The Worst World Cup Teams Ever

The World Cup is a month-long celebration of the best of the best, titans of football battling it out on the game’s biggest stage, a festival and feast for the eyes.

But not every team rises to the occasion.

Ask any fan and they’ll recall at least one spectacular flop: A nation that arrived full of hope and excitement, only to be sent packing almost immediately. And over the decades, there have been more than a few.

Here, Sports Illustrated looks back at some of the worst—and most disappointing—teams ever to appear at the World Cup.

12. France (2010)

France’s disastrous 2010 World Cup campaign marked the end of an unusually bizarre 12-year cycle in the tournament.

Winners in 1998, Les Bleus crashed out at the group stage in 2002 before reaching the final again in 2006. In 2010, however, under Raymond Domenech, things went spectacularly wrong.

After a 0-0 draw with Uruguay and a loss to Mexico—a match remembered as much for the halftime argument between Nicolas Anelka and Domenech as for the play on the pitch—France limped out of the tournament with a final defeat to host nation South Africa.

Embarrassing doesn’t even begin to cover it.

11. Dutch East Indies (1938)

The Dutch East Indies—now Indonesia—have one of the worst records in World Cup history.

The only team to have played just one World Cup match (great bit of pub-quiz knowledge for you), they boast a sole firm defeat to their name.

Back in 1938, when the tournament went straight into a knockout format, the Dutch East Indies came up against eventual finalists Hungary in the round of 16, where they fell to a 6-0 hammering in their one and only World Cup appearance.

Short and not so sweet.

10. Qatar (2022)

There have been plenty of teams that left the World Cup with zero points, but while Qatar’s record isn’t the absolute worst on paper, they earn a spot on this list for being the poorest-performing host nation in the tournament’s history.

Spain in 1982 and South Africa in 2010 previously shared that dubious honour, but following a dismal group stage in which Qatar were thoroughly outplayed in defeats to Ecuador, Senegal and the Netherlands, Félix Sánchez’s side cannot escape the criticism.

9. Mexico (1978)

Even the great Hugo Sanchez couldn't help Mexico in '78. | Getty/Alessandro Sabattini

Mexico have appeared in the World Cup finals 17 times, though not every campaign has been memorable for the right reasons.

One of their most woeful performances came in 1978, when they exited the tournament having lost all three of their group matches—and in emphatic fashion.

Their campaign began with a 3-1 defeat to Tunisia, was followed by a 6-0 thrashing at the hands of West Germany and concluded with a 3-1 loss to Poland. A tournament to forget for El Tri.

8. France (2002)

Hello again France...

In 2002, reigning champions France began their World Cup defence with one of the greatest shocks in tournament history, losing 1-0 to Senegal as the late Papa Bouba Diop netted a first-half winner.

Roger Lemerre’s side went on to conclude their 2002 campaign with a 0-0 draw against Uruguay and a 2-0 defeat to Denmark, ending their title defence without scoring a single goal.

7. Saudi Arabia (2002)

While Saudi Arabia may have subtly impressed in Qatar in 2022, their team of 2002 did anything but.

A group stage in which they lost 8-0 to Germany, 1-0 to Cameroon and 3-0 to the Republic of Ireland firmly cemented their place as the tournament’s worst side—and as one of the World Cup’s worst ever.

6. North Korea (2010)

North Korea qualified for the World Cup for only the second time in 2010, but their return to the tournament stage was far from memorable.

In their first World Cup match in 44 years, the North Koreans put up a fight in a 2-1 defeat to Brazil, which looked respectable on paper. Unfortunately, that proved to be the high point—they were then thrashed 7-0 by Portugal and lost 3-0 to Ivory Coast.

5. Bolivia (1950)

The 1950 World Cup was an unusual tournament. There were four groups—two with four teams, one with three, and a final group of just two after France withdrew before playing.

In that final two-team group, eventual champions Uruguay faced Bolivia in what was supposed to be a single match to decide who would advance to the final stage.

“Match” hardly seems adequate, though, because on July 2, 1950, Uruguay demolished Bolivia 8-0, bringing their World Cup journey to an abrupt and humiliating end.

4. Greece (1994)

Greece/Bulgaria 1994 — The 1994 Greece team is one of the World Cup's worst ever. | Getty/Ben Radford

Remember when a slightly deranged Diego Maradona went absolutely bananas at the World Cup after rasping one in from outside the box? Yep, that was against poor old Greece in a disaster of a 1994 tournament.

The Greeks lost that particular game 4-0, before succumbing to Daniel Amokachi and Nigeria by a slightly more respectable 2-0 scoreline.

But determined to go down in history as one of the worst World Cup teams ever, Greece were spanked 4-0 by Bulgaria in their final group game, ending up with zero goals and 10 conceded.

You won’t be surprised to know that head coach Alketas Panagoulias resigned immediately.

3. Haiti (1974)

The 1974 World Cup featured a few notably woeful performances, one of whom was Haiti.

The Caribbean nation’s first World Cup appearance ended in disappointing fashion. They bowed out at the group stage after a 3-1 loss to Italy, a crushing 7-0 defeat to eventual third-placed Poland and a 4-1 loss to Argentina—leaving them with a goal difference of -12.

2. El Salvador (1982)

El Salvador matched Haiti’s woeful goal difference eight years later, finishing their 1982 World Cup group-stage campaign with three heavy defeats in which they scored just once while conceding 13.

On the bright side, that made their 1970 campaign—their only other World Cup appearance—look slightly better, as they scored none and conceded nine in the group stage.

Their final two matches in Spain were relatively close, losing 1-0 to Belgium and 2-0 to Argentina, but it was impossible to recover from their opening 10-1 defeat to Hungary.

1. Zaire (1974)

Zaire, 1974 World Cup — Zaire are the World Cup's worst-ever team. | Getty/VI Images

The worst World Cup team ever has to be Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), the other notably pitiful side from 1974.

Making their one and only World Cup appearance to date, the squad lost all three of their group matches—2-0 to Scotland, 9-0 to Yugoslavia and 3-0 to Brazil—racking up 14 goals at the wrong end and a big fat zero at the other.

Their results remain infamous, giving them the worst-ever goal difference in a World Cup group-stage campaign—at least for now.