€908m valuation 

©TM/IMAGO

All the biggest stars in football are participating in the World Cup with the best talent from around the world on show. Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé are the biggest superstars representing their nations in North America with billions tuning in from around the world.

France are the favourites to win their third World Cup title and it was a special opening game for their captain Mbappé as he made history. The Real Madrid superstar scored twice in their 3-1 win over Senegal to surpass Olivier Giroud as France’s all-time record goalscorers – you can read about that achievement here. Didier Deschamps’ squad is stacked with world-class talent, especially in attacking areas, and their starting eleven against Senegal was the most valuable in World Cup history.

The most valuable starting line-ups in World Cup history

Transfermarkt’s market values are renowned across the globe and we’ve used them to calculate the most valuable starting elevens in the history of the World Cup. France’s XI last night had a combined valuation of €908m, which was almost €200m higher than the previous record from their game against Australia in the 2018 World Cup. France’s front four of Mbappe, Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué and Michael Olise have a combined market value of €550m, which was higher than the total valuation of Spain’s starting eleven against Cape Verde.

As the graphic above illustrates, France dominates the top ten list, featuring seven times and they are present four times in the top ten. Brazil’s starting eleven against Switzerland in 2018 ranks third at €650m when Neymar was their most valuable player at €180m. Spain are the only other nation to feature in the top ten list from their game against Russia in 2018, when Sergio Busquets was their most valuable star at €80m.