The World Cup starts on November 20, in Qatar with the hosts playing Ecuador. A few bankers, economists and financial minds and machines have made predictions about the winners ahead of the month-long tournament that features 32 nations, with Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia representing Africa.
Who will win?
- BCA Research has the most comprehensive report of match picks, research methodology, group rankings, and past history, with insights that will be useful for gamblers e.g. “Teams with more players from the same club tend to perform better in the knockout stages.” They conclude that “on December 18, 2022, the world will watch a final between Argentina and Portugal” and the dream final between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will be won by Argentina in a final match that has a high likelihood of being decided by a penalty shootout.
- Sports data producer OPTA, has used artificial intelligence that predicts Brazil will win the World Cup. (read more)
- Lloyds Insurance picks England to win the World Cup over Brazil. Others which come close in their model, which also lists group and knock-out match winners, are France, Argentina and Spain. Senegal will make the round of 16 but lose to England.
- Liberum predicts an Argentina win by defeating England.
Mixed Picks
- From the UBS Athletes and Entertainers (A&E) strategic client segment, one analyst picks Argentina, over Brazil, and another picked England to win.
- Saxo Bank predicts Brazil is ahead of Argentina (24% to 22%) in one model, and in another, the Netherlands (22%) is a clear winner.
Other:
- A column on Qatar’s capacity to attend to the million-plus visitors expected at the tournament.
- How Qatar withstood sanctions by its regional neighbours in 2017.
- The finances required for hosting a modern World Cup.
- A review of predictions by bankers and economists for the 2018 World Cup.