World Cup Final Top 11 Footballing Nations

[Ramseth]

Only 11 nations have ever reached the World Cup Final at least once and only 7 have won it at least once:

1. Brazil - 18 qualifications, 5 titles, 7 finals, 10 S-finals, 13 Q-finals

2. Italy - 16 qualifications, 4 titles, 6 finals, 8 S-finals, 9 Q-finals

3. Germany - 16 qualifications, 3 titles, 7 finals, 11 S-finals, 13 Q-finals

4. Argentina - 14 qualifications, 2 titles, 4 finals, 4 S-finals, 8 Q-finals

5. Uruguay - 10 qualifications, 2 titles, 2 finals, 4 S-finals, 5 Q-finals

6. France - 12 qualifications, 1 title, 2 finals, 5 S-finals, 6 Q-finals

7. England - 12 qualifications, 1 title, 1 final, 2 S-finals, 9 Q-finals

8. Holland - 8 qualifications, 2 finals, 3 S-finals, 4 Q-finals

9. Hungary - 9 qualifications, 2 finals, 2 S-finals, 5 Q-finals

10. Czech - 8 qualifications, 2 finals, 2 S-finals, 4 Q-finals

11. Sweden - 11 qualifications. 1 final, 4 S-finals, 6 Q-finals


There were some tournament changes in 1950 with regard to "finalists", in 1974 and 1978 with regard to "semi-finalists", and in 1982 with regard to quarter-finalists. For 1950, it' commonly accepted that Uruguay and Brazil were considered the "finalists". For 1974 and 1978, qualifiers for 3rd place play-offs were considered the "semi-finalists", i.e. Poland v. Brazil in 1974 and Brazil v. Italy in 1978. For 1982, the top 8 of the 2nd group stage of 12 nations in 4 groups were considered "quarter-finalists", i.e. Italy, Brazil, Germany, England, Poland, Soviet Union, France and Austria. Though in the same stage, the other 4, i.e. Argentina, Spain, Begium and N. Ireland were considered as "2nd Round" only for finishing bottom of their respective groups.

 

[Ramseth]

Another interesting thing about the World Cup. It's the Top 4 nations, Brazil, Germany, Italy and Argentina. There has been no World Cup Final without at least one of these nations. Check it out. Either both finalists were from these Top 4 or at least one side from them:

1930 : Uruguay v. Argentina
1934 : Italy v. Czech
1938 : Italy v. Hungary
1950 : Uruguay v. Brazil
1954 : Germany v. Hungary
1958 : Brazil v. Sweden
1962 : Brazil v. Czech
1966 : England v. Germany
1970 : Brazil v. Italy
1974 : Germany v. Holland
1978 : Argentina v. Holland
1982 : Italy v. Germany
1986 : Argentina v. Germany
1990 : Germany v. Argentina
1994 : Brazil v. Italy
1998 : France v. Brazil
2002 : Brazil v. Germany
2006 : Italy v. France

 

[Ramseth]

Another interesting thing. No nation being led by a foreign coach has ever won the World Cup. Most recently and (in?)famously with the trend for globalising the coaching profession even for national duties, S-G Eriksson (Sweden) failed with England and L-F Scolari (Brazil) failed with Portugal. It'd be interesting to see if F. Capello (Italy) can do it with England in 2010. He seems to be doing very well now.