Editing FIFA World Cup (section)

=== Best performances by confederations ===
{{See also|National team appearances in the FIFA World Cup#Results by confederation|l1=FIFA World Cup results by confederation}}
[[File:Seoul Plaza 2002 FIFA World Cup.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.09|South Koreans watching their nation on the big screens in [[Seoul Plaza]] during the 2002 World Cup when they became the first Asian country to reach the semi-finals]]
To date, the final of the World Cup has only been contested by teams from the [[UEFA]] (Europe) and [[CONMEBOL]] (South America) confederations. European nations have won twelve titles, while South American nations have won ten. Only three teams from outside these two continents have ever reached the semi-finals of the competition: [[United States men's national soccer team|United States]] ([[CONCACAF|North, Central America and Caribbean]]) in 1930; [[South Korea national football team|South Korea]] ([[Asian Football Confederation|Asia]]) in 2002; and [[Morocco national football team|Morocco]] ([[Confederation of African Football|Africa]]) in 2022. Only one [[Oceania Football Confederation|Oceanian]] qualifier, [[Australia men's national soccer team|Australia]] in 2006, has advanced to the second round, a feat they later reaccomplished in 2022.{{efn|Australia's qualification in 2006 was through the Oceanian zone as they were a member of the [[Oceania Football Confederation|OFC]] member during qualifying. However, on 1 January 2006, they left the Oceania Football Confederation and joined the [[Asian Football Confederation]]. In 2022, they again reached the second round, albeit representing Asia.}}

[[Brazil national football team|Brazil]], [[Argentina national football team|Argentina]], [[Spain men's national football team|Spain]] and [[Germany national football team|Germany]] are the only teams to win a World Cup hosted outside their continental confederation; Brazil came out victorious in [[UEFA|Europe]] ([[1958 FIFA World Cup|1958]]), [[CONCACAF|North America]] ([[1970 FIFA World Cup|1970]] and [[1994 FIFA World Cup|1994]]) and [[Asian Football Confederation|Asia]] ([[2002 FIFA World Cup|2002]]). Argentina won a World Cup in North America in [[1986 FIFA World Cup|1986]] and in Asia in [[2022 FIFA World Cup|2022]]. Spain won in [[Confederation of African Football|Africa]] in [[2010 FIFA World Cup|2010]]. In [[2014 FIFA World Cup|2014]], Germany became the first and so far the only European team to win in the Americas. Only on five occasions have consecutive World Cups been won by teams from the same continent; the longest streak of tournaments won by a single confederation is four, with the [[2006 FIFA World Cup|2006]], [[2010 FIFA World Cup|2010]], [[2014 FIFA World Cup|2014]], and [[2018 FIFA World Cup|2018]] tournaments all won by UEFA teams (Italy, Spain, Germany, and France, respectively).

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Total times teams qualified by confederation
|-
! scope="row" | Confederation
! scope="col" |[[Asian Football Confederation|AFC]]
! scope="col" |[[Confederation of African Football|CAF]]
! scope="col" |[[CONCACAF]]
! scope="col" |[[CONMEBOL]]
! scope="col" |[[Oceania Football Confederation|OFC]]
! scope="col" |[[UEFA]]
! scope="col" | Total
|-
| Teams  || 43 || 49 || 46 || 89 || 4 || 258 || 489
|-
| Top 16 || 9 || 11 || 15 || 37 || 1 || 99 || 172
|-
| Top 8  || 2 || 4 || 5 || 36 || 0 || 105 || 152
|-
| Top 4  || 1 || 1 || 1 || 23 || 0 || 62 || 88
|-
| Top 2  || 0 || 0 || 0 || 15 || 0 || 29 || 44
|-
| style="background: #9acdff" | 4th || 1 || 1 || 0 || 5 || 0 || 15 || 22
|-
| style="background: #cc9966" | 3rd || 0 || 0 || 1 || 3 || 0 || 18 || 22
|-
| style="background: #C0C0C0" | 2nd || 0 || 0 || 0 || 5 || 0 || 17 || 22
|- style="border-top:3px solid green"
| style="background: gold" | 1st || 0 || 0 || 0 || 10 || 0 || 12 || 22
|}