No country outside of Europe and South America has ever won the FIFA World Cup. It’s not guaranteed that a country outside Europe and South America will ever win the World Cup. Even though it’s difficult to believe one won’t win it within the next 500 or 1,000 years, assuming the tournament is never abolished. Regardless, this article will try to examine the most probable candidates. Only countries that have made at least one appearance at the World Cup will be considered. This means countries like India will not be examined. It’s unlikely they would’ve won it first anyway, though. Despite their massive population and growth in football. The contenders are divided into three categories: unlikely winners, possible winners, and likely winners. Here is an examination of the countries that might topple Europe’s and South America’s Duopoly of the FIFA World Cup.
Countries That Could End Europe’s and South America’s World Cup Domination
Who are the Contenders?
There are seventeen countries in this category: El Salvador, DR Congo, Haiti, United Arab Emirates, Panama, Indonesia, Togo, Iraq, Trinidad and Tobago, Kuwait, Egypt, Angola, Honduras, New Zealand, Jamaica, North Korea and Cuba. All these countries are one step behind other contenders. Some countries in this category are notably better than others. Egypt would be very disappointed if they lost to Cuba, for example. But all of them are unlikely to ever win a World Cup.
Australia, Iran, Tunisia, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria, Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Japan, China PR, Canada, Korea Republic and the United States are in the ‘possible’ category. Most of these countries have made it to the knockout stage of a World Cup. China PR is here even though they’ve never made it to the knockout stage. Because their investment in football and growing domestic league gives them a reason to be optimistic about the future. It doesn’t mean their national team will improve though, which is why they’re not more favoured.
Mexico and Nigeria the Front–Runners
Mexico and Nigeria are in a league of their own and thus find themselves in the ‘likely’ category. Mexico is the best footballing country outside Europe and South America, according to the all-time table of the World Cup. Nigeria made their World Cup debut as late as 1994, but are still the fourth-best non-UEFA- and CONMEBOL-team of all time. Excluding Mexico, the only countries ranked higher than Nigeria are the Korea Republic and the U.S., both of whom have made significantly more World Cup appearances. Nigeria will probably surpass those two eventually, as their nation is becoming more prosperous every year. They’re on course to become the third most populous nation in the world by 2015, according to the United Nations.
The Super Eagles are plagued by inconsistency at the World Cup. Meanwhile, El Tri have made it to the round of 16 seven consecutive times. However, the future bodes better for Nigeria.
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