Countries With The Most World Cup Trophies In History
The most prominent trophy is the FIFA World Cup, is an international association football competition established in 1930. The trophy is contested by the men’s national teams of the members of the FIFA, the sport’s global governing body. The FIFA World Cup tournament has taken place every four years, except in 1942 and 1946, when the competition was canceled due to World War II. France won the 2018 FIFA World Cup, hosted by Russia, who beat Croatia 4–2 in regulation time.
The FIFA World Cup final match is the last of the competition, and the result determines which country is declared world champion. The fact about the final is that if after 90 minutes of regular play the score is a draw, an additional 30-minute period of play, called extra time, is added. That notwithstanding, if such a game is still tied after extra time, it is then decided by a penalty shoot-out. And the team that wins the penalty shoot-out is then declared champions.
However, it will also be pertinent to note that the FIFA World Cup is the most coveted title in football, with only eight countries winning the trophy in 20 tournaments.
The FIFA World Cup tournament’s history saw the title going to only two continents so far, with five European countries and three South American countries winning.
One of the South American countries, Brazil has won the most World Cup titles (five). History helps present the fact that they last won in 2002 when the tournament was held in South Korea and Japan. In an expository term, the national team of Brazil has won the most soccer World Cup titles of all time with five, winning the tournament in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and, most recently, in 2002.
Other South American countries like Argentina and Uruguay both won the tournament twice, while England, France, and Spain brought home the trophy once.
Aside from Brazil, other countries like Germany and Italy are just behind Brazil, winning the title four times. While the German team enter the tournament as the reigning World Cup champions, Italy failed to book their ticket to Russia after being eliminated by Sweden in qualifying playoff matches.
While countries like Germany and Brazil participated in the finals a total of 15 times, their only match against each other in the World Cup final was in 2002, when Brazil won 2-0.
According to the tournament statistics, the most recent World Cup, which was hosted by Russia in 2018, was won by France. The team, coached by Didier Deschamps, won the final 4-2 against Croatia. As a matter of fact, this victory marked a double success for the national team coach as he was part of the France squad that won the country’s first ever World Cup in 1998. France’s Russia 2018 victory was not a complete surprise as the French squad boasted the highest market value of all the teams at the World Cup, with a total value of around 1.08 billion euros.
In the FIFA World Cup 21 editions of the tournament, only eight countries out of FIFA’s 211 members won the World Cup. Then, the rest of the six of those can say they won the competition multiple times. This is to say that countries like Spain and England are the only countries to win just one World Cup Final. Again, this means that three countries played in more World Cup Finals than both Spain and England. However, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, and Hungary all came up short on multiple occasions.
Nevertheless, there is a great overlap between where the best players in the history of the game come from and which country has the most World Cup soccer titles. Football legends like the likes of Pele, Diego Maradona, Gerd Muller, and more all played crucial roles in lifting the World Cup.
The Brazilian football legend, Pele stands out. The reason is not farfetched, it’s because Pele as a member of the Brazil National Team, is the only player to claim three World Cups as a player. Aside from him, plenty of Brazilians won two with Brazil winning three World Cups in four tournaments from 1958 to 1970.
Countries With The Most World Cup Trophies In History
| Country | World Cup wins | Runner-up finishes | Years won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 5 | 2 | 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002 |
| Germany | 4 | 4 | 1954, 1974, 1990, 2014 |
| Italy | 4 | 2 | 1934, 1938, 1982, 2006 |
| Argentina | 2 | 3 | 1978. 1986 |
| France | 2 | 1 | 1998, 2018 |
| Uruguay | 2 | 0 | 1930, 1950 |
| England | 1 | 0 | 1966 |
| Spain | 1 | 0 | 2010 |
Now after the above-presented record, the most interesting thing to note regarding Brazil being the country with the most World Cup wins is that From 1950 to 2002, the World Cup Final featured one of Brazil or Germany/West Germany each tournament except for one. It is recorded that the exception is when Argentina defeated the Netherlands in 1978. Again, statistics also show that only once did Brazil and Germany play each other in a Final: which was in 2002 when Oliver Kahn’s mistake in goal opened up a lead Brazil would not relinquish.
In all, the above teams enter the World Cup each year with hopes of adding to their trophy cabinet. But of course, leaving out countries like Italy, which failed to qualify for a second-consecutive World Cup in 2022.