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
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 9 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 9 The 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group 9 was a UEFA qualifying group for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The group comprised the Netherlands, Scotland, Norway, Iceland and Macedonia. This group had one team fewer than the other eight. The group was won by the Netherlands, who qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. As runners-up, Norway were in contention for the UEFA play-off stage, but their record was the worst of all runners-up and so they were eliminated. The fixtures were decided at a meeting held in Amsterdam, Netherlands