Ranking every WC 2022 squad by their transfer value

The 2022 World Cup is almost here and we are beside ourselves with excitement – but which squad has the highest value?

But who has the best squad? Having the best players isn’t always a guarantee of success at international tournaments but possessing a deep squad should come in handy considering the compressed nature of the 2022-23 season.

Quite a few World Cup regulars – Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Iran, Australia – have squads that are worth less than Kylian Mbappe alone, highlighting the diverse profile of the competing nations in Qatar.

Players such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Luka Modric, who are invaluable to their respective nations, are no longer the highest valued players due to their age, hinting at the changing of the guard that is a feature of every World Cup.

And some nations have younger players coming to the fore. As an example, Phil Foden has replaced Harry Kane as England’s most valuable player while Jamal Muisala is now Germany’s MVP according to Transfermarkt.

The upper echelons of this list are dominated by Europe and South America’s big guns but, as previous World Cup’s have demonstrated, there’s nothing stopping a lesser-ranked team springing a surprise.

We’ve ranked every squad participating at Qatar 2022 based on their cumulative worth on Transfermarkt from lowest to highest.

32. Qatar – €14.9million

Average player value: €575k
Most valuable player: Akram Afif (€4m)

31. Costa Rica – €18.75million

Average player value: €721k
Most valuable player: Keylor Navas (€5m)

30. Saudi Arabia – €25.2million

Average player value: €969k
Most valuable player: Sultan Al-Ghannam (€2.5m)

29. Australia – €38.4million

Average player value: €1.48m
Most valuable player: Matthew Ryan (€5m)

28. Iran – €59.53million

Average player value: €2.38m
Most valuable player: Mehdi Taremi (€20m)

This has to be one of the GREATEST #UCL consolation goals EVER! 😳🙌

📆 Mehdi Taremi produced this stunner one year ago today… pic.twitter.com/ypG6nOcuyc

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 13, 2022

27. Tunisia – €62.4million

Average player value: €2.4m
Most valuable player: Ellyes Skhiri (€13m)

26. Ecuador – €146.5million

Average player value: €5.63m
Most valuable player: Moises Caicedo (€38m)

25. Japan – €154million

Average player value: €5.92m
Most valuable player: Daichi Kamada (€30m)

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