the game with the biggest disparity between teams in terms of transfer value during the group stages, with France’s squad more than 35 times more valuable than the Socceroo’s.
Iran’s squad falls into the bottom five at €53m in transfer value, just 3.54% of Group B opponents, England. Hosts Qatar have a squad valued at €29m, the competition’s second lowest, just 3.84% of the Netherlands’ €756m squad – the two nations meet in Group A on Tuesday 29th November.
GWFN
