With the 2026 World Cup set to begin in one week and all 48 teams now known, a new ranking based on Transfermarkt’s squad valuations shows France as the most expensive national team in the tournament. Didier Deschamps’ squad is estimated at 1.56 billion euros across 26 players, putting the French well ahead of the rest of the field. Kylian Mbappé, valued at 200 million euros, and Michael Olise, valued at 150 million euros, are the two biggest drivers of that total, and both rank among the five most valuable players in the competition.
England sits second with a total squad value of 1.37 billion euros, followed by Spain at 1.22 billion euros and Portugal at 1.01 billion euros. The top five is completed by Germany at 982 million euros. All five teams are European, reflecting the concentration of the most highly valued players in Europe’s leading leagues. Spain’s total is boosted by Lamine Yamal, one of only three players in the tournament valued at 200 million euros. England also benefits from the financial strength of the Premier League, with 21 of its 26 selected players coming from the domestic league.
Portugal, ranked fifth by FIFA, remains in search of its first World Cup title. Although Cristiano Ronaldo’s market value has dropped to 10 million euros at age 41, the team’s overall valuation is lifted by its Paris Saint-Germain trio: Vitinha and João Neves are each valued at 140 million euros, while Nuno Mendes is valued at 80 million euros. Brazil, runner-up in the 2022 ranking, falls to sixth place this time with a squad worth 943.2 million euros.
Argentina, the reigning world champion and third in the FIFA rankings, is only eighth on the list with a squad value of 799.5 million euros. Just ahead of it are the Netherlands in seventh place with 814.2 million euros and Norway in ninth with 592 million euros. Belgium rounds out the top 10 at 548.9 million euros. Among African nations, Ivory Coast leads the continent at 11th, followed by Morocco in 12th and Senegal in 13th.
The group stage also offers a striking contrast in squad values. Group I, featuring France, Senegal, Norway and Iraq, is described as the tournament’s “group of death” on paper, with a combined valuation of 2.65 billion euros. At the other end of the scale, Iraq has the lowest squad value at just 21.1 million euros. Jordan is last with 19.88 million euros, while host nation Qatar is second-to-last at 19.93 million euros.
The full ranking shows a wide gap between the most and least valuable teams, underlining the economic and sporting imbalance that will shape the tournament.
