The elimination of France by Spain changed the projections of Wall Street for the 2026 World Cup. Now, Argentina appears as a contender in the other semifinal against England.
The models from Goldman Sachs, BofA Global Research, and Opta had placed France among the top candidates for the title. After their defeat, the estimates focus on the match between Argentina and England.
Spain eliminated France and changed the projections for the 2026 World Cup
Spain defeated France 2-0 in Arlington and advanced to the final of the 2026 World Cup. The goals were scored by Mikel Oyarzabal, from a penalty, and Pedro Porro.
The French defeat nullified the forecasts that had placed them as one of the top favorites to lift the trophy.
Wall Street models had chosen France as the favorite
Since early May, a survey among analysts from BofA Global Research had placed France as the main candidate for the title.
The survey assigned the French team a 31.5% probability of winning the tournament, above Spain, which had a 28.7%. Artificial intelligence also placed both teams with similar chances.
Goldman Sachs and Opta also projected France in the final
Goldman Sachs had started the World Cup with Spain as the favorite in its model. However, its simulations changed as the tournament progressed and placed France as the main candidate by the end of June.
After the quarter-finals, the bank conducted 50,000 Monte Carlo simulations and estimated that France had a 31% chance of being the champion.
Additionally, it calculated that the team led by Didier Deschamps had a 51% chance of overcoming Spain and reaching their third consecutive final.
Opta's supercomputer had also positioned France as the favorite after running 25,000 simulations of the tournament's conclusion.
