Based on player transfer values France will play England in 2018 World Cup final  

June 11 – The CIES Football Observatory has ranked teams participating in the Russia 2018 World Cup by their transfer values. Top of the table are France with a total squad value of €1.41 billion.

Second in the table are England (€1.39 billion), who are ahead of Brazil (€1.27 billion). Seven European teams are in the top 10 ranking positions with only Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay breaking their dominance.

The highest ranked African team is Senegal in 12th position with a squad transfer value of just 320 million. No nations from the AFC or Concacaf confederations make it into the top half of the squad valuations.

“The valuations refer to the fair price that the most likely buyer clubs should pay to sign the players. The sporting performance of both the footballers themselves and their clubs of belonging are included in the algorithm. In addition, other variables such as age and contract duration are taken into account, as detailed in the following research note,” say the CIES ranking authors.

The total estimated transfer value for all players in the World Cup (perhaps the equivalent in accounting to terms to a stock valuation) is €12.6 billion.

Panama, Saudi Arabia and Iran are at the bottom of the ranking with Panama’s combined player evaluation at just €15 million. Indeed, taking the valuations of all three nations together they would still be worth less than the most valuable player in 16 of the top 17 ranked nations.

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