List of national teams with no FIFA World Cup appearances
Luxembourg (pictured before a qualifier in 1969) are the only country to enter all 19 World Cup qualification tournaments and never qualify.
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The first tournament took place in 1930 and it has occurred every four years since then, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War.
Every World Cup tournament other than the first has involved a qualification phase to determine which teams qualify for the tournament itself, often referred to as the World Cup finals (as distinct from the World Cup final, which refers to the final match of the tournament, played to determine the overall winners). As of the 2014 tournament, 133 of the 209 current FIFA affiliates have not appeared in a World Cup finals tournament. In the tables below all qualification tournaments where the national team played at least one game are counted as attempts to qualify, even if the team subsequently withdrew or got disqualified. Withdrawals and disqualifications before the start of the qualification are excluded, as are occasions where teams withdrew or were disqualified during their campaign and had all their results from that campaign annulled.
By confederation
The 2018 World Cup qualifying process is currently underway. Marked with † (a dagger) are teams that are still in contention for a place in the finals and may potentially make their FIFA World Cup debut in 2018.
AFC countries
35 out of the 46 active FIFA and AFC members haven't appeared in the FIFA World Cup final tournament.
CAF countries
41 out of the 54 active FIFA and CAF members haven't appeared in the FIFA World Cup final tournament.
CONCACAF countries
25 out of the 35 active FIFA and CONCACAF members haven't appeared in the FIFA World Cup final tournament.
CONMEBOL countries
Venezuela (pictured before a 2008 qualifier) are the only CONMEBOL nation to never qualify for the World Cup
Only one of the 10 active FIFA and CONMEBOL members has never appeared in the FIFA World Cup final tournament.
OFC countries
10 out of the 11 active FIFA and OFC members haven't appeared in the FIFA World Cup final tournament.
UEFA countries
21 out of the 53 active FIFA and UEFA members haven't appeared in the FIFA World Cup final tournament.
Former countries
Three defunct national football teams took part in qualification but never appeared in the final tournament. This excludes teams whose record has been inherited by successor nations.
Footnotes
References
- ↑ Stokkermans, Karel; Jarreta, Sergio Henrique (12 June 2009). "World Cup 1954 Qualifying". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
- ↑ Stokkermans, Karel; Jarreta, Sergio Henrique (22 October 1999). "World Cup 1974 Qualifying". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
- ↑ Stokkermans, Karel; Jarreta, Sergio Henrique (3 January 2000). "World Cup 1986 Qualifying". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
See also
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| Tournaments | |
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| Finals | |
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| Qualification | |
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| Squads | |
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| Seedings | |
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| Broadcasters | |
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| Bids | |
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| Records and statistics | |
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| Miscellaneous | |
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| Notes: There was no qualification for the 1930 World Cup as places were given by invitation only. In 1950, there was no final; the article is about the decisive match of the final group stage. |
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| CAF | |
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| CONCACAF | |
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| CONMEBOL | |
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| OFC | |
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| UEFA | |
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| 1 Considered a successor team by FIFA, or have competed under another name(s). 2 Have been member of multiple confederations. 3 Team and national federation no longer exist. |
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