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
China at the FIFA World Cup being purchased by citizens in order to watch their nation's first World Cup appearance. The team is colloquially referred to as "Team China" (中国队), the "National Team" (国家队) or "Guozu" (国足, lit. "national foot" also meaning national football). Eight players were fielded in all three of China's World Cup matches in 2002. China at the FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of "Fédération Internationale de Football Association" (FIFA), the