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
Brazil at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Brazil at the 2006 FIFA World Cup At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Brazil participated for the 18th time in the event. The country remained as the only national team to have participated in every installment of the FIFA World Cup. The Brazilian team played until the quarter-finals, where they were defeated by France, finishing the tournament in the fifth place — for the third time in history (1954 and 1986 were the previous instances). Brazil's qualifying for the event marked the first time in history in which a returning champion (the country had won the 2002 World Cup) had