A new alternative guide to the 2016 UEFA European Championships compares how each nation ranks in terms squad value, numbers of registered football teams nationally, fans traveling to France, GDP, ticket prices and social media reach, with England coming out as 'champions' in three of the six comparisons.
Ticketbis.net have provided this alternative look at France 2016 and their figures show how England are the top side as the teams go head to head in terms of numbers of registered football teams, social media reach and how much fans have paid on the open market to watch their side in the finals.
Meanwhile, Spain have the most valuable squad in terms of the estimated transfer market value of their players (at a whopping £487.4m) followed by Germany (£475m), Belgium (£360.3m), England (£359.4m) and France (£354.3m).
Football is without doubt the number one sport in England and that's why the nation ranks highest of all the finalists in terms of the number of official teams registered by their national FA, with 42,490 recognised football clubs throughout England. Germany rank second highest on this measurement with 26,837 teams, followed by France (20,062), Spain (18,190) and Italy (16,697).
England are the winning side when it comes to their popularity on Facebook (6,181,161 fans), with Germany being the losing finalists (5,423,369 Facebook fans), with France (4,543,673), Italy (4,213,987) and Spain (3,221,682) also being amongst the top five social media heavyweights.
The Germans are the leaders when it comes to weighing the countries up by GDP with an annual figure of (£2.37 trillion), whilst England (£1.85 trillion) are the 'losing finalists' on that front. France (£1.71 trillion) and Italy (£1.28 trillion) are also amongst the top four highest performers in economic terms.
Host nation France unsurprisingly have the most fans to have purchased tickets on the open market for the finals with a 34.5% market share of purchases on Ticketbis, followed by England (27.9%), Germany (8.1%), Austria (4%) and Spain (3.8%). Again the appetite of England fans to follow their side is demonstrated as they are by far the highest ranking nation in this calculation, other than the hosts.
Jaime de Miguel, UK country manager of Madrid based company Ticketbis commented, "It is a bit of fun to compare the sides in terms of all these different factors but of course nothing matters more than what happens on the field when it comes to pushing for titles. We know how much English fans love the game and the figures in our comparisons show the level of depth there is to English football, so it would be nice to see them doing well at Euro 2016 this summer."
Meanwhile, when it comes to the ticket prices supporters are willing to pay to see their team in action England outstrip their rivals, with England tickets going for an average of £326.57 on Ticketbis.net for Euro 2016 games. Belgium (£318.31 per ticket) are the 'runners-up' on highest ticket prices paid, followed by Sweden (£302.32), France (£299.83) and Wales (£291.99).
The Russia vs Slovakia match in Group B is the cheapest match to get tickets for on the open market with an average price of £53, whilst tickets have already been sold for the final for more than £3,600.
Another interesting comparison is that of the FIFA rankings with Belgium being the highest rated European team by world football's governing body in 2nd place overall, with Germany 4th, Spain 6th, Portugal 8th, Austria 10th and England 11th respectively.
When it comes to bookmakers' odds France are the favourites going into the tournament on home turf at 16/5, with World Champions Germany second favourites at 9/2, holders Spain third favourites at 11/2 and England being available at around 9/1.
Click here to find out Ticketbis.net's prediction on who will Euro 2016.
