With the 2026 FIFA World Cup approaching the end of the group stage, several countries are looking to make history in the most famous sporting tournament on the planet.
As is the case with many Americans, soccer, or association football, has never been my favorite sport, or all that close to it.
In a country where team sports are dominated by the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL, soccer is often an afterthought despite being the world’s most popular sport by a long shot. While I grew up well aware of the MLS and knew several people that loved watching and playing the sport, I never really had a moment where I found myself getting into the game.
Like other yanks, I had complained that matches end in draws, that the field is too large, the clock is too strange and that the game moves too slow (a rich complaint for a lifelong baseball fan to have, I know).
Yet here in 2026, at 30 years old, I might finally be having that moment, as I have found myself absolutely glued to this year’s World Cup, taking in the spectacle that is the biggest sports moment imaginable for most fans of the game across the world.
Regardless of what you may think of soccer or the incredibly corrupt FIFA, the World Cup is unlike anything else in sports, bringing the entire world together for a game that is understood and loved by literal billions of people. An environment where love for a sport mingles with an intense passion for one’s culture, heritage and nation.
For many fans across the world, there is no better way to express that pride and passion than to see their country prove themselves as the best in the world at the most played game in the world.
Yet throughout the 96-year history of the FIFA World Cup that now spans across 23 tournaments, there have still just been a handful of countries that have finished the job and won it all.
Beyond winning the tournament, making it to the final stages of the World Cup is considered to be a crown jewel of an accomplishment by many nations. While only eight nations thus far have won the World Cup, 25 different nations have recorded at least one top four finish in their country’s history at the tournament.
With several of the game’s proverbial blue bloods such as England, Brazil, France and Argentina hungry for another championship, there is also a legion of underdog countries, including the three host nations of Canada, the United States and Mexico, that are looking to make history in 2026.
Heading into the knockout stage of this year’s World Cup, here’s a look at the history of top four finishes for all of the countries that have been able to make it there:
1. Brazil
- 1st place: 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002
- 2nd place: 1950, 1958
- 3rd place: 1938, 1978
- 4th place: 1974, 2014
2. Germany (West Germany 1954-1990)
- 1st place: 1954, 1974, 1990, 2014
- 2nd place: 1966, 1982, 1986, 2002
- 3rd place: 1934, 1970, 2006, 2010
- 4th place: 1958
3. Italy
- 1st place: 1934, 1938, 1982, 2006
- 2nd place: 1970, 1994
- 3rd place: 1990
- 4th place: 1978
4. Argentina
- 1st place: 1978, 1986, 2022
- 2nd place: 1930, 1990, 2014
5. France
- 1st place: 1998, 2018
- 2nd place: 2006, 2022
- 3rd place: 1958, 1986
- 4th place: 1982
6. Uruguay
- 1st place: 1930, 1950
- 4th place: 1954, 1970, 2010
7. England
- 1st place: 1966
- 4th place: 1990, 2018
8. Spain
- 1st place: 2010
- 4th place: 1950
9. Netherlands
- 2nd place: 1974, 1978, 2010
- 3rd place: 2014
- 4th place: 1998
10. Hungary
- 2nd place: 1938, 1954
11. Czech Republic (as Czechoslovakia)
- 2nd place: 1934, 1962
12. Sweden
- 2nd place: 1958
- 3rd place: 1950, 1994
- 4th place: 1938
13. Croatia
- 2nd place: 2018
- 3rd place: 1998, 2022
14. Poland
- 3rd place: 1974, 1982
15. Austria
- 3rd place: 1954
- 4th place: 1934
16. Portugal
- 3rd place: 1966
- 4th place: 2006
17. Belgium
- 3rd place: 2018
- 4th place: 1986
18. Chile
- 3rd place: 1962
19. Turkey
- 3rd place: 2002
20. United States
- 3rd place: 1930
21. Serbia (as Yugoslavia)
- 4th place: 1930, 1962
22. Russia (as Soviet Union)
- 4th place: 1966
23. Bulgaria
- 4th place: 1994
24. South Korea
- 4th place: 2002
25. Morocco
- 4th place: 2022
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