On the eve of the start of the championship, RBC conducted a survey among 23 high-ranking officials of the Russian government and large Russian businessmen. More than half of the respondents expressed the opinion that in the final it is necessary to expect the current world champion team of Germany (57%) and the Brazilian team (52%).

"German car" is a very strong challenger [for the finals]. And I think that this is the right side, "Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov shared his opinion with RBC.

"The circle of teams [in the final] is obvious. First of all, Brazil. She is now a completely different team. They are now playing very rationally, "Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko, who is in charge of construction, pointed out his favorite.

The other favorites of the mundial were the respondents named Argentina (35%) and France (22%). The final, which this pair will make, in particular, was predicted by the chairman of the board of directors of M.Video company Said Gutseriev.

Among the "dark horses" of the starting championship - Spain (9%), England (7%) and Belgium (4%). From these teams are waiting for surprises. Alisher Usmanov, co-owner of the London Arsenal, mentioned that the British might be in the finals. The success of the Belgians waiting for the owner of the Moscow "Spartacus" Leonid Fedun.

The Russian national team is also one of the favorites of the upcoming championship, the respondents of RBC are sure. On the question "How will the Russian national team play at the World Championships?" 17% of the respondents expressed the opinion that the team under the leadership of Stanislav Cherchesov will reach the final. At the same time, 61% of respondents do not doubt that the national team can overcome the group stage, where its rivals will be the teams of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Uruguay.

"We must not allow the largest country in the world to lose interest in the tournament after the group stage. Football players and coaches of the Russian team do not need to explain this. In front of their loved ones, they will turn inside out inside out, just to prolong this feeling of the holiday. At least in the playoffs must come out, "- said RBC operating director of the Rambler Group Dmitry Sergeev.

Expectations of officials and billionaires about the Russian national team roughly coincide with the expectations of average Russians. According to a poll by the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center published on June 8, 62% of Russians believe that the national team will overcome the group stage. Of these, 11% are confident that Russia will win a home world championship.

Bookmakers even higher estimate the chances of Russia to leave the group in the 1/8 finals. So, according to the "Bookmakers' Rating", analyzing the coefficients of the largest Russian bookmakers, the probability of Russia leaving the group is 65%. The largest global bookmakers assess the odds even higher, for example, bwin.com estimates the "passage" of Russia with a coefficient of 1.33, which corresponds to 75.19% of the probability of such an outcome.