EA Sports says France will win the 2018 World Cup

Next month the curtain raises on the 2018 soccer World Cup, and millions will tune in to watch the biggest sports event of the year.

Naturally, people from countries that have qualified will be cheering on their nation’s side, but let’s be honest, we all know that some squads have a better chance of winning this tournament than others. There are a lot of strong sides in the competition, who are the favourites to win?

EA Sports, the developer behind the world-conquering FIFA game franchise believes France will win the World Cup. Using the player ratings in FIFA 18, as well as the updated ratings for certain players in the World Cup update the game will be getting for free today, EA Sports ran a simulation of the entire tournament and the results make for interesting reading.

First off, current champions Germany don’t manage to win two years running, losing to France in the final 4-3 on penalties after the two sides hold each other to a 1-1 draw in regular time. Second, Belgium manages to make it to the semi-finals (getting beaten by France) after managing to knock the mighty Brazilian side out in the quarter-finals.

According to the simulation, Argentina, Portugal and hosts Russia don’t make it out of the first knockout round. England doesn’t either, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone.

If you want the full break down of EA Sports’s predictions, head over to the developers site. We have to say, we’re interested to see how close to predicting the future the world’s biggest-selling soccer sim has come.