A ranking can be compiled according to results which can be converted into points. However, in this context it will not be as much quantitatively as qualitatively.
However, no team and no country and no mention will be considered if it has not as a bare minimum made it to the semis at least once. Before we start the top 10 review let’s bring some honorable mentions.
Czech Republic. Or Czechoslovakia since their best results took place during the period when the two countries were together. The Czechs made it to the final in 1938 where they lost out against Italy and again in 1962 when they again lost this time against Italy.
Portugal had a fantastic team going into the tournament in 1966 but lost out in the semis to the team which would go on and win the tournament England. Furthermore they had one of the game’s greatest players in their side at the time Eusebio. However, Portugal has made little noise since then though they managed one more semifinal appearance in 2006. Portugal has been able to produce other legendary players like Figo and Ronaldo so they would come close to make it to the top 10.
Mexico. Since Mexico plays in the weakest qualification groups of all they all but certain to qualify at every World Cup. In the year 2020 the tally stands at 16, but by 2030 that figure will surely be 19. Furthermore Mexico has hosted two of the most memorable World Cups ever: 1970 and 1986. The results are a bit of a drawback though since Mexico has never made it out of the quarterfinals.
Sweden. Sweden has hosted the World Cup once, participated in the World Cup 12 times and made it to the final once back in 1958. It was a legendary final where Brazil won for the first time and started their drive towards the stars. Sweden made another good run also during the modern era in 1994 with a semifinals appearance. However, by the end of the day these merits will not be able to qualify Sweden for the top 10 of the list.
Belgium is a good at qualifying as well and has made it to the finals 13 times. They are second on that count over teams which have never won the tournament, only beaten by Mexico. Belgium ended up third in 2018 and also had a great run during the legendary tournament in Mexico in 1986. Belgium has never hosted the World Cup and will never be able to do so unless it teams up with other countries. Belgium has produced a number of decent players over the years but never a real . true and genuine super-star. Thus Belgium ends up just outside of the podium which in this context consists of 10 places.
When it comes to picking the top 10 nations in world cup history, 8 speak for themselves. These are the countries which have won the tournament:
Brazil (5), Italy (4), Germany (4), Argentina (2), France (2), Uruguay (2), Spain (1), England (1)
So the real question is: which 2 teams among the also rans deserve to make it on to the list ?
After having contemplated the question the first team no to win but make it to the list was an easy one: Holland / The Netherlands.
The second one was harder though and I had to go back and look at the history of the World Cup all the way back to 1930 before I was certain as which nation to pick as the 10th and final. However, the initial country I had come up with turned out also to be the one which stuck after having reviewed the early tournaments. Hungary.
The reasoning behind that choice goes as follows. Most people only have some kind of idea of World Cup history from 1950 and onwards. The early tournaments from the 1930s before TV was invented, with few participating teams, and little media coverage live a relatively quiet existence. But actually Hungary made it to the final in 1934 where they lost out to the Italy. But as I hint at that does not really count for much. What takes Hungary on the to top 10 list rather than one of the 5 honorable mentions from above is essentially one single tournament, the legendary 1954 World Cup in Switzerland. Hungary has also been a rather frequent visitor at the World Cup with 9 participations, but that alone would not be enough for them to make it. However, the fantastic 1954 team which was house high favorites and which featured the legendary star Puskas was just enough to take them across the finish line. Hungary did lose the final to Germany in Basel but they had thrilled the football world with fabulous play before that, they were essentially the Brazilians of football before Brazil started the rise towards the stars only 4 years later. Hungary will enter the list at number 10.
At number 9 Holland will be the other top 10 nation never to have won the World Cup. But while Hungary has lost two finals Holland tops that with 3. 1974, 1978, and 2010. In all 3 cases the country fielded spectacular teams but especially the 1974 with total football and Johan Cruyff made its mark and changed the way the game was played forever. Holland while being a relatively small nation has always been very good a producing great footballers. Their bright orange uniforms also brings a special atmosphere to the World Cup. It is history being moved into the contemporary world.
Though the ranking will not necessarily featured teams correlated with their number of wins it does play an important role. Thus as for the number 8 spot Spain gets the nod over England, both countries with one world cup title to their name.
The reason why Spain enters the list at number 8 and not England is that England has simply been a factor for longer than Spain. England is the perennial under-performer which always has a good run but usually crashed out in dramatic fashion during a penalty shoot out. Spain has been very solid when it comes to qualifying but the results have not always lived up the qualifying hype and apart from 2010 the team has often under-performed during crunch time.
Among the 3 countries with 2 World Cup wins Argentina is certainly going to take top spot. That brings Argentina to the number 4 spot on the list. Had Argentina won a third world cup title they might even have made it further up the list even though they would still be behind Italy and Germany (4) in number of total wins. Such has been their impact on World Cup history. However, with twice as many World Cups for Germany and Italy alike I will have to go with these two countries to end up above Argentina. France versus Uruguay is a tough call. It is essentially a question of past versus present. Uruguay won their two titles in 1930 and 1950. France won in 1998 and 2018. In both cases 20 years passed between the two titles. Both countries have been frequent participants and have hosted the World Cup tournament. So not much separates them. However, by the end of the day I will have to go with France. If for nothing else due to the 2006 World Cup and the epic goodbye to one of the game’s greatest ever Zidane.
This leaves just 3 countries to rank: Germany, Italy, and Brazil.
For top spot I will go with Brazil. Brazil ticks all the boxes so they deserve to be at the number 1 spot. Italy versus Germany is much about time frame as well. Italy won 2 World Cups before WWII while Germany has won all of their 4 titles in the post war era. Germany has also played in more finals than Italy as the losing part. But again it is very close and one could easily argue that Italy would deserve to rank above Germany.
So the final lists looks like this:
Brazil
Germany
Italy
Argentina
France
Uruguay
England
Spain
Holland
Hungary
