Best National Team who haven't appear in FIFA World Cup in each Continent
- Andrew Cheam
- Feb 6, 2020
- 3 min read
FIFA World Cup is the most prestigious football-related tournament all around the world. The national team will try their best to even qualified the tournament and get more exposure for them. However, there are still some national team who are yet to make their debut appearance. Therefore, these are the highest-ranking nation in the latest FIFA ranking in each continent are yet to make an appearance in the FIFA World Cup.
*Ranking Updated on 19th December 2019
Europe- Montenegro (64th in FIFA Ranking)
As one of the newest national team to be included in FIFA, the Montenegro national team only joined FIFA and UEFA in 2007. They only played their first-ever FIFA qualifier in 2008 in the group consists of Italy, Republic of Ireland and Bulgaria. In their debut qualifier campaign, Montenegro only managed to finish above Georgia in the group. In the next two qualifiers, Montenegro just comes close to advance to the second round of qualification as they finished third in both campaigns. They finished behind Ukraine (2014) and Denmark (2018) in both qualification. With the likes of Stefan Savic and Stevan Jovetic still leading the national team, they can aim to qualify the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
South America- Venezuela (25th in FIFA Ranking)
Surprisingly, Venezuela is the only CONMEBOL member who yet to qualify in the FIFA World Cup. This is mainly due to the fact of baseball is the main sports in their nation, unlike other South American countries. Their closest call to the FIFA World Cup qualification is in the 2010 World Cup qualification, in which they are just two points behind fifth-place Uruguay in the qualifying round. However, the Venezuela national team consistently performed in Copa America in recent years. The emergence of talents such as Josef Martinez, Wuilker Farinez and Salomon Rondon, this Venezuela side might not need to wait any longer for their debut FIFA World Cup campaign.
North America- Curacao (80th in FIFA Ranking)
As the successor of the Netherlands Antilles football team, Curacao national team is the more obscure name in the list. Their first match played was back in 2011 against the Dominican Republic. Curacao only participated in two FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, but they failed to qualify in each and every times. However, Curacao national team recent performance in CONCACAF Gold Cup had raised some eyebrows from the football fans in North America. Maybe there is a slight chance for them at least to slip in the hexagonal round in CONCACAF qualifying campaign.
Africa- Mali (56th in FIFA Ranking)
With the truly African football nation such as Nigeria, Cameroon and Senegal had made their mark in FIFA World Cup, Mali is yet to make an appearance in that tournament. The closest chance that Mali could qualify in the tournament is in the 2014 World Cup qualification, where they were second behind Algeria in the second round of qualification. Their African Cup history isn’t impressive either. Their best ever achievement was the runners-up and it was back in 1972. With limited qualification spots and too much stronger African football nation in the continent, we might not likely to see Mali national team to grace the tournament anytime soon.
Asia- Syria (79th in FIFA Ranking)
Technically Qatar had a higher FIFA ranking in this term. However, since they are the host of the next world cup, they will surely make their debut in 2022. Therefore, we are going to the next best Asian team instead. Syria came close to qualify to the 2018 World Cup, which they eventually lost to Australia in the continental playoff round. However, with a better experience and perhaps better player in their hands, Syria will surely work their way to the qualification of the next edition of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Oceania- Solomon Islands (141st in FIFA Ranking)
The lowest ranking national team in the list, Soloman Island isn’t well-known for their football ability worldwide. In fact, only Australia (currently the AFC member) and New Zealand had ever qualified the World Cup as the Oceania nation. Their best result in a World Cup qualification campaign is reaching the continental playoff round, which they eventually lost to Australia and New Zealand. Since the gap between them and New Zealand are quite big, we are unlikely to see Soloman Island to qualify to the FIFA World Cup anytime soon.
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