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
FIFA World Cup two gold medals at the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics and their two World Cup titles in 1930 and 1950). With five titles, Brazil are the most successful World Cup team and also the only nation to have played in every World Cup (21) to date. Brazil were also the first team to win the World Cup for the third (1970), fourth (1994) and fifth (2002) time. Italy (1934 and 1938) and Brazil (1958 and 1962) are the only nations to have won consecutive titles. West Germany (1982–1990) and Brazil (1994–2002) are the only nations to appear in three consecutive