May 2 – Spain have the power to regain the World Cup title they lost to Germany in 2014, according to a ranking by the CIES Football Observatory that looks at the most likely Russia 2018 winners.
The power index combines the average percentage of matches played at domestic league level since July 2017 by the 23 most fielded players per team in the qualifying campaign with the average sporting level of employer clubs.
Spain tops the list ahead of Brazil, while 12 of the top 16 ranked teams are European with the other four in the top 16 coming from South America. Brazil are ranked second followed by France, Germany and England. Host nation Russia are ranked at 14th.
“During current season, the 23 Spanish footballers most fielded in the qualification stage have on average played 81.1% of domestic league matches. This is the highest figure measured among all participating teams. The average sporting level of the clubs employing Spanish players is also the greatest overall: 1.37. According to these criteria, Spain is well placed to repeat its 2010 success. Three other teams have a power index of more than 80: Brazil, France and Germany,” says the report.
Highest ranked of the non-European or South American teams is Mexico at 17th with Africa’s highest ranked team being Senegal at 18th.
The lowest power index was recorded for Panama while both Iran and Saudi Arabia have a power index of less than 25.
See full report at http://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/mr/mr30/en/
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