Brazil and Argentina naturally feature highly…
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US publication Forbes have published the ten most expensively compiled international sides at this summer’s World Cup, based on the collaborative worth of the 23 squad members.
Here’s the ten most expensively compiled squads…
(Because the study was done in America, the figures are in US dollars.)
10) Russia – $262m
Scraping on to the list are Fabio Capello’s Russian side. Interestingly, their manager is the highest paid of any of the 32 this summer in Brazil. Even more interestingly, the entire Russian squad is based in Russia.
9) Portugal – $400m
Ronaldo, valued at $136m, equates for nearly a third of the entire squad value! The Portuguese sensation though has not been able to stamp his authority on the tournament just yet…
8) Italy – $449m
The Italians have a star-studded squad featuring the likes of Mario Balotelli, Andrea Pirlo and Gianluigi Buffon, and beat England 2-1 in their opening game of the tournament.
7) Belgium – $468m
Fronted by Chelsea superstar Eden Hazard, Belgium are many people’s dark horses for the World Cup this summer, having won their opening two matches.
6) England – $493m
The English, losers of their first two matches, are the second most expensively assembled side to be out of this summer’s World Cup already. Somehow, manager Roy Hodgson has kept his job.
5) France – $555m
The French have been the most impressive side of the summer so far, spearheaded by Real Madrid man Karim Benzema, they’ve battered Honduras and Costa Rica so far.
4) Germany – $622m
The Germans sent out a warning to the rest of the competition by thrashing Portugal 4-0 in their opener, and have a plethora of valuable Bayern Munich stars amongst their ranks.
3) Argentina – $654m
The Argentines have the world’s most heralded player, Lionel Messi, playing in a false 9 role. While they have a number of impressive stars, none of them come close to Barcelona’s diminutive phenomenon.
2) Spain – $674m
Two time European Championship and World Cup holders, Spain’s reign at football’s summit is over. They humiliated themselves, losing consecutive matches to Holland and Chile, meaning their final match victory over Australia was irrelevant.
1) Brazil – $718million
The World Cup favourites are also the most expensively assembled side in the competition. Their star man Neymar, who currently tops the goalscoring charts with four, is their prized asset, costing Barcelona $88m last summer.
