The World Cup's Uneven Playing Field

Due to its truly global footprint, the FIFA World Cup has always been a celebration of diversity, both on and off the pitch. It brings together different cultures, different playing styles and different levels of skill, professionalism and financial muscle. When the tournament finally kicks off later today, it will be on an uneven playing field. While nations like France, Spain and England have assembled squads full of international superstars, other participants will field teams that are largely unknown to fans outside of the respective country.

According to estimates from Transfermarkt.com, there is a huge gulf in squad value between the nations traditionally challenging for the title and those happy to be part of the show. France’s star-studded squad is worth more than 70 times as the teams assembled by Qatar, Jordan and Iraq, the least valuable squads in the tournament. This is a reflection of the balance of power in global football, which is concentrated in Europe’s top leagues. It is partly for this reason that surprises have become increasingly rare in the world’s biggest football competition, where it’s hard to imagine a fairy tale run of a smaller nation to the tournament’s final stages.