Our trade World Cup
- Trade (as we already knew) can’t predict football scores.
- However France was also in our final…
- …and we got group G at perfection.
Goals and strictly football stats
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With two matches to go, 161 goal have already been scored…
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...which is 2.6 goals per match.
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A lot of goals, but not as much as in Brazil 4 years ago (171)… Unless finals get crazy!
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The record for goals scored is still owned by the 1954 edition where average goals per match was 5.4. Quite different football and some very weak teams at that time!
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11 own goals have been scored. It’s a record! Guys I told you that was not the right goal…
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28 penalties have been awarded. It’s another record! This, I guess, is linked to the next point.
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For the first time ever the VAR (video assistant referee) was used to help referees to get the right decisions.
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About penalties, one of the 28 awarded so far was saved by the oldest player a World Cup match has ever seen. The Egyptian Essam El Hadary played its first World Cup match at the age of 45 and celebrated it with a great save against Saudi Arabia.
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And how not to mention another first time ever? England was finally able to win a World Cup penalty shoot-out (leg of 16 against Colombia).
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The Premier League was the most represented domestic league with 108 players…
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… 40 of these players are still in Russia and they are going to play the two finals scheduled for the weekend.
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England have also the second youngest team (average age: 26). Only Nigeria did better (average: 25.9). The most experienced one was Costa Rica (average: 29.6)
Stadiums and infrastructures
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Ticket sellers did fine with stadiums attendance which was on average 98.35% of capacity.
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The cheapest ticket for the final was sold for 110 US dollars… but if you try to buy it know, 10 times the price may not be enough.
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The average attendance was 46,602. Quite far from the 68,991 record established in 1994. Well, in the US stadiums were quite big (more than 94,000 people attending the final match in Pasadena).
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$14.2 billion was the estimated cost for the organisation and building or upgrading of infrastructures such as stadiums, roads, public transport … It has been the most expensive World Cup ever.
Economy
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It is not always clear if such big events are a boost or a drag for the economy of the hosting country. According to Bloomberg, in the last three world cups, only South Africa in 2010 received a clear economic boost thanks to increased sales.
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However pubs and supermarkets here in the UK have to say thanks to the World Cup (and the good weather). Despite a CO2 shortage in northern Europe, 30 million of extra pints have been sold during the tournament.
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Moreover, this week Tesco expects to sell 7.5 million burgers and sausages…
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… And an extra one million packs of meat, whereas Asda expects to sell one million kilograms of charcoal. There are some BBQ lovers out there.
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It was also great for TV sellers! John Lewis reported a 140% TV sales increase on the tournament starting day.
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According to Barclaycard figures, one in three people have spent more than usual in June…
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…and M&S reported a 35% surge in sales of waistcoats. It’s the “Southgate effect”!
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26.5 million Brits tuned in to watch England semi-final. I am quite sure that broadcasting a TV ads at the half-time was not cheap.
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The index of services did already well in May and this good news may have a positive impact on Q2 GDP.
Geography and population
- The largest participating country by area was Russia (1st in the world) and Brazil by population (5th in the world with 209 million people)
- The smallest by area was Belgium (138th in the world) and Iceland by population (180th in the world with 335 thousand people)
- Croatia is the smallest country by population (4.2 million people) to reach the final since Uruguay in 1930 and 1950 (where an official final never actually took place).
Best of luck
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Good luck to France (it would be their 2nd title) and Croatia (a win would be the first ever) for Sunday’s final.
See you in four years!