June 06, 2026
Sarupya Ganguly and Devayani Sathyan, Reuters
France will beat Spain to lift the World Cup trophy and five-times winners Brazil are expected to be the biggest flops, according to a Reuters survey of economists who said football was still harder to call than inflation.
For 160 respondents from around the globe, this poll conducted once every four years is a welcome break from their macroeconomic forecasting in an era of wars, energy shocks and revived "transitory" versus persistent inflation debates.
Their brief this time is the biggest World Cup yet - a 48-team tournament spanning 104 matches across the United States, Canada and Mexico - the first staged in three countries.
