Special report: Cup-o-Nomics 2014
Part of the fun of the FIFA World Cup, held this year in Brazil, is supporting a team and trying to pick which nation will come out as the winner. But thinking traps can skew sporting as well as financial decisions. Read our special “cup-o-nomics” report for the 2014 football world cup to learn how.
Executive summary
When the FIFA World Cup 2014 kicks off on 12 June, 32 of the best football teams in the world will start vying for the title of being the best at the biggest sport in the world. But how much does the title mean to people in the competitors’ home countries? And which teams have an advantage?
If the “value” of all the players in a football team actually could decide the results of the World Cup, Spain would prevail this summer as our analysis shows its squad of 23 has the highest total market value at EUR675 million. Hosts Brazil are third and England seventh, boosted by the EUR49 million value of Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney.
An ING survey of about 8,000 people in 15 countries found Argentina and Chile are tied for top spot as the biggest “superfans”, followed by 2018 hosts Russia. Italy is the most fanatical of European countries surveyed. The United States is last. We used several measures to calculate nationalities’ passion for their team bringing home the cup, including willingness to sacrifice 1% of annual income for a year, the percentage of people who participate in a football pool, the average spend on supporter kit and more. Many fans like to show their support by dressing in the colours of their team. Russians and Argentinians top the survey results for spend per person on average on supporters kit, at EUR48. Expect to see plenty of red and gold on the streets of Moscow and white and sky blue in Buenos Aires. The figure in ING’s home of the Netherlands is only EUR5 per person but it adds to more than EUR70 million to be spent on Dutch supporters kit.
Playing with friends or colleagues to guess which team will win the World Cup – known as a pool – can increase the excitement of the tournament. Some even add in a wager to increase the stakes. 2010 champs Spain has the highest share of people who intend to participate in a World Cup pool, at 49%. The average wager ranges from highs of EUR83 in Russia and EUR80 in France down to EUR11 in the Netherlands. The Cup-onomics infographic gives six tips on limiting emotion and keeping a rational mind to help pick the tournament champ.
Chileans top the table on the measure of willingness to sacrifice a sum of money if it meant their team would win. They would be willing to give up EUR526 on average to see their team win. Adjusted for GDP to facilitate a like for like comparison, Argentina rises to the top. In fact, the willingness to sacrifice money for a football win in Argentina is more than five times the country’s research and development spend as a percentage of GDP. Italy spends 1.25% of GDP on research and development, according to the World Bank, lower than the 1.5% of GDP they are willing to sacrifice for a World Cup win.
This survey was commissioned by ING and conducted by TNS Nipo. In the Netherlands, there was an online survey among 1,067 respondents representative of the population based on age, gender and income. In all other countries, at least 500 respondents representative of the internet population in terms of age and gender were surveyed online.
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