Editing FIFA World Cup (section)

=== Expansion to 24 and 32 teams ===
[[File:FIFA World Cup 2010 Uruguay Ghana.jpg|thumb|Inside [[Soccer City]] in [[Johannesburg]], South Africa, during a match at the [[2010 FIFA World Cup]]]]
The tournament was expanded to 24 teams in [[1982 FIFA World Cup|1982]],{{sfn|Glanville|2005|p=238}} and then to 32 in [[1998 FIFA World Cup|1998]],{{sfn|Glanville|2005|p=359}} allowing more teams from Africa, Asia and North America to take part. Since then, teams from these regions have enjoyed more success, with several having reached the quarter-finals: [[Mexico national football team|Mexico]], quarter-finalists in [[1986 FIFA World Cup|1986]]; [[Cameroon national football team|Cameroon]], quarter-finalists in [[1990 FIFA World Cup|1990]]; [[South Korea national football team|South Korea]], finishing in fourth place in [[2002 FIFA World Cup|2002]]; [[Senegal national football team|Senegal]], along with [[United States men's national soccer team|USA]], both quarter-finalists in 2002; [[Ghana national football team|Ghana]], quarter-finalists in 2010; [[Costa Rica national football team|Costa Rica]], quarter-finalists in 2014; and [[Morocco national football team|Morocco]], finishing in fourth place in 2022. European and South American teams continue to dominate, e.g., the quarter-finalists in 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2018 were all from Europe or South America and so were the finalists of all tournaments so far.

Two hundred teams entered the [[2002 FIFA World Cup]] qualification rounds. 198 nations attempted to qualify for the [[2006 FIFA World Cup]]. A record 204 countries entered qualification for the [[2010 FIFA World Cup]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/worldcup/southafrica2010/news/newsid=122766/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419065837/http://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/worldcup/southafrica2010/news/newsid=122766/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 April 2014 |title=Record number of 204 teams enter preliminary competition |work=FIFA.com |publisher=Fédération Internationale de Football Association |access-date=12 July 2014}}</ref>