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From Curaçao and Cape Verde to Uzbekistan and Jordan, four national teams will make their World Cup debuts...
The 2026 World Cup will not only be the biggest tournament in football history, but also the stage where four teams without a great footballing tradition will try to write their own history.
From Curaçao in the Caribbean and Cape Verde in the Atlantic, to Uzbekistan and Jordan in Asia, countries with modest footballing profiles are preparing to participate for the first time in the biggest event in world football.
The most notable case is that of Curaçao, the smallest country to have qualified for a World Cup finals. The Caribbean island, just 37 miles off the coast of Venezuela, has a population of over 150,000 and an area of 171 square miles. Since 2010, it has been an autonomous part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In Group F, Curaçao will face Germany, Ivory Coast and Ecuador.
Another notable debutant is Cape Verde, which becomes the third smallest country after Curaçao and Iceland to reach the World Cup. The “Blue Sharks” secured first place in the qualifying group, leaving Cameroon behind, and in the final stage they will face Spain, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in Group E. The archipelago of 10 islands in the Atlantic Ocean has fewer than 525,000 inhabitants and gained independence from Portugal in 1975. It first attempted to qualify for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
Two other debutants come from Asia: Uzbekistan and Jordan.
Uzbekistan, with players such as Manchester City defender Abdukodir Khusanov and former Roma striker Eldor Shomurodov, ended a long wait for a historic qualification under the guidance of Fabio Cannavaro, world champion with Italy in 2006. The Uzbek national team, which had reached the semi-finals of the Asian Cup in 2011, will be in a strong group with Portugal, Colombia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Meanwhile, Jordan secured qualification with four wins and four draws in the third round of Asian qualifiers, finishing behind South Korea. They are currently ranked 64th in the world and have shown continued progress, reaching the final of the 2023 Asian Cup, where they were defeated by Qatar. At the 2026 World Cup, Jordan will face Argentina, Algeria and Austria in Group 10.
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