How have debutant teams performed at the FIFA World Cup?
Every performance on debut of all 84 nations to participate at the FIFA World Cup, as Cape Verde, Curacao, Jordan and Uzbekistan prepare for first tournament in 2026
Posted Thursday, June 11, 2026 by goal

Curacao World Cup qualifying 2025
Four nations will make debuts at the 2026 World Cup, with Cape Verde, Curacao, Jordan and Uzbekistan set to grace the grandest stage in international football for the first time. It will be the tournament with the most newcomers since 2006 and all will have ambitions of ending a 16-year wait for a debutant to reach the knockout stages.
It takes the total number of nations to have participated in the World Cup up to 84 and, among them, there have been some excellent debutants. Technically, Uruguay and Italy are the best performing newcomers in the competition's history, both winning the trophy on debut in 1930 and 1934, respectively. The next best performances would then come from Argentina (1930) and Czechoslovakia (1934), who each finished as runners-up.
However, given the first World Cup came in 1930, these achievements came at a time when most teams were debutants. So, who has done well in the years since?
Since 1934, the best tournament for first-timers collectively was 1958 as all three - Northern Ireland, the Soviet Union and Wales - reached the quarter-finals. There was also a 100 per cent record for debutants making it beyond the first stage in 1966, as both North Korea and Portugal met in the quarter-finals. The latter would prevail and then run England close in the semis, before losing 2-1 to the eventual champions.
Excluding the first two World Cup tournaments, making the semi-finals remains the best performance for debutants, with one other team joining Portugal over the years in getting that far in that first tournament. Others have come close, too, with three nations making the quarter-finals on debut since 1994.
This summer, though, simply making the knockout stages will be a good tournament for the newcomers, with it 16 years since one did so. That was Slovakia, who beat Italy in 2010 to send the holders crashing out in the group stages. Could Cape Verde, Curacao, Jordan or Uzbekistan follow in their path?
GOAL details the debuts of all 84 nations to have played at the World Cup...

Uruguay 1930 World Cup winners
Uruguay
Year of debut: 1930
Performance: Champions

Luis Monti Argentina 1930 FIFA World Cup
Argentina
Year of debut: 1930
Performances: Runners-up

Poland, 1938 World Cup
Belgium
Year of debut: 1930
Performances: Group stage
Bolivia
Year of debut: 1930
Performance: Group stage

Brazil 1930
Brazil
Year of debut: 1930
Performance: Group stage
Chile
Year of debut: 1930
Performance: Group stage

France, 1930 World Cup
France
Year of debut: 1930
Performance: Group stage

Manuel Rosas Mexico 1930
Mexico
Year of debut: 1930
Performance: Group stage
Paraguay
Year of debut: 1930
Performance: Group stage
Peru
Year of debut: 1930
Performance: Group stage
Romania
Year of debut: 1930
Performances: Group stage
USA
Year of debut: 1930
Performance: Semi-final
Yugoslavia (now Serbia)
Year of debut: 1930
Performance: Semi-final

Vittorio Pozzo, Italy 1934 World Cup
Italy
Year of debut: 1934
Performance: Champions

Czech Republic, 1934 World Cup
Czechoslovakia (now Czechia)
Year of debut: 1934
Performance: Runners-up
Germany
Year of debut: 1934
Performance: Third place

Austria, 1934 World Cup
Austria
Year of debut: 1934
Performance: Fourth place
Egypt
Year of debut: 1934
Performance: Round of 16
Switzerland
Year of debut: 1934
Performance: Quarter-final

Egypt v hungary 1934
Hungary
Year of debut: 1934
Performance: Quarter-final
Netherlands
Year of debut: 1934
Performance: Round of 16

Ricardo Zamora, Spain 1934 World Cup
Spain
Year of debut: 1934
Performance: Quarter-final
Sweden
Year of debut: 1934
Performance: Quarter-final
Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia)
Year of debut: 1938
Performance: Round of 16

Norway vs Italy, 1934 World Cup
Norway
Year of debut: 1938
Performance: Round of 16

Brazil vs Poland, 1938 World Cup
Poland
Year of debut: 1938
Performance: Round of 16

Cuba vs Romania, 1938 World Cup
Cuba
Year of debut: 1938
Performance: Quarter-final

England, 1950 World Cup
England
Year of debut: 1950
Performance: First round
South Korea
Year of debut: 1954
Performance: Group stage

Uruguay vs Scotland, 1954 World Cup
Scotland
Year of debut: 1954
Performance: Group stage

West Germany vs Turkey, 1954 World Cup
Turkey
Year of debut: 1954
Performance: Group stage

West Germany vs Northern Ireland, 1958 World Cup
Northern Ireland
Year of debut: 1958
Performance: Quarter-final

Soviet Union, 1958 World Cup
Soviet Union (now Russia)
Year of debut: 1958
Performance: Quarter-final

Wales, 1958 World Cup
Wales
Year of debut: 1958
Performance: Quarter-final
Bulgaria
Year of debut: 1962
Performance: Group stage
Colombia
Year of debut: 1962
Performance: Group stage

Eusebio, Portugal, 1966 World Cup
Portugal
Year of debut: 1966
Performance: Quarter-final

North Korea, 1966 World Cup
North Korea
Year of debut: 1966
Performance: Quarter-final
El Salvador
Year of debut: 1970
Performance: Group stage

Morocco, 1970 World Cup
Morocco
Year of debut: 1970
Performance: Group stage

Israel, 1970 World Cup
Israel
Year of debut: 1970
Performance: Group stage

Australia, West Germany, 1974 World Cup
Australia
Year of debut: 1974
Performance: Group stage

Poland vs Haiti, 1974 World Cup
Haiti
Year of debut: 1974
Performance: Group stage

Zaire vs Yugoslavia, 1974 World Cup
Zaire (now DR Congo)
Year of debut: 1974
Performance: Group stage

West Germany East Germany 1974
East Germany
Year of debut: 1974
Performance: Second round (Quarter-final)
Iran
Year of debut: 1978
Performance: Group stage

Tunisia, 1978 World Cup
Tunisia
Year of debut: 1978
Performance: Group stage

Paul Breitner of West Germany, Mustapha Dahleb of Algeria, 1982 World Cup
Algeria
Year of debut: 1982
Performance: Group stage
Cameroon
Year of debut: 1982
Performance: Group stage
Honduras
Year of debut: 1982
Performance: Group stage

Kuwait 1982
Kuwait
Year of debut: 1982
Performance: Group stage

New Zealand 1982 World Cup team
New Zealand
Year of debut: 1982
Performance: Group stage

Canada, France, 1986 World Cup
Canada
Year of debut: 1986
Performance: Group stage

Denmark, Spain, 1986 World Cup
Denmark
Year of debut: 1986
Performance: Round of 16

Iraq, 1986 World Cup
Iraq
Year of debut: 1986
Performance: Group stage

UAE, 1990 World Cup
United Arab Emirates
Year of debut: 1990
Performance: Group stage
Costa Rica
Year of debut: 1990
Performance: Round of 16

Republic of Ireland, 1990 World Cup
Republic of Ireland
Year of debut: 1990
Performance: Quarter-final

Argentina, Greece, 1994 World Cup
Greece
Year of debut: 1994
Performance: Group stage

Nigeria 1994 World Cup
Nigeria
Year of debut: 1994
Performance: Round of 16

Saudi Arabia, 1994 World Cup
Saudi Arabia
Year of debut: 1994
Performance: Round of 16

Jamaica, 1998 World Cup
Jamaica
Year of debut: 1998
Performance: Group stage

Japan, 1998 World Cup
Japan
Year of debut: 1998
Performance: Group stage

South Africa, 1998 World Cup
South Africa
Year of debut: 1998
Performance: Group stage

Hrvatska Croatia 1998
Croatia
Year of debut: 1998
Performance: Semi-final

China, 1998 World Cup
China
Year of debut: 2002
Performance: Group stage

Luis Hernández México Ecuador 2002
Ecuador
Year of debut: 2002
Performance: Group stage

Slovenia, 2002 World Cup
Slovenia
Year of debut: 2002
Performance: Group stage

France Senegal 2002
Senegal
Year of debut: 2002
Performance: Quarter-final

Angola 2006
Angola
Year of debut: 2006
Performance: Group stage

Ivory Coast 2006
Ivory Coast
Year of debut: 2006
Performance: Group stage

Togo 2006
Togo
Year of debut: 2006
Performance: Group stage

Trinidad and Tobago, 2006 World Cup
Trinidad and Tobago
Year of debut: 2006
Performance: Group stage

Shilla Illiasu Ghana 2006 World Cup
Ghana
Year of debut: 2006
Performance: Round of 16

Vyacheslav Sviderskyi Ukraine 2006
Ukraine
Year of debut: 2006
Performance: Quarter-final

De Rossi v Slovakia 2010
Slovakia
Year of debut: 2010
Performance: Round of 16

kenneth omeruo nigeria edin dzeko bosnia 2014 world cup group F 21062014
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Year of debut: 2014
Performance: Group stage

Gylfi Sigurdsson Iceland 2018
Iceland
Year of debut: 2018
Performance: Group stage

Panama 2018 Ergebnisse WM Kader
Panama
Year of debut: 2018
Performance: Group stage

Abdelkarim Hassan Meshaal Barsham Hassan Alhaydos Qatar 2022
Qatar
Year of debut: 2022
Performance: Group stage

Leandro Bacuna Curacao 2026
Curacao
Year of debut: 2026
Performance: TBC

Gilson Tavares Cape Verde 2026
Cape Verde
Year of debut: 2026
Performance: TBC

Ali Olwan Jordan 2025
Jordan
Year of debut: 2026
Performance: TBC

Abdukodir Khusanov Uzbekistan 2026
Uzbekistan
Year of debut: 2026
Performance: TBC
-
World Cup
- Daily
- Weekly
- Monthly



Your Say