World Cup 2026: the nations making their tournament debut

Four nations will step onto the World Cup stage for the first time this summer, each having taken a different route to get there.

With the Golden Boot winner odds dominated by the usual names from the usual countries, it’s worth looking at who’s making history just by being there.

In this article, we reflect on the four debutants at World Cup 2026.

Cape Verde

Cape Verde beat Eswatini in October 2025 to seal their place at the tournament, completing a 40-year journey that began with their first qualifying campaign in 1990.

The archipelago off Africa’s west coast has a population of around 600,000, and at the point of qualification they became the second smallest nation to reach the finals – a record that lasted about a month before Curacao took it from them.

Their squad is built heavily on the diaspora. Six players were born in the Netherlands, and Roberto Lopes, a Shamrock Rovers defender born in Dublin, qualifies through his father.

He was recruited to the squad through LinkedIn, which tells you something about how far their net has been cast.

Curacao

The Caribbean island of Curacao has a population of just over 150,000, comparable to Cambridge or Huddersfield, and they’re now the smallest nation in World Cup history, overtaking Iceland’s record from 2018.

They qualified by drawing 0-0 with Jamaica, which was enough to go through.

Their 78-year-old manager Dick Advocaat will become the oldest coach in World Cup history at the tournament, beating the record set by Otto Rehhagel, who was 71 when he took Greece to the 2010 finals.

Curacao only became an independent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2010. Fifteen years on, they’re at the World Cup.

Jordan

Jordan have been trying to qualify for the World Cup for four decades.

They played their first campaign 40 years ago and have come close more than once since, but this time they got over the line, finishing second in AFC qualifying Group B behind South Korea.

They’re drawn in Group J alongside Argentina, Algeria, and Austria. It’s a difficult group to walk into on debut, and Argentina will command most of the attention.

You can see where they sit in the World Cup winner odds. Jordan will know they’re the outsiders. But they’re there, which four years ago looked far from certain.

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan lost out in the final qualifying round for both the 2006 and 2014 tournaments. They’ve been knocking on the door for two decades, and this time they held on to secure a first World Cup place.

The name to watch is Abdukodir Khusanov, the Manchester City defender who became the first Uzbek player to appear in the Premier League.

He’s the most high-profile player Uzbekistan have ever sent to a major tournament and gives the squad a focal point that previous generations didn’t have.

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