2026 Quarter-Finals

FIFA World Cup quarter-round teams since 1986

The quarter-final round of the FIFA World Cup was only added in 1986. Looking at the countries with the most quarter-final appearances shows us who the titans really are in this tournament. Past the hype and the patriotism and the only paying attention to world football every four years, you’ll find the countries who actually have a shot at winning the World Cup.

Uruguay is the only country to have won it all and appeared in less than four quarter-finals. They are a constant outlier when looking at the metrics of the world cup however. They pretty much started the tournament, dominated it early and haven’t really done much since then.

1986

Argentina, England, Belgium, Spain, Brazil, France, Germany (West), Mexico

1990

Argentina, Yugoslavia, Ireland, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Germany (West), Cameroon, England

1994

Brazil, Netherlands, Sweden, Romania, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Spain

1998

France, Italy, Brazil, Denmark, Netherlands, Argentina, Germany, Croatia

2002

England, Brazil, Germany, United States, Spain, South Korea, Senegal, Turkey

2006

Germany, Argentina, Italy, Ukraine, England, Portugal, Brazil, France

2010

Netherlands, Brazil, Uruguay, Ghana, Argentina, Germany, Paraguay, Spain

2014

France, Germany, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Belgium, Netherlands, Costa Rica

2018

Uruguay, France, Brazil, Belgium, Sweden, England, Russia, Croatia

2022

Croatia, Brazil, Netherlands, Argentina, Morocco, Portugal, England, France

2026

France, Morocco, Spain, Belgium, Norway, England, Argentina, Switzerland