Part of the beauty of the FIFA World Cup lies in the fact that it usually features at least a handful of nations that have no ambitions to win many matches, let alone the tournament. And yet, especially for these nations, taking part in the World Cup is often a source of immense national pride and joy.
This year’s world cup features four debutants – Jordan, Uzbekistan, Cabo Verde and Curaçao – with the latter two in particular capturing the imagination of football fans around the world. Each of them will go toe-to-toe with at least one footballing superpower in the group stages, as Jordan plays Argentina, Uzbekistan takes on Portugal, Curaçao plays Germany and Cabo Verde faces two former champions in Spain and Uruguay.
Speaking of former winners, only eight nations have won the World Cup in its almost 100-year history. The only past winner absent from this year’s tournament is Italy. Having won the World Cup in 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006, Italy failed to qualify for the past three tournaments, this time after losing on penalties against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the final playoff match.
