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FIFA 2026 WC - general

I just did a little exercise in identifying which countries, who have played in previous World Cups, have missed out on 2026.

Once qualification is over it will be approximately 30. Considering that 48 qualify this year, that’s not a small amount.

You could counter by stating that the World Cup has hosted 22 events. Nearly all countries of modicum ability have qualified at some point.
 
Son of Sam said:
I just did a little exercise in identifying which countries, who have played in previous World Cups, have missed out on 2026.

Once qualification is over it will be approximately 30. Considering that 48 qualify this year, that’s not a small amount.

You could counter by stating that the World Cup has hosted 22 events. Nearly all countries of modicum ability have qualified at some point.
Click to expand...
do you have the list?
 
grazorblade said:
do you have the list?
Click to expand...
This is at least 95% accurate

Iraq or Bolivia
Indonesia
UAE
China
Kuwait
North Korea
Cameroon
Nigeria
Angola
Togo
Honduras
El Salvador
Costa Rica
Trinidad and Tobago
Cuba
Peru
Chile
Northern Ireland
Wales
Bosnia-Herzegovina or Italy
Ukraine
Poland or Sweden
Romania
Slovakia
Ireland
Czechia or Denmark
Serbia
Israel
Hungary
Bulgaria
Iceland
Greece
Slovenia


Turkey (possibly)
Jamaica (possibly)
 
Many stadiums are in far to reach places. In Germany they had all the standard train services with travel included. A few were also walkable from the city centre.

Trust the Dutch fans to rent bikes. Many fan groups will have pre arranged transport but the way they've turned this into a money gouging event across all aspects is a disgrace.

Apparently it's illegal to walk to MetLife and the rest is surrounded by marsh land.
 
Cape Verde and Curaçao deserved their qualifications. Helped by the expansion, they still improved immensely to qualify. These friendly result cast a bit of doubt over them now.

Jordan are holding firm in practice games but have a tough group with Argentina, Austria and Algeria
 
So now we have a slightly clearer picture of the groups.

A
Mexico, South Korea, South Africa, Czech Rep/ Denmark.
Tip: Denmark

B
Canada Switzerland Qatar Italy/Bosnia
Tip: Italy

D
USA Australia Paraguay Turkey/Kosovo
Tip: Turkey

F
Netherlands Japan Tunisia Sweden/Poland
Tip: Sweden

I
France Norway Senegal Iraq/Bolivia
Tip:Iraq

K
Portugal Colombia Uzbekistan DR Congo/ Jamaica
Tip: DR Congo
 
Looking at many groups with playoff teams, I think some of those may be the ones with low ranked third places. That's not to say two weak teams may see one get a win and a draw to the stake a decent claim on 4 points.
 
Son of Sam said:
This is at least 95% accurate

Iraq or Bolivia
Indonesia
UAE
China
Kuwait
North Korea
Cameroon
Nigeria
Angola
Togo
Honduras
El Salvador
Costa Rica
Trinidad and Tobago
Cuba
Peru
Chile
Northern Ireland
Wales
Bosnia-Herzegovina or Italy
Ukraine
Poland or Sweden
Romania
Slovakia
Ireland
Czechia or Denmark
Serbia
Israel
Hungary
Bulgaria
Iceland
Greece
Slovenia


Turkey (possibly)
Jamaica (possibly)
Click to expand...
Conversely there are (understandably) only 4-6 new WC entrants. In spite of the 48 team World Cup, you will end up running out of 'new' entrants.

Cabo Verde
Curacao
Jordan
Uzbekistan

DR Congo (possible)
Kosovo (possible)
 
In the FIFA World Cup, head-to-head emphasizes mini-league results among tied teams, rewarding direct competitiveness. However, it can distort fairness if one-off matches outweigh consistent overall performance.

Goal difference captures performance across all matches, incentivizing attacking play and consistency, but can be skewed by weaker opponents.

Overall, head-to-head is fairer for direct comparison; goal difference is fairer for total tournament performance.


If you say so Chatgpt. If we win a game we'll be feeling that bit better but I hate the complications it brings when 3 teams hit. I reckon a lot of people and even media and journalists don't know it's H2H.
 
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