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The Waiting Room

162 national teams who have never won a FIFA World Cup or their continental championship — including some of the most talented squads in the sport's history.

This site tracks the 49 national teams that have won a major title. These 162 teams have not — yet. Some, like Belgium and Croatia, have come within a match of a World Cup final. Others are still building the basics of a footballing program. All of them are still waiting for their first major trophy.

Europe (UEFA)

43 teams

Albania flagAlbania
No major trophy yet
Andorra flagAndorra
No major trophy yet
Armenia flagArmenia
No major trophy yet
Austria flagAustria
Best result: 3rd place at the 1954 World Cup, part of the 'Wunderteam' era of Austrian football.
Azerbaijan flagAzerbaijan
No major trophy yet
Belarus flagBelarus
No major trophy yet
Belgium flagBelgium
Best result: 3rd place, 2018 World Cup — the 'golden generation' era of De Bruyne, Hazard and Lukaku.
Bosnia and Herzegovina flagBosnia and Herzegovina
No major trophy yet
Bulgaria flagBulgaria
Best result: World Cup semifinalists in 1994, led by Hristo Stoichkov, the tournament's joint-top scorer that year.
Croatia flagCroatia
Best result: World Cup runner-up in 2018, plus 3rd place in 2022 — one of the most successful small footballing nations of the modern era.
Cyprus flagCyprus
No major trophy yet
Estonia flagEstonia
No major trophy yet
Faroe Islands flagFaroe Islands
No major trophy yet
Finland flagFinland
No major trophy yet
Georgia flagGeorgia
No major trophy yet
Gibraltar flagGibraltar
No major trophy yet
Hungary flagHungary
Best result: World Cup runners-up in 1938 and 1954 — the legendary 1950s 'Mighty Magyars' side is considered one of the greatest teams never to win the trophy.
Iceland flagIceland
No major trophy yet
Republic of Ireland flagRepublic of Ireland
Best result: World Cup quarterfinalists in 1990, losing narrowly to hosts Italy.
Kazakhstan flagKazakhstan
No major trophy yet
Kosovo flagKosovo
No major trophy yet
Latvia flagLatvia
No major trophy yet
Liechtenstein flagLiechtenstein
No major trophy yet
Lithuania flagLithuania
No major trophy yet
Luxembourg flagLuxembourg
No major trophy yet
Malta flagMalta
No major trophy yet
Moldova flagMoldova
No major trophy yet
Montenegro flagMontenegro
No major trophy yet
Northern Ireland flagNorthern Ireland
Best result: World Cup quarterfinalists in 1958, their only appearance beyond the group stage in three tournament trips.
North Macedonia flagNorth Macedonia
Best result: reached Euro 2020, their first-ever major tournament appearance, exiting in the group stage.
Norway flagNorway
No major trophy yet
Poland flagPoland
Best result: 3rd place at both the 1974 and 1982 World Cups, led by legendary striker Grzegorz Lato.
Romania flagRomania
Best result: World Cup quarterfinalists in 1994, led by playmaker Gheorghe Hagi, one of Eastern Europe's greatest-ever players.
San Marino flagSan Marino
No major trophy yet
Scotland flagScotland
Best result: have never advanced past a World Cup group stage, despite going undefeated in the group in 1974.
Serbia flagSerbia
Best result (as independent Serbia): has not advanced past the World Cup group stage; predecessor Yugoslavia reached the semifinal twice (1930, 1962).
Slovakia flagSlovakia
Best result (as independent Slovakia): World Cup round of 16 in 2010, including a group-stage win over defending champions Italy.
Slovenia flagSlovenia
Best result: two World Cup appearances (2002, 2010), with a round-of-16-adjacent group-stage finish; still searching for their first major knockout run.
Sweden flagSweden
Best result: World Cup runner-up as hosts in 1958, plus 3rd-place finishes in 1950 and 1994.
Switzerland flagSwitzerland
Best result: World Cup quarterfinalists in the tournament's early decades (1934, 1938, 1954); a regular round-of-16 team in the modern era.
Turkey flagTurkey
Best result: 3rd place at the 2002 World Cup and semifinalists at Euro 2008.
Ukraine flagUkraine
Best result: World Cup quarterfinalists in 2006, their best-ever finish since independence.
Wales flagWales
Best result: Euro 2016 semifinalists, led by Gareth Bale — their best tournament run since a 1958 World Cup quarterfinal.

Africa (CAF)

39 teams

Angola flagAngola
No major trophy yet
Benin flagBenin
No major trophy yet
Botswana flagBotswana
No major trophy yet
Burkina Faso flagBurkina Faso
No major trophy yet
Burundi flagBurundi
No major trophy yet
Cape Verde Islands flagCape Verde Islands
No major trophy yet
Central African Republic flagCentral African Republic
No major trophy yet
Chad flagChad
No major trophy yet
Comoros flagComoros
No major trophy yet
Djibouti flagDjibouti
No major trophy yet
Equatorial Guinea flagEquatorial Guinea
No major trophy yet
Eritrea flagEritrea
No major trophy yet
Eswatini flagEswatini
No major trophy yet
Gabon flagGabon
No major trophy yet
Gambia flagGambia
No major trophy yet
Guinea flagGuinea
No major trophy yet
Guinea-Bissau flagGuinea-Bissau
No major trophy yet
Kenya flagKenya
No major trophy yet
Lesotho flagLesotho
No major trophy yet
Liberia flagLiberia
No major trophy yet
Libya flagLibya
No major trophy yet
Madagascar flagMadagascar
No major trophy yet
Malawi flagMalawi
No major trophy yet
Mali flagMali
No major trophy yet
Mauritania flagMauritania
No major trophy yet
Mauritius flagMauritius
No major trophy yet
Mozambique flagMozambique
No major trophy yet
Namibia flagNamibia
No major trophy yet
Niger flagNiger
No major trophy yet
Rwanda flagRwanda
No major trophy yet
Sao Tome and Principe flagSao Tome and Principe
No major trophy yet
Seychelles flagSeychelles
No major trophy yet
Sierra Leone flagSierra Leone
No major trophy yet
Somalia flagSomalia
No major trophy yet
South Sudan flagSouth Sudan
No major trophy yet
Tanzania flagTanzania
No major trophy yet
Togo flagTogo
No major trophy yet
Uganda flagUganda
No major trophy yet
Zimbabwe flagZimbabwe
No major trophy yet

Asia (AFC)

39 teams

Afghanistan flagAfghanistan
No major trophy yet
American Samoa flagAmerican Samoa
No major trophy yet
Bahrain flagBahrain
No major trophy yet
Bangladesh flagBangladesh
No major trophy yet
Bhutan flagBhutan
No major trophy yet
Brunei Darussalam flagBrunei Darussalam
No major trophy yet
Cambodia flagCambodia
No major trophy yet
China PR flagChina PR
Best result: their only World Cup appearance, in 2002 as co-hosts' regional rivals, exiting the group stage without scoring a goal.
Chinese Taipei flagChinese Taipei
No major trophy yet
Guam flagGuam
No major trophy yet
Hong Kong flagHong Kong
No major trophy yet
India flagIndia
No major trophy yet
Indonesia flagIndonesia
No major trophy yet
Jordan flagJordan
No major trophy yet
Korea DPR flagKorea DPR
No major trophy yet
Kyrgyz Republic flagKyrgyz Republic
No major trophy yet
Laos flagLaos
No major trophy yet
Lebanon flagLebanon
No major trophy yet
Macau flagMacau
No major trophy yet
Malaysia flagMalaysia
No major trophy yet
Maldives flagMaldives
No major trophy yet
Mongolia flagMongolia
No major trophy yet
Myanmar flagMyanmar
No major trophy yet
Nepal flagNepal
No major trophy yet
Northern Mariana Islands flagNorthern Mariana Islands
No major trophy yet
Oman flagOman
No major trophy yet
Pakistan flagPakistan
No major trophy yet
Palestine flagPalestine
No major trophy yet
Philippines flagPhilippines
No major trophy yet
Singapore flagSingapore
No major trophy yet
Sri Lanka flagSri Lanka
No major trophy yet
Syria flagSyria
No major trophy yet
Thailand flagThailand
No major trophy yet
Timor-Leste flagTimor-Leste
No major trophy yet
Turkmenistan flagTurkmenistan
No major trophy yet
United Arab Emirates flagUnited Arab Emirates
No major trophy yet
Uzbekistan flagUzbekistan
No major trophy yet
Vietnam flagVietnam
Best result: AFC Asian Cup quarterfinalists in 2019, their best continental finish; have never qualified for a World Cup.
Yemen flagYemen
No major trophy yet

North & Central America, Caribbean (CONCACAF)

29 teams

Anguilla flagAnguilla
No major trophy yet
Antigua and Barbuda flagAntigua and Barbuda
No major trophy yet
Aruba flagAruba
No major trophy yet
Bahamas flagBahamas
No major trophy yet
Barbados flagBarbados
No major trophy yet
Belize flagBelize
No major trophy yet
Bermuda flagBermuda
No major trophy yet
British Virgin Islands flagBritish Virgin Islands
No major trophy yet
Cayman Islands flagCayman Islands
No major trophy yet
Cuba flagCuba
No major trophy yet
Curacao flagCuracao
No major trophy yet
Dominica flagDominica
No major trophy yet
Dominican Republic flagDominican Republic
No major trophy yet
El Salvador flagEl Salvador
No major trophy yet
Grenada flagGrenada
No major trophy yet
Guyana flagGuyana
No major trophy yet
Jamaica flagJamaica
Best result: their only World Cup appearance, in 1998, where the 'Reggae Boyz' beat Japan 2-1 for their sole tournament win.
Montserrat flagMontserrat
No major trophy yet
Nicaragua flagNicaragua
No major trophy yet
Panama flagPanama
Best result: World Cup debut in 2018; a disputed 'ghost goal' against England was celebrated as wildly as a trophy back home despite a 6-1 loss.
Puerto Rico flagPuerto Rico
No major trophy yet
Sint Maarten flagSint Maarten
No major trophy yet
St Kitts and Nevis flagSt Kitts and Nevis
No major trophy yet
St Lucia flagSt Lucia
No major trophy yet
St Vincent and the Grenadines flagSt Vincent and the Grenadines
No major trophy yet
Suriname flagSuriname
No major trophy yet
Trinidad and Tobago flagTrinidad and Tobago
Best result: their only World Cup appearance, in 2006, holding Sweden to a 0-0 draw — the smallest nation by population to qualify at the time.
Turks and Caicos Islands flagTurks and Caicos Islands
No major trophy yet
US Virgin Islands flagUS Virgin Islands
No major trophy yet

South America (CONMEBOL)

2 teams

Ecuador flagEcuador
No major trophy yet
Venezuela flagVenezuela
No major trophy yet

Oceania (OFC)

10 teams

Cook Islands flagCook Islands
No major trophy yet
Fiji flagFiji
No major trophy yet
New Caledonia flagNew Caledonia
No major trophy yet
New Zealand flagNew Zealand
No major trophy yet
Papua New Guinea flagPapua New Guinea
No major trophy yet
Samoa flagSamoa
No major trophy yet
Solomon Islands flagSolomon Islands
No major trophy yet
Tahiti flagTahiti
No major trophy yet
Tonga flagTonga
No major trophy yet
Vanuatu flagVanuatu
No major trophy yet