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
New Zealand at the FIFA World Cup the 2018 FIFA World Cup. <section begin=playoff2 /> <section end=playoff2 /> New Zealand at the FIFA World Cup The New Zealand national football team has participated in 12 FIFA World Cup qualification campaigns between 1970 and 2014, qualifying for two; the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Seven teams were involved in the AFC/OFC qualification process; Australia, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, North Korea, South Korea and Rhodesia, however, North Korea withdrew before any matches were played as they refused to play Israel. Due to North Korea's withdrawal, New Zealand, along with