National team appearances in the FIFA World Cup a group stage, with the final 16 progressing to knockout stages to decide the winner. As of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, 79 national teams have competed at the final tournaments. Brazil are the only team to have appeared in all 21 tournaments to date, with Germany having participated in 19, Italy in 18, Argentina in 17 and Mexico in 16. To date, eight nations have won the tournament. The inaugural winners in 1930 were Uruguay; the current champions are France. The most successful nation in the competition are currently Brazil, who have won the cup on five occasions. Five
2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC First Round 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC First Round The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification AFC play-off was the first round of the Asian Football Confederation qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The 14 teams with the lowest FIFA rankings played home-and-away knockout matches to qualify for the second stage. <div id="Turkmenistan v Afghanistan"> <div id="Afghanistan v Turkmenistan"> Turkmenistan won 13–0 on aggregate and advanced to the Second Round. <div id="Chinese Taipei v Macau"> <div id="Macau v Chinese Taipei"> Chinese Taipei won 6–1 on aggregate and advanced to the Second Round. <div id="Bangladesh v Tajikistan"> <div id="Tajikistan v Bangladesh">