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Association football is the most popular sport in nearly every European country and 32 of the current members of UEFA have competed at the men's FIFA World Cup.
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Team results by tournament
The team ranking in each tournament is according to FIFA. The rankings, apart from the top four positions (top two in 1930), are not a result of direct competition between the teams; instead, teams eliminated in the same round are ranked by their full results in the tournament. In recent tournaments, FIFA has used the rankings for seedings for the final tournament draw.
For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.
Overall team records
As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws. 3 points per win, 1 point per draw and 0 points per loss.
After World Cup 2014
Ranking of teams by number of appearances
Team debuts
Each successive World Cup has had at least one team appearing for the first time, in alphabetical order per year. Teams in parentheses are considered successor teams by FIFA.
Not qualified
21 of the 53 active FIFA and UEFA members have never qualified for the final tournament.