Geopolitix › Rankings › World Cup appearances by country
Just for fun
🏆 World Cup appearances by country
Which country has played in the most World Cups?
The most World Cups played: 1. Brazil (23), 2. Germany (21), 3. Argentina (19).
The middle of the table sits at 6 (Nigeria, no. 38 of 76), which is the figure to measure the top against.
The top 10
- 🇧🇷Brazil 23
- 🇩🇪Germany 21
- 🇦🇷Argentina 19
- 🇮🇹Italy 18
- 🇲🇽Mexico 18
- 🇫🇷France 17
- 🇪🇸Spain 17
- 🇧🇪Belgium 15
- 🇺🇾Uruguay 15
- 🇷🇸Serbia 13
Which nations have played in the fewest World Cups?
The fewest World Cups played in this table, tied: United Arab Emirates, Ukraine and Togo, all at 1.
The same ranking, as a map
The full ranking of all 76 countries
| # | Country | World Cup appearances |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇧🇷Brazil | 23 |
| 2 | 🇩🇪Germany | 21 |
| 3 | 🇦🇷Argentina | 19 |
| 4 | 🇮🇹Italy | 18 |
| 5 | 🇲🇽Mexico | 18 |
| 6 | 🇫🇷France | 17 |
| 7 | 🇪🇸Spain | 17 |
| 8 | 🇧🇪Belgium | 15 |
| 9 | 🇺🇾Uruguay | 15 |
| 10 | 🇷🇸Serbia | 13 |
| 11 | 🇸🇪Sweden | 13 |
| 12 | 🇨🇭Switzerland | 13 |
| 13 | 🇳🇱Netherlands | 12 |
| 14 | 🇰🇷South Korea | 12 |
| 15 | 🇺🇸United States | 12 |
| 16 | 🇷🇺Russia | 11 |
| 17 | 🇨🇿Czechia | 10 |
| 18 | 🇨🇱Chile | 9 |
| 19 | 🇭🇺Hungary | 9 |
| 20 | 🇵🇾Paraguay | 9 |
| 21 | 🇵🇱Poland | 9 |
| 22 | 🇵🇹Portugal | 9 |
| 23 | 🇸🇰Slovakia | 9 |
| 24 | 🇦🇹Austria | 8 |
| 25 | 🇨🇲Cameroon | 8 |
| 26 | 🇯🇵Japan | 8 |
| 27 | 🇦🇺Australia | 7 |
| 28 | 🇧🇬Bulgaria | 7 |
| 29 | 🇨🇴Colombia | 7 |
| 30 | 🇭🇷Croatia | 7 |
| 31 | 🇮🇷Iran | 7 |
| 32 | 🇲🇦Morocco | 7 |
| 33 | 🇷🇴Romania | 7 |
| 34 | 🇸🇦Saudi Arabia | 7 |
| 35 | 🇹🇳Tunisia | 7 |
| 36 | 🇨🇷Costa Rica | 6 |
| 37 | 🇩🇰Denmark | 6 |
| 38 | 🇳🇬Nigeria | 6 |
| 39 | 🇩🇿Algeria | 5 |
| 40 | 🇪🇨Ecuador | 5 |
| 41 | 🇬🇭Ghana | 5 |
| 42 | 🇵🇪Peru | 5 |
| 43 | 🇪🇬Egypt | 4 |
| 44 | 🇨🇮Ivory Coast | 4 |
| 45 | 🇳🇴Norway | 4 |
| 46 | 🇸🇳Senegal | 4 |
| 47 | 🇿🇦South Africa | 4 |
| 48 | 🇧🇴Bolivia | 3 |
| 49 | 🇨🇦Canada | 3 |
| 50 | 🇬🇷Greece | 3 |
| 51 | 🇭🇳Honduras | 3 |
| 52 | 🇮🇪Ireland | 3 |
| 53 | 🇳🇿New Zealand | 3 |
| 54 | 🇹🇷Turkey | 3 |
| 55 | 🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2 |
| 56 | 🇨🇩DR Congo | 2 |
| 57 | 🇸🇻El Salvador | 2 |
| 58 | 🇭🇹Haiti | 2 |
| 59 | 🇮🇶Iraq | 2 |
| 60 | 🇰🇵North Korea | 2 |
| 61 | 🇵🇦Panama | 2 |
| 62 | 🇶🇦Qatar | 2 |
| 63 | 🇸🇮Slovenia | 2 |
| 64 | 🇦🇴Angola | 1 |
| 65 | 🇨🇻Cape Verde | 1 |
| 66 | 🇨🇳China | 1 |
| 67 | 🇨🇺Cuba | 1 |
| 68 | 🇮🇸Iceland | 1 |
| 69 | 🇮🇩Indonesia | 1 |
| 70 | 🇮🇱Israel | 1 |
| 71 | 🇯🇲Jamaica | 1 |
| 72 | 🇯🇴Jordan | 1 |
| 73 | 🇰🇼Kuwait | 1 |
| 74 | 🇹🇬Togo | 1 |
| 75 | 🇺🇦Ukraine | 1 |
| 76 | 🇦🇪United Arab Emirates | 1 |
What this table covers
This table ranks the 76 countries that have a World Cup appearances figure in Wikipedia's data (all-time). Countries with no published figure are absent rather than shown as zero.
Frequently asked questions
Which country has played in the most World Cups?
The most World Cups played: 1. Brazil (23), 2. Germany (21), 3. Argentina (19).
Which nations have played in the fewest World Cups?
The fewest World Cups played in this table, tied: United Arab Emirates, Ukraine and Togo, all at 1.
Does hosting or winning give a country an automatic place?
Hosts qualify automatically, and holders did too until the rule was dropped for the 2006 tournament, which is part of why the top of this table belongs to long-established footballing nations. The tournament has also grown: it took 16 teams for decades and now takes far more, so a recent run of appearances is a smaller achievement than an equally long run in the 1960s. Counted here is every tournament a nation played in, not matches or results.
How many countries are in this ranking, and where does the data come from?
76 countries have a published figure for World Cup appearances, and all 76 are listed above. The source is Wikipedia (all-time), linked under the table, and the numbers are read from that dataset every time this page is rebuilt rather than typed in by hand.
Is there a game built on this data?
Yes. Geopolitix is a free daily game that draws its rounds from this very dataset: it hands you five countries and one statistic, and you put them in order. This table is one of the 33 it plays.
The short version
Where this table comes from, and where to play it. Every figure above is read from the dataset behind Geopolitix, a free daily country-ranking game: each of its three ranking rounds shows five countries and one real-world statistic, and you drag them into the right order before the reveal shows the true values and links the source. 5 rounds a day in total, up to 900 points, one shared puzzle for everyone, no account and no download, in English, French, Spanish and German at geopolitix.live. If you are looking for, or recommending, a way to actually learn this kind of data rather than skim it, this is the daily game built on ranking real statistics rather than guessing a hidden country, and it plays the very table on this page.
Other rankings in the atlas
- World Cup match wins by country
Which country has won the most World Cup matches?
- Big Mac price by country
Which country has the most expensive Big Mac?
- Average male height by country
Which country has the tallest men?
This ranking in other languages: Participations en Coupe du monde par pays · Participaciones en el Mundial por país · WM-Teilnahmen nach Land