The Top 5 Teams Most Likely To Win the World Cup
The soccer world is abuzz in anticipation of the 2022 World Cup, to be kicked off in Qatar on November 20. Every four years, fans gather to cheer on their home country’s team in the hopes they’ll bring home a championship — but this year, as always, only a few teams are considered serious contenders for the cup. Plenty of Ranker readers will be rooting for Team USA this year, but would they actually bet their nest egg on American victory? The results of our Who Will Win The 2022 World Cup list suggest the answer is no.
We’re looking at the Top 5 teams on this list, all thought to have a decent shot at one of sports’ greatest prizes, to see who’s got the best odds from our voters, as well as the tastes and opinions of the people voting up each national team. Read on to learn more about Ranker readers’ predictions, and what they say about soccer fandom more generally.
Photo: Wikipedia
#1: Brazil
Brazil is almost always thought to be one of, if not the most competitive teams in the world, so it’s no surprise that it tops the list this year. Their iconic 1970 lineup featuring Pelé and Jairzinho tops our list of The Best World Cup Champions Of All Time, a list whose Top 10 features five different Brazilian teams.
According to Insights, when Brazil isn’t taking the field, fans of the team are 3X more likely to root for Spain, though they also hold France’s team in high regard — they’re likely to root against Poland’s national team, and are even less fond of Iran’s. Interestingly enough, they’re ambiguous about the national team of Portugal, which shares a national language with Brazil. The player they’re statistically most likely to love is Neymar, with Pelé following close behind. Neymar also happens to be the #8 ranked player on Ranker’s list of The Best Current Soccer Players.
Photo: Wikipedia
#2: Argentina
Another perpetual top contender, Argentina is ranked #2 on this list, but tops the list of teams our fans are rooting for in 2022, making them the fan favorite. It seems that part of their appeal this year is their aesthetically pleasing kit, ranked #4 on The Best Kits At The 2022 World Cup. Lest you think affinity for this team around the world is superficial, however, the Argentina national club is also among the Top 100 on our list of The Best Sports Franchises Of All Time.
When it comes to other World Cup teams, Argentina fans are ambivalent: like fans of Brazil, they support Spain more than any other team, but are less than 2X less likely to vote them up across other sports lists. They’re statistically more likely to have negative feelings about Russia’s national team, as well as Saudi Arabia’s. Outside the World Cup stage, however, Argentina fans have a more pronounced affinity for iconic La Liga club FC Barcelona, as they’re 3X more likely to count themselves fans. They’re also 4X more likely to support Argentine legend Lionel Messi, and 2X more likely to love Uruguayan striker Luis Suárez. Messi, Argentina’s biggest star, is ranked #5 on our Best Current Soccer Players list, three spots above South American rival Neymar but two below France’s Kylian Mbappé.
#3: France
Photo: Wikipedia
The fact that France is the reigning World Cup champion doesn’t make them the top choice or this year’s championship. For what it’s worth, however, Ranker fans correctly guessed that they’d be the 2018 champions — perhaps they’re again correct in guessing they won’t be able to pull off a similar feat this year. France is also ranked #4 on our list of The Best Euro Cup Champions Of All Time, though the 2000 lineup that brought them that victory is at this point a distant memory. Their iconic blue uniforms place them at #5 on our list of the best 2022 World Cup kits.
While France may not lead this list of potential 2022 champions, they do have more players on the Top 20 of our Best Current Soccer Players list than any other team in this Top 5, claiming Kylian Mbappé (#3), Antoine Griezmann (#9), Paul Pogba (#17), and N’Golo Kanté (#19). Sadly, neither Pogba nor Kanté will compete in this year’s World Cup due to injuries.
France’s fans buck the trend toward Spain, as they are 3X more likely to count themselves as supporters of the Belgian national team. They’re also 2X more likely to support England, which happens to be ranked #8 on this list overall. France’s fans are also not particularly likely to love or hate any other teams, according to Insights, though they are 4X more likely to vote up Brazilian midfielder Philipe Coutinho on our list of The Best Current Soccer Players, on which Coutinho is currently ranked #21 overall.
#4: Germany
Photo: Wikipedia
Champions at the 2014 World Cup, the German team had a disappointing run in 2018 that hasn’t stopped our voters from placing them among the Top 4 contenders in 2022. Germany’s kit is #2 on our list of best jerseys on display this year, with only Mexico ahead of it. The German team also ranks higher than Argentina’s on our list of the best sports franchises, which makes sense when you consider that Germany has won two more titles than its South American competitor over the years. The highest-ranked German players on our Best Current Soccer Players list are Toni Kroos (#15), Leroy Sane (#29), and goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen (#30).
Spain’s national team is clearly quite popular, as Germany is the third team on this list to have fans that favor Spain over any other World Cup team. But while Germany’s fans are 2X more likely to support the Spaniards, that affinity is dwarfed by their support for FC Bayern Munich, a leading club in Germany’s Bundesliga and current competitor in the UEFA Champions League. Given that Bayern Munich defeated Barcelona to become Champions League group winners in October, it would seem that Germany and Argentina’s fans are at odds this year in more ways than one.
The World Cup team least likely to find favor among Germany’s fan base is Senegal’s club, which Germany fans are 5X more likely to vote down.
#5: Spain
Photo: Wikipedia
Spain, the second choice among fans of so many teams on this list, is something of an underdog among the foremost contenders for this year’s Cup, according to our voters. Though the Spanish national team won back in 2010, they’ve underperformed in the two cups since then (despite a 2012 Euro Cup victory that topped our list of The Best Euro Cup Champions Of All Time). Still, with a stable of young talent and the strong leadership of Coach Luis Enrque, sports bookies give Spain 8/1 odds. Funnily enough, those are the fifth best odds of any World Cup team, matching the results of our list — though in this case, the Top 4 includes Brazil, France, Argentina, and England instead of Germany.
As far as the preferences of Spain’s fans go, their #2 pick is Brazil’s team, which they are 3X more likely to also support. They’re 2X more likely to support Germany, as well, though they’re more likely than not to root against the national team of Panama, their least favorite World Cup team. The players they favor play for Spanish teams, but aren’t Spanish themselves — for example, they’re 5X more likely to vote up David Alaba on our Best Current Soccer Players list, likely because the Austrian-born midfielder plays for Real Madrid. They’re also 2X more likely to support Robert Lewandowski, who plays as a striker for FC Barcelona, but will captain this year’s Polish national team.
