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 (CONMEBOL) was not automatically qualified for the tournament. The fifth-placed team then played the winner of the OFC qualifying group, Australia, 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 CONMEBOL qualified for the final tournament. 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL) Listed below are the dates and results for the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for South America. 10 teams took part, all in a single group. The rules were very simple: the teams would play against each other in a home-and-away basis, with the four