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
Netherlands at the FIFA World Cup semifinal and Croatia at the third place match. Netherlands returned in 2006, being eliminated by Portugal in the Round of 16, a game known as the Battle of Nuremberg. In 2010, the team reached its third World Cup final, this time losing to Spain, with a record number of cards (24 yellow and a yellow red one). Altogether the Dutch team received 97 cards in World Cup history in 50 matches (90 yellow, 4 yellow red and 3 red in 50 games). The Dutch team avenged this loss during the first match of the following 2014 World Cup, routing the