June 16, 2014
The Japanese and South Korean football teams, the only Asian teams among 32 teams worldwide taking part in the FIFA World Cup tournament in Brazil, have a total insurable value of GBP158 million (US$268 million), according to Lloyd’s.
The Japanese team, which ranks higher in the World FIFA rankings, has a total insurable value of GBP92.8 million, compared to the South Korean team’s GBP65.2 million. The average player value for the Japanese team is GBP4 million compared to GBP2.8 million for the South Korean footballers.
Lloyd’s has predicted that based on insurable value, Germany has the most expensive team competing in the 2014 FIFA World Cup and therefore should come away with the prize in Rio. Its total insurable value is GBP641.2 million.
A snapshot of the research shows that after Germany, the three most expensive teams in terms of insurable value are Spain, England and Brazil in descending order. The total insurable value for the Spanish team is GBP590.1 million; England, GBP550.1 million and Brazil, GBP448.3 million.
Mr Marco Castro from Lloyd’s Brazil said: “It is incredible to see how much some of the teams playing in Rio are worth – the top three, Germany, Spain and England – are worth more than GBP1.7 billion collectively. This is more than the bottom 20 teams combined. The total collective value of all 32 teams is estimated at GBP6.2 billion.
Lloyd’s released the research with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) that ranks each team in the FIFA World Cup based on the collective insurable value of each country’s players.
CEBR used players’ wages and endorsement incomes, alongside a collection of additional indicators, to construct an economic model which estimates players’ incomes until retirement. These projections formed the basis for assessing insurable values by player age, playing position and nationality.
The research was supported by Sporting Intelligence, which provided anonymised footballer salary data for each of the 32 teams participating in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, after the finalisation of their 23-man squads.
Lloyd’s has predicted a Germany v Spain final. Spain, which is the defending champion, lost 5-1 to Holland last Friday. However, Spain’s chances of winning the World Cup have not been written off yet. The World Cup competition, which began on 12 June, ends on 13 July.