Power v Passion: Wealth Comes Second to Location and Tradition When Projecting World Cup Winners

    DUBAI, UAE, May 23, 2010 /PRNewswire/ --
    - Brazil Favourite to Win World Cup 2010
    - England Would do Well to get Beyond Quarter-finals
    - African Teams Should Benefit From Home Region Advantage

Richer countries do not generally outperform poorer opposition in football, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) report released today.

Brazil are the statistical favourites at this year's World Cup tournament, while England would do well to get beyond the quarter-finals based on both current FIFA world rankings and historic World Cup performance.

The PwC paper (What can econometrics tell us about World Cup performance?) finds that there is no significant link between average income (GDP per capita) levels and tournament success. Relatively low income countries from Latin America have often matched or beaten their more affluent European rivals, particularly when playing in their home region.

Population size has some effect on World Cup performance, but it is not that statistically significant. Argentina, for example, has sometimes matched Brazil despite only having a fifth of its population. Relatively small countries such as Uruguay, Sweden and Croatia have also punched above their weight, particularly when playing at or close to home.

Home advantage and the strength of historic football traditions may turn out to be the playmakers in World Cup success.

John Hawksworth, head of macroeconomics, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, said:

"Our analysis shows that low average income levels are no barrier to World Cup success, nor is population size as critical a factor as you might expect - David can often beat Goliath on the football field.

"Those countries with a culture steeped in football and a passionate national following can out-play the powerhouses of the world economy."

For example, the US football team performs well below expectations based on the size of its economy or population relative, for example, to Brazil. This reflects the ascendency of football in Brazil as contrasted to the greater popularity of sports such as American football and baseball in the US.

China and India are even more dramatic examples of low levels of World Cup success relative to populations of over one billion and rapidly growing economies. India prefers to focus on cricket, while China has concentrated on sports that maximised their potential gold medal haul in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

John Hawksworth, head of macroeconomics, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, continued:

"If a country has a strong footballing tradition, then finding 11 international class players should not be that difficult even from a population of just a few million."

In addition, the study found no statistically significant correlation between GDP per capita and either current FIFA rankings or historic World Cup performance.

John Hawksworth, head of macroeconomics, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, explained:

"This may reflect that fact that basic footballing skills can be honed as easily in the back streets as in an expensive sports centre. Furthermore, football may represent one of the most appealing ways out of poverty for boys in lower income countries."

Home or away?

These findings for football differ from previous PwC research showing that population and average income levels impacted medals won in the Olympic Games.

However, home advantage is one factor that is found to be highly statistically important in explaining success in both the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games.

The host nation has won six out of 18 World Cups and, even when they did not win, the home countries have generally had strong campaigns.

England and France only won the World Cup when playing on home soil, while smaller countries like Uruguay (which won at home in the first ever World Cup in 1930), Sweden (which reached the final at home in 1958) and South Korea (which beat Italy and the reached the semi-finals in 2002) have all outperformed expectations when hosting the World Cup.

Spain's relatively modest performance when hosting the competition in 1982 was one of the comparatively rare exceptions to this rule.

There is also a clear host region effect that may be associated with strong home crowd support and familiar climatic conditions. European countries have only won the World Cup when it has been held in Europe, while Latin American teams have won all of the World Cups held in the Americas. Cameroon and Nigeria should therefore have the potential to do relatively well this year, while South Africa should do much better than its lowly FIFA ranking of 90th suggests."

John Hawksworth, head of macroeconomics, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, concluded:

"Brazil remains the favourite to lift the World Cup this summer as the number one ranked footballing nation and the only country that has won the tournament outside its home region.

"England seems a reasonable bet to reach the quarter finals based on its current FIFA world ranking and past World Cup performance, but it will do well to get beyond that point - which it has never done before when playing outside Europe."

Notes to editors:

Table 1: Top 20 nations by historic World Cup performance and current FIFA rankings

    Total World Cup points scored     Current FIFA world ranking (28
    (1930-2006)                       April 2010)

    Rank      Country       Points*    Rank      Country        Points
     1        Brazil          206        1        Brazil         1611
     2        Germany         184        2        Spain          1565
     3         Italy          151        3       Portugal        1249
     4       Argentina        112        4     Netherlands       1221
     5        England          92        5        Italy          1184
     6        France           85        6       Germany         1107
     7         Spain           78        7      Argentina        1084
     8        Sweden           61        8       England         1068
     9      Netherlands        58        9       Croatia         1052
     10     Russia/USSR        57       10        France         1044
     11  Serbia/Yugoslavia     56       11        Russia         1003
     12       Uruguay          55       12        Greece         968
     13       Poland           50       13        Egypt          967
     14       Hungary          48       14          US           950
     15       Mexico           45       15        Chile          948
     16  Czech Republic**      41       16        Serbia         944
     17       Austria          40       17        Mexico         936
     18       Belgium          39       18       Uruguay         902
     19      Portugal          34       19       Cameroon        887
     20       Romania          29       20       Nigeria         883

*World Cup final games only: 3 points for win, 1 point for draw, 0 for loss.

**Includes former Czechoslovakia results. Similarly for Russia/USSR and Serbia/Yugoslavia.

Source: http://www.planetworldcup.com and FIFA/Coca-Cola rankings from http://www.fifa.com

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SOURCE PwC global survey