Eight Populous Nations Yet to Grace the FIFA World Cup Stage

Despite boasting some of the world’s largest populations and vast pools of sporting talent, several major nations have never appeared at a FIFA World Cup.

With populations numbering in the hundreds of millions — and in one case, over a billion — these countries remain absent from football’s grandest stage. Experts attribute this to factors ranging from the dominance of other sports to underfunded football programs and administrative challenges.

According to Planet Football, here are eight highly populated nations still waiting for their World Cup debut:

1. India (1.4 billion)
Now the world’s most populous nation, India is passionate about football but remains devoted to cricket. The “Blue Tigers” have never featured at a World Cup, though they qualified for the 1950 edition in Brazil but withdrew due to travel expenses — not, as myth suggests, because they wanted to play barefoot.

2. Indonesia (278 million)
The world’s fourth-most populous nation, Indonesia, has never qualified for the World Cup. However, the Dutch East Indies — a colonial predecessor — appeared in the 1938 tournament, losing 6–0 to Hungary. Indonesia’s 2026 qualification hopes were dashed by defeats to Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

3. Pakistan (243 million)
Despite a massive population and growing football interest, Pakistan has never reached the World Cup. Ranked outside the top 140 by FIFA, football still lags far behind cricket in popularity across the nation.

4. Bangladesh (169 million)
Bangladesh is famous for its passionate support of Argentina and Brazil during the World Cup, yet its own national team has never qualified. The country began attempting qualification in 1974 but remains absent from the tournament to date.

5. Ethiopia (125 million)
Ethiopia’s rich football history includes continental success, but the nation has never appeared at the World Cup. They came close in 2014, losing narrowly to Nigeria in the final play-offs. With Africa now allotted nine qualifying slots, Ethiopia could yet break through in 2030.

6. Philippines (113 million)
Owing to its American colonial past, basketball and boxing overshadow football in the Philippines. Although the sport has grown in recent years, the national team, ranked 143rd by FIFA, is still far from World Cup qualification.

7. Vietnam (99 million)
Introduced to football during French colonial rule, Vietnam made their best run in the 2022 qualifiers by reaching the third round. However, they have yet to come close to securing a World Cup berth.

8. Thailand (71 million)
Thailand has reached the final Asian qualifying stage twice — for the 2002 and 2018 World Cups — but failed to advance. Once ranked as high as 43rd in the world, the “War Elephants” continue to chase their dream of a World Cup debut.