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 (CONCACAF) qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The fourth-placed team competed in a home-and-away play-off against the fifth-placed team from Asia. The Fourth Round winner then played the fifth-placed team of the AFC qualifying group, Bahrain, in a home-and-away play-off. The winner of this play-off qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals. The following four teams from CONCACAF qualified for the final tournament. 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF) Listed below are the dates and results for the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for North, Central America and the Caribbean. A total of 34 teams took part (out