This is the biggest football appointment. A holiday that unites different cultures and civilizations, which for almost a month move in the rhythms of the “round goddess”. A banal expression, but so true.

The World Cup in Qatar enters our life from today and will last until December 18th. For the first time in winter, for the first time in an Arab country, for the first time in the midst of championships and large collective events that squeezed their programs to an excruciating degree.

The awarding of the event to Qatar caused controversy. Not only because the players will face an unprecedented situation for them, but also because the Middle East emirate of almost 2.6 million people has been repeatedly accused of human rights violations, culminating in the deaths of thousands of migrants at stadium construction sites. .

All of the above is, of course, fine print for FIFA as they have given Qatar the green light to host a major football event.

However, from now on, all this will fade into the background for a while, and all attention will be paid to the real protagonists of the fiesta. Thirty-two teams will converge like gladiators in the state-of-the-art arenas of Qatar to win the most valuable trophy.

Four of them can, at least for now, be considered absolute favorites to win the trophy, although this World Cup seems to be the most dubious of all the previous ones.

The owners of France, Brazil, Argentina and Germany seem to be in the best position to bring the 18-carat 36.5cm cup back home. The face of the event is none other than Lionel Messi, who is more mature than ever and destined to lead Argentina to the promised land of football. In addition, the 35-year-old superstar has no other chance if he wants to enter the football history of his country in the same place as Diego Maradona.

Favorite teams and which citizens can enter the “wedge” and present a big surprise.

A little further on, four other teams can drive a wedge into the big favorites. England, who travel to Qatar as finalists in the last European tournament, Belgium among the big players who never made it to the source, the Netherlands, capable of better but also worse, and Spain, although in transition , can reach the end. Beyond that, there are two more teams that could surprise and see them reach at least an eight, and maybe even higher. Portugal, with Cristiano Ronaldo in his last World Cup dance, but also Uruguay, which has one of the most complete squads, albeit a little…aged.

The group draw did not hide the traps for the strong, who will easily or not find themselves in the “16” phase. 1st place is occupied by Qatar, the Netherlands, Senegal and Ecuador, with Orani being the absolute favorite, and on the other hand, the Africans, despite the loss of Mane, have the first reason for the second ticket. England, Wales, USA and Iran make up group 2, where the “lions” stand out in first place. The USA and Wales will fight for another “privilege”. Argentina seems to have already captured the top of the 3rd group, Mexico and Poland are fighting for 2nd place, and Saudi Arabia has no luck more than participation.

In the 4th group (France, Denmark, Tunisia, Australia), the first two play without an opponent, while the same applies to the 5th group, where Spain and Germany, as it were, “closed” the first two places, leaving behind Japan and Costa Rica. The 6th group is also a matter for two, where nothing threatens Belgium and Croatia from Morocco and Canada. Conversely, the last two groups are somewhat more ambiguous. In 7th place, the first place probably belongs to Brazil, but then Switzerland, Serbia and Cameroon will fight for the 2nd place. In eighth place, three teams, Portugal, Uruguay and Ghana, are vying for two spots, with South Korea proving to be the weakest link.

The event will be divided into eight fields, the distance between which does not exceed 30 kilometers. These are Khalifa International Stadium (40,000 seats), Al Bayt Stadium (60,000), Al Janub Stadium (40,000), Education City Stadium (40,000), Ahmad bin Ali ( 40,000), Al-Tumamah (40,000 seats), Lusail Iconic Stadium (80,000 seats) where the final will take place, and most special of all is the 974 Stadium (40,000 seats) which was built from containers and other recycled materials and will be completely dismantled after the tournament.

Dates: Group stage: November 21 – December 2. 1/8 finals: December 3-6. Quarter-finals: 9 and 10 December. Semi-finals: 13 and 14 December. Match for 3rd place: 17 December. Final: 18 December.

From England at 1.5 billion euros to Costa Rica at 23 million.

This World Cup will feature 831 players representing the missions of 32 national teams, and their total value in the football stock market reaches 15 billion euros. The most expensive team is England, which is worth 1.5 billion euros, while the cheapest is Costa Rica, which is worth only 23 million euros.

The top ten most expensive squads in this World Cup, according to the Football Observatory Weekly Post, are Brazil (1.45 billion), France (1.34 billion), Spain (1.2 billion), Portugal (1.54 billion) , Germany (1.02 billion). ), the Netherlands (756 million), Argentina (748 million), Uruguay (590 million) and Belgium (562 million). On the contrary, except for Costa Rica, below 100 million euros are: Tunisia (57 million), Iran (53 million), Saudi Arabia (49 million), Australia (38 million) and Qatar (29 million).

As far as players are concerned, Jude Bellingham is the surprise, according to the publication, as the 19-year-old midfielder for England and Dortmund is worth €202m at the moment, leaving Brazilian Vinicius Junior (200m) in 2nd place, but also the French superstar Kylian Mbappe (185 million). This is followed by Pedri (Spain – 158m), Musiala (Germany – 151m), Valverde (Uruguay – 128m), Ruben Diaz (Portugal – 118m), Guardiol (Croatia – 110m), De Jong (Netherlands – 110m). ). ) and Lautaro Martinez (Argentina – 99 million). It is worth noting that in Belgium the most expensive player, according to the same publication, is not De Bruyne, but Thibaut Courtois (66 million euros).

Of course, sometimes the numbers don’t always tell the truth, as Lionel Messi may be worth as little as €50m on the transfer market at the moment, but he remains the biggest name in the tournament and he may well be a player as well. whose performance also determines the final winner. Something similar applies to Ronaldo, who is valued by Transfermarkt at just €20m.