The countdown to the is on! Every day forward of the event’s return to North America, Yahoo Sports activities will spotlight an perception or second that showcases simply how grand the world’s largest sporting spectacle has turn into — even past the expanded discipline of this 12 months’s international occasion.
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Because the 2026 World Cup turns into the primary to develop to 48 groups, this summer time will see 4 international locations making their World Cup debuts: Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan. And whereas these debutants have a steep street forward of them , they’ve a protracted historical past of nations making a splash of their first World Cup to fall again on.
Of the 57 international locations which have made their debuts since 1950 (the beginning of the World Cup’s “trendy period”), solely 12 have gone on to advance to the knockout spherical of their first 12 months on the event — making it a uncommon nationwide staff that is ready to go on an early Cinderella run.
Debutants who …
… made the knockout spherical: Northern Eire (1958), Wales (1958), Denmark (1986), Costa Rica (1990), Nigeria (1994), Saudi Arabia (1994), Ghana (2006)
… gained a sport within the knockout spherical: Eire (1990), Senegal (2002), Ukraine (2006)
… completed in third place: Portugal (1966), Croatia (1998)
Most of that’s due to the problem of the group stage. Even within the previous 16-, 24- and 32-team codecs, which typically had some third-place finishers advance, it’s been uncommon for debutants to select up greater than a degree or two in group play. Just one debutant within the trendy period, Nigeria in 1994, went on to win their group; Nigeria then misplaced to Italy in additional time after advancing to the knockout spherical.
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Three groups made it previous the primary knockout sport however fell into the quarterfinals — with all of these wins coming in extremely shut video games. Eire beat Romania in penalties throughout its debut in 1990 earlier than shedding within the quarterfinals; Ukraine did the identical to Switzerland in 2006. And Senegal beat Sweden off a golden purpose in 2002, earlier than falling to a golden purpose from Tunisia within the subsequent spherical.
2026 World Cup countdown: 100 days of details, stats and tales
(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports activities)
However the largest aspirations are Portugal and Croatia, which in 1966 and 1998 (respectively) resulted in third place of their World Cup debuts. Portugal, as a part of a 16-team event, beat North Korea within the first knockout sport earlier than shedding to eventual champion England, however defeated the Soviet Union within the bronze medal match. 32 years later, within the first 12 months of the 32-team format, Croatia beat Romania and Germany within the knockout earlier than shedding to France, however got here again to win third place by defeating Netherlands.
Nevertheless, latest debutants haven’t had the identical form of luck. Not one of the international locations making their World Cup debuts in 2022 (Qatar), 2018 (Iceland, Panama) or 2014 (Bosnia and Herzegovina) made it out of the group stage.
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The chances of advancing deep into the event get slimmer as the sector will get bigger, even because the probabilities of advancing to the knockout get somewhat simpler. And so this 12 months’s debutants may need a tougher time crawling to a shock third-place end — however they’ve some success to look again on as they fight.