Saudi Arabia opened the World Cup with a surprising 1-1 tie against Uruguay, and as the Green Falcons enter their second game of group-stage play against Spain on Sunday, they will be looking to produce another shocking result—perhaps even bigger than Spain’s own draw last week against tiny Cape Verde.

It won’t be easy. Spain, one of the tournament favorites, is No. 3 in FIFA’s ranking of national teams while Saudi Arabia is No. 59. And the difference is even starker when comparing the value of their rosters. Transfermarkt, a German website that assigns a “market value” to each professional player, projecting what a transfer would cost in the club soccer world, estimates the 26 players on Spain’s World Cup squad are worth €1.22 billion, or $1.4 billion at the current exchange rate—the third-highest total in the tournament. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has a total market value of less than $47 million, ranking 41st at the World Cup.

In fact, all 26 Saudis combined are worth only about a fifth of one Spanish star: Lamine Yamal, the 18-year-old winger who is tied with Norway’s Erling Haaland........

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