England has 5.7 per cent chance of winning World Cup, AI vendor predicts

But which nation is AI firm Blue Yonder backing for World Cup glory?

Artificial intelligence (AI) specialist Blue Yonder has picked Brazil as the runaway favourite for the World Cup after analysing every international match played since 1872.

The retail AI company ran over one million simulations to predict the outcome, with Brazil given a 22.5 per cent chance of winning.

Brazil was followed by Spain at 11 per cent, Argentina at 9.5 per cent and France at 7.8 per cent.

Christian Haag, data science consultant at Blue Yonder, explained how the AI came to its conclusion.

"We took data from every available international match going to back to 1872 and then ran simulations accounting for different outcomes for each match for all 32 teams, with either team one designated as the winner, team two winning, or a draw.

"We ran over one million simulations and calculated the chances of teams winning or finishing runner-up in the group stage, and reaching each stage of the tournament."

England did not fare too well in the simulations and was given a 5.7 per cent chance of glory in Russia this summer.

The Three Lions are predicted to win their first two matches against Tunisia and Panama in Group G, but are only given a 41.7 per cent chance of beating Beligum in their final group game.

The AI has unexpectedly put host country Russia just behind in England in winning the World Cup with a 4.6 per cent chance, with more illustrious teams such as Portugal and Belgium trailing behind.

"One of the interesting predictions that emerged from our simulations was Russia's stronger-than-expected performance. The team has struggled in recent years, and the lack of a qualification process makes their strength hard to judge, but host teams often fare well, and Russia may surprise many at the tournament."