Map of the most successful countries in World Cup history. 205 countries entered the 2010 qualification competition. The Philippines and Brunei had their late entries rejected. 848 games were played during 27 months and only 32 teams remain. Laos was the only member nation not to register at all.
With a miniscule exception, there virtually aren't any countries that are not members of FIFA, unless of course you count the ones whose autonomies enjoy limited recognition, if by anyone at all, such as Abkhazia, Northern Cyprus, South Ossetia, Somaliland, Transnistria, Western Sahara, and Nagorno-Karabakh. Kosovo recently became the world's newest country, but no football team yet. In yet another category are countries that don't exist in the eyes of a select few. Palestine and Israel don't recognize each other, but both are FIFA contenders. Taiwan and China don't recognize each other, but both are FIFA contenders. Then you have national identities that didn't even make it on the "ambiguation" map below, such as Tibet, Kurdistan, Kashmir, and the Basque community.
Pink: Recognized by UN non-members onlyOrange: UN non-members recognized by at least one UN memberGreen: UN member states, not recognized by at least one other state
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