World Cup: where does Qatar rank among one-time participants?

Qatar, this year’s FIFA World Cup hosts, participated in the tournament for the first time in their history. Their run was … underwhelming, to say the least. There have been a number of nations who have only appeared in the competition once, never to be seen again. But which of these left a lasting impression, be it good or bad?

Seeking to find out, Seatpick collected data on the nations which have only featured in the FIFA World Cup once, comparing their overall performances to determine which one-time World Cup participants had the most and least successful campaigns.

Countries to only participate in the World Cup once, ranked

*An ‘=’ indicates a joint ranking

*W = Wins / D = Draws / L = Losses

Please find the full dataset attached.

Seatpick can reveal that the one-time World Cup participants with the most successful campaign of all time is Ukraine, with a final performance score of 93.5 out of 100. The nation’s only participation in the tournament came in 2006, in which they managed to reach the quarter-finals. Though they triumphed against Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Switzerland, it was ultimately their loss to eventual winners Italy that knocked them out of the contest. Regardless, with the leadership of legendary striker Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine’s resilient 2006 squad is one that is unlikely to be forgotten any time soon. 

In second place is Cuba, with a final performance score of 87.8 out of 100. Their one and only participation in the contest was in 1938. The format of the World Cup was different in the earlier years, and group stages were played as a straight knockout affair. Cuba managed to pass this test, with a draw and subsequent victory over Romania. Unfortunately for the Caribbean nation, their tournament ended at the quarter-finals, losing to Sweden by a whopping 8 goals to 0. Over 80 years later, Cuba is still waiting to participate in another World Cup.

In third place is Slovakia, who participated in the 2010 tournament for the only time in its history, and finishes with a final performance score of 81 out of 100. The most memorable moment of Slovakia’s World Cup story came in their third group game, claiming a massive upset victory against the winners of the previous World Cup, Italy. Disappointingly for fans, Slovakia were knocked out of the tournament by the Netherlands in their next match.

All the other teams who only appeared once in the World Cup’s history did not progress beyond the first stage of the tournament. However, looking at the ratio of victories to draws and to losses, as well as the ratio of goals scored to goals conceded, Seatpick can determine that the one-time World Cup participants with the worst campaigns in history are: Indonesia in 1938, the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1974, and China in 2002. All finish with a final performance score of only 5 out of 100. 

Indonesia, then called the Dutch East Indies, competed in only one match at the 1938 World Cup (against Hungary), which it lost 6-0. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, then called Zaire, lost all of its group matches in 1974, scoring no goals of its own but conceding 14. China also lost all three of its group matches in 2002, conceding 9 goals and scoring none.  

Qatar narrowly avoids being ranked at the bottom alongside these three nations. The host of the 2022 tournament lost all three of its Group Stage matches (becoming the first host nation to do so), and conceded 7 goals in the process. However, striker Mohammed Muntari did manage to score against Senegal in their encounter, and this single goal edges Qatar just above the worst-ranked countries, with a final performance score of 9 out of 100.

There have been 19 nations to compete in the World Cup only once. The 2006 World Cup in Germany was the year of the contest with the highest number of nations which only participated in the tournament once (four): Angola, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, and Ukraine.

Credit to  https://seatpick.com/ who commissioned the data