The Best Team to Never Win

There have been 20 World Cups over all time, competed among 80 different nations but only 8 different winners.  In those times there have been some teams that have come close but not close enough.

Hungary made the final match twice, first time in 1938 and then in 1954 arguably one of the greatest teams in the world.  They had gone unbeaten in all matches from May 1950 to July 1954 - winning 22 out of 25 games and scoring 118 goals.  They even beat Germany by 8-3 in the group stage before going on and losing in the Final to the same German team.

Czechoslovakia and Sweden also made the final but never won, Czechoslovakia, like Hungary got there twice.  

But the best team at being great but not the best is Netherlands.  In terms of win percentage they have a better record than former champions Spain, France, England and Uruguay.  They have also made more finals than each of those teams.  They are runners up three times, this is one better than Hungary and Czecholovakia.  And again this time out they were great beating Spain 5-1 but not good enough and will have to settle for Third in the end.

If we look down the table by win percentage, below Netherlands are Portugal, and then surprisingly Turkey and Denmark.  None of these have ever made the Final match but all have better win percents than say for example Spain.  The most surprising to see here is probably Turkey, but then Turkey is a football mad country and has a great tradition and a very strong domestic league.  Indeed in the 2014 World Cup there are no less than 26 players based in Turkey present.  That include Kuyt and Schnieder in the Dutch squad.

The worst team to win the World Cup on the other hand is Uruguay if we go by win percentage - and not only did they win it, but they won it twice!

Also interesting to note, Brazil are the only team to have qualified/played in all 20 World Cup Tournaments - Germany and Italy are close behind with 18.

In terms of goals scored Brazil had 220 total world cup goals and that was the best until Germany put 7 past them to bring their own total haul of World Cup goals to 223.  With this result Germany also edged past Brazil on finals - this will be Germany's 8th Final, whereas Brazil have only 7.

Brazil still hold on to top spot when you look at total titles (5) and best win percent (68%) and as we said tournament participation (20).


All time world cup statistics (before tonights match)
Tournaments participated inTotal Times World ChampionsTimes as Runner-upMatches playedMatches WonWin PercentGoals ScoredGoals Against
Brazil20521037068%22199
Germany18341056562%223121
Argentina1622764255%13183
Italy1842834554%12877
Netherlands1003492653%8348
Portugal600261350%4329
Turkey20010550%2017
Denmark40016850%2724
Spain1410592949%9266
Poland700311548%4440
France1411592847%10671
Hungary902311445%8157
Croatia40016744%2117
Yugoslavia900371643%6046
Russia1000401742%6647
England1410622642%7956
Austria700291241%4347
Ecuador30010440%1011
Ukraine1005240%57
Senegal1005240%76
Colombia50018739%2627
Uruguay1220512039%8071
Romania70021838%3032
Czechoslovakia802301137%4445
Sweden1101461635%7469
Belgium1200411434%5266
Ivory Coast3009333%1314
Bosnia and Herzegovina1003133%44
Chile900331133%4049
Czech Republic1003133%34
Ghana30012433%1316
Serbia1003133%23
Jamaica1003133%39
German DR1006233%55
Cuba1003133%512
Switzerland1000331133%4559
Costa Rica40015533%1723
Nigeria50018528%2026
Peru40015427%1931
Paraguay80027726%3038
Mexico1500531426%5792
Norway3008225%78
Slovakia1004125%57
United States100033824%3762
Japan50017424%1422
Northern Ireland30013323%1323
Algeria40013323%1319
South Africa3009222%1116
Greece30010220%520
Wales1005120%44
Scotland80023417%2541
Slovenia2006117%510
Cameroon70023417%1843
South Korea90031516%3167
Australia40013215%1126
Republic of Ireland30013215%1010
Morocco40013215%1218
Saudi Arabia40013215%932
Korea DPR2007114%621
Bulgaria70026312%2253
Tunisia4001218%817
Iran4001218%722
Serbia and Montenegro100300%210
Angola100300%12
Iraq100300%14
Israel100300%13
Togo100300%16
China PR100300%09
New Zealand200600%414
Trinidad and Tobago100300%04
Zaire100300%014
El Salvador200600%122
Kuwait100300%26
Bolivia300600%120
Canada100300%05
Haiti100300%214
Honduras300900%314
Egypt200400%36
United Arab Emirates100300%211

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