FIFA Club World Cup Squad Values Exceed $12 Billion
The FIFA Club World Cup squad lists have been revealed.
Getty ImagesThe landmark tournament in soccer this summer will be FIFA’s new Club World Cup, which will go ahead with over $12 billion in player value on the field, despite struggles to sell tickets for games.
Data from Sportingpedia calculates the value of the squad lists submitted by the 32 teams involved from across the globe, with five clubs surpassing a squad value of over $1 billion in the form of Real Madrid, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich.
One of the other intriguing points flagged by the data shows that those five clubs’ squads are worth more than the remaining 27 teams added together, as fears emerge about the quality gap between some teams.
When comparing the most valuable squad at the tournament, Real Madrid at €1.3 billion ($1.5 billion), with the least valuable squad, belonging to New Zealand side Auckland City at €4.6 million ($5.3 million), Real Madrid’s squad is worth over 289 times as much.
Despite that, the opening game between Inter Miami and Al Ahly, on June 14th at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, will have squads worth a combined $134 million, less than the value of half of the clubs’ squads in the tournament.
In particular, European clubs have a significant advantage, as the top 11 teams for squad value are all European. The highest value of a non-European club is €252.6 million ($292.5 million) from Brazilian side Palmeiras.
When analyzing U.S.-based teams more closely, we see that Inter Miami leads Seattle Sounders, with Los Angeles FC coming in below them, however even Inter Miami’s value stands at only €66.2 million ($76.6 million). The lowest values from the U.S. belong to the Seattle Sounders, who rank at €51.8 million ($60 million), and Los Angeles FC at €46 million ($53.3 million), with the 25th highest value squad of the 32 teams involved.
The country with the highest squad values of its clubs belongs to England, worth €2.3 billion ($2.7 billion), followed by Spain, Germany and Italy, all worth over $1 billion. That is despite Brazil being the nation with the most clubs, four, and ranking highly among the non-European nations.
The most valuable group to watch will be Group G, with a combined market value of €2 billion ($2.3 billion), which is more than three times the value of the lowest-valued group in Group F, where Borussia Dortmund are the only side to break into nine-figures for squad value.
In Group G, Manchester City, boosted by recent transfer business to sign Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait Nouri, and Tijjani Reijnders, will be joined by another heavyweight in Italian side Juventus, as well as Abu Dhabi-based side Al Ain and Moroccan team Wydad.
The group which looks to be the most competitive is Group B, where Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain are the top dogs at €1.1 billion ($1.3 billion), and are joined by valuable sides such as Atlético Madrid at €508.5 million ($588.8 million), as well as Botafogo’s €163.2 million ($188.9 million) and Seattle Sounders.