A World Cup that represents the World

As I write this, the planet eagerly awaits the results of the third round of matches at the group stage of the World Cup.  Whereas upwards of 200 million Americans obsess about basketball brackets during March Madness or join together to eat crappy food and watch commercials during the Super Bowl, approximately THREE BILLION people drop what they are doing during the month of June every 4 years for the World Cup.  Apart from watching man walk on the moon 45 years ago, it is the only time the planet joins together for one event.

Though it is the world championship of soccer/football, for much of the tournament's history over the years it has been a meeting of the major soccer powers of Europe plus the major two South American soccer powers, Brazil and Argentina.  The final match of the tournament typically features Brazil and a European nation or two European nations, though sometimes Argentina sneaks into the final by the Hand of God.

Below is a chart comparing the numbers of countries of each region of the world reaching the knockout stage of the competition since 1986.  Some notes about the chart follow.

Regional Groups for World Cup Africa    Asia & Middle East Europe   North America   South America Oceania

Population (million)
1,072
4,000
883
556
396
37
# of Countries in Regional Group 53 43 53 35 10 11
 # of Countries in 2014 World Cup 5 3 13 4 6 1
# of Countries in Group of 16 knockout stage
1986 1 0 10 1 4 0
1990 1 0 10 1 4 0
1994 1 1 10 2 2 0
1998 1 0 10 1 4 0
2002 1 2 9 2 2 0
2006 1 0 10 1 3 1
2010 1 2 6 2 5 0
2014 3  0 6 3  4 0

  • Every World Cup since 1986 features 32 nations with roughly the same number of countries from each region starting the tournament.  The knockout stage features the 16 which passed the first stage.
  • Though representing nearly 2/3 of the world's population, Asian nations have not performed very well, as usually only Japan or South Korea reach the second stage, with the bizarre exception of Saudi Arabia making it one year.  The most popular sport in India is cricket by a huge margin and, until recently, China has been more interested in watching European Football Leagues than in actually playing the game too, so a third of the world's population is not represented in the competition.
  • The United States and/or Mexico typically represent North America in the knockout stage, with two appearances of Costa Rica, including this year.
  • Brazil and Argentina routinely represent South America, with help from Uraguay, Columbia, and occasional appearances by others, though none yet by Venezuela.
  • Germany always reaches the knockout stage from Europe, usually accompanied by, in order of decreasing frequency, Italy, England, Spain, France, Belgium, Netherlands and occasional appearances by others, though none yet by Andorra.
  • Until 2010, over half of the nations that advanced to the second round have been from Europe.  The decline of Europe's dominance continues in this year's tournament
Many already call this year's competition the most exciting World Cup of all time, between the relative high number of goals scored, the small number of draws (ties), the surprise results, and the high quality of play displayed by almost every nation.  Most exciting of all, for the first time, almost half of the teams reaching the knockout stage could come from the southern hemisphere and half could come from the western hemisphere, making it a TRUE WORLD CUP.

Stay tuned to see comparison on teams reaching quarter-finals and semi-finals.

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