--- description: The priciest squad taking the field in Brazil this month is Spain, while the scrappiest is Honduras. title: Which World Cup Team is the Most Valuable? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Sports](/section/sports/) ## Sports Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Which World Cup Team Is the Most Valuable? ## Video: A Guide To The World Cup [Watch (HLS stream): A Guide To The World Cup](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vQL4RWyi.m3u8) (4:30)  _Published 2014-05-30. Not sure what exactly the world cup is, or who to watch? Here's all you need to know._ by [David Johnson](/author/dave-johnson/) ## David Johnson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 6, 2014 6:00 AM CUT by [David Johnson](/author/dave-johnson/) ## David Johnson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 6, 2014 6:00 AM CUT On Thursday, [FIFA announced](http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2014/m=6/news=world-cup-squads-officially-confirmed-2354847.html "undefined") the 23 players for each of the 32 World Cup teams. All put together, these 786 players have a total market value of $9.69 billion, according to the trading site [Transfermarkt](http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/ "undefined"). The priciest squad taking the field in Brazil this month? Spain. The scrappiest? Honduras. The Spanish squad’s players have a market value of $916 million, representing 9.5% of the total market. That’s nearly 34 times the Honduran team’s $31.1 million value, which accounts for 0.32% of the market. Use the interactive below to compare values between teams and their players. Click on club teams to see which professional teams have sent players to the global tournament. Player market value is determined by many factors like individual and club team performance, international experience, contract history and age, which in part explains why Lionel Messi (26) is worth $177 million while Cristiano Ronaldo (29) is worth $147 million. **Methodology** Market values are from [Transfermarkt](http://transfermarkt.co.uk/ "undefined") and converted at $1.67 per pound. All flags: Getty Images. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2826581/world-cup-most-valuable-teams/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2826581/world-cup-most-valuable-teams/"},"headline":"Which World Cup Team Is the Most Valuable?","datePublished":"2014-06-06T06:00:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:14:10.677Z","description":"The Spanish team is worth more than $900 million—9.5% of the market value on all World Cup players","url":"https://time.com/2826581/world-cup-most-valuable-teams/","keywords":["Soccer","World Cup","interactive studio"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Johnson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dave-johnson/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2826581/world-cup-most-valuable-teams/","name":"Which World Cup Team Is the Most Valuable?"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Guide To The World Cup","description":"Not sure what exactly the world cup is, or who to watch? Here's all you need to know.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/vQL4RWyi/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-05-30T20:59:22.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vQL4RWyi.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/2826581/world-cup-most-valuable-teams/","duration":"PT4M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/2826581/world-cup-most-valuable-teams/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```