22 Facts ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar

We're only days away from the start of the biggest sporting event in the World and what better way to start building the hype than a few facts to have in mind as the tournament kicks off Nov. 20.

1) World Champs Hangover

By now most fans are aware of this fact but it's still crazy. Four out of the last five defending World Champions have failed to make it past the Group Stage in the following World Cup.

After securing its first title in 1998, France disappointed four years later, they were shocked in the opening match against debutants Senegal. France went home after not scoring a single goal in three games.

Italy, who won the World Cup in 2006 in Germany, arrived in South Africa as heavy favorites to top their group with Paraguay, New Zealand, and Slovakia, in which an embarrassing defeat to the latter in their third game sealed their humiliating exit.

Just when you thought this was just a weird anomaly, Spain, the 2010 Champions and among top favorites to win the whole thing against were sent out home early following a 5-1 defeat to the Netherlands, followed by a 2-0 loss to Chile.

Then Germany who had reached the semifinals in four straight tournaments and were crowned in 2014 were upset by Mexico and Korea Republic and bounced in the group stage.

The only exception to the rule was Brazil in 2006 – After winning the 2002 title the South American side cruised to the quarterfinals where they were knocked out by France.

Two commonalities for the four world champs eliminated early were an adverse initial result and the decline of a great generation of players. Though it seems crazy, everyone should monitor France, especially on its first two games against Australia and Denmark.

2) France & Denmark History

These two nations have been in the same group four of the last five times they both qualified.

In 1998, they shared the group and France would go on to win the whole thing - four years later they were paired together again, only this time Denmark defeated France moving into the knockout stage while France was sent packing.

The next time they shared a group was in Russia 2018 - they tied, but France would once again go on to win the World Cup - and four years later they’ve been paired once again - question is will the cycle repeat and France not make it out of the group?

3) Italy stays home

A nation that have been crowned world champions four times and most recently won the Euro in 2021 failed to qualify for the World Cup - For a second consecutive time.

Italy couldn't manage to win a group in which they were paired with Switzerland and later were eliminated in a playoff against North Macedonia.

Since winning the title in 2006 Italy failed to make it out of the group stage in 2010 and 2014 and now have missed the last two World Cups.

Even if Italy makes a return in 2026 and reaches the Knockout stage it would have been 20 years since the last time they got past the Group Stage.

4) Mexico on debuts

In the previous six World Cups Mexico has not lost their opening game, with five wins and a draw. Mexico has made it a habit of getting a strong start at the World Cup.

If that fact doesn’t mean much to you, consider the next two caveats: Mexico has a favorable 4-2-3 record against European teams in the group stage since France 98.

Mexico has gotten the best of Croatia twice, Germany and France in addition to three ties against Netherlands, Belgium, and Italy.

Also, Mexico has not lost to the Group’s top seed in the group stage during the 32-team World Cup era. The win against Germany in 2018 is the only win against a top seed.

The trend is intriguing as Mexico is at risk of having some of its possible streaks end - they will face Poland in a crucial first game - and the top seed Argentina is among the favorites to win it all.

5) Second impression struggle

Throughout the previous six World Cups, the seeded teams tend to struggle the most on their second game of the World Cup and to an extent it makes sense. After the draw, teams have six months to prepare for their crucial first game and at times can overlook game two.

The greatest example of this is Germany. In 98 the Germans tied to Yugoslavia after they had beaten the U.S. in their debut, in 2002 they tied against Ireland, in 2006 they needed a goal in stoppage time to beat Poland, in 2010 lost to Serbia and in 2014 tied to Ghana.

But this isn’t a one team kind of struggle – statistically speaking the seeded teams on average obtain approximately 76 percent of the total points on game 1 and 78 percent of the points in game three, but for Game 2 that percentage drops to 65 percent.

In Brazil 2014, the host nation drew Mexico 0-0 in their second game, in the same round, Spain lost 2-0 against Chile, Switzerland got hammered 5-2 by France and Germany drew Ghana.

In 2018 Argentina and Poland got thrashed by Croatia and Colombia 3-0.

This stat is very good news for teams such as the U.S., Mexico, Denmark, Germany, Morocco, Switzerland and Uruguay who will play the top seed in their group in the second game.

6) Inexplicable setbacks

It’s always interesting to look at the similarities between the runs of different national teams who are able to win the World Cup.

Besides some of the obvious similarities including a very deep roster and ability to concede very few goals especially in the knockout stage, there is one that is a bit intriguing. The last four World Champions have each failed to beat a team in the Group Stage.

In 2006, Italy tied against the United States 1-1, Italy went on to win the whole thing but the U.S. went home with a single point.

In 2010, Spain made an awful debut after they fell 1-0 to Switzerland but regained their mojo and went on to win six straight to win their first ever World Cup title. Switzerland didn’t just fail to qualify out of their group but also failed to score in the other two games.

In Brazil 2014, Germany tied Ghana 2-2, the German side went on to win its group but that tie was the sole point Ghana obtained in the tournament.

And four years ago, France and Denmark tied in their final game of the first round, which allowed both to advance.

The last team to have won every of their seven games was Brazil in 2002.

7) European Domination

Though throughout history European nations have a 12-9 edge in World Cups won over South American nations, the recent trend heavily favors European nations.

After Brazil won the 2002 tournament, things haven’t boded well for the South Americans and it goes far beyond the four straight titles by European nations.

Since Germany 2006, there have been 12 Europe v. South America matchups at the quarter-final stage or later and Europeans have a heavy 10-2 advantage. The only two wins by South American sides came from Argentina who defeated Belgium 1-0 in the quarterfinals, and later edged the Netherlands on penalties in the semifinal. If you count third place games, it gets worse with a 12-2 advantage to European nations.

The biggest sign of this European dominance occurred in 2010, when three of the quarterfinals featured a UEFA team against a Conmebol team, with Europeans sweeping the quarterfinals with the Netherlands defeating Brazil, Spain eliminating Paraguay and Germany thrashing Argentina.

8) South American drought in Perspective

Just to give you an example of how bad things have been for South American countries when facing European competition in the knockout stage, consider this statistic - since 2006 Costa Rica has more knockout stage wins against European teams than Brazil.

While Brazil defeated 4 European teams in a row to win its world title in 2002, defeating Belgium, England, Turkey and Germany - They have gone 0-5 in the knockout stage ever since; losing to France, Netherlands twice, Germany and Belgium.

9) Start by winning your group

Too often national teams aim to do the bare minimum and are often content with simply advancing to the knockout stage in second place, but if you want to make a deep run, it’s just a recipe for disaster.

Though there have been a few instances when a second-placed team goes far, the recent trend suggests that if you want to reach the quarterfinals or semis, you need to start by winning your group.

In the last four World Cups teams who top their group are 27-5 in the Round of 16. In 2014 all eight group winners advanced to the quarterfinals.

The only teams that made it to the last eight after finishing second in their group have been France and Ukraine in 2006, Ghana in 2010, Russia and England in 2018. Out of those five only one (France) won its Round of 16 game in 90 minutes, Ghana won in extra time and the other three advanced after winning a penalty shootout.

France upset Spain 3-1 in the Round of 16, but in the case of Ukraine and Ghana, they accomplished their feats by beating surprise group winners Switzerland and the United States respectively.

10) No debuting qualifier

For the first time ever - there is no debutant that earned its spot through qualifying. The only debutant is the host country Qatar, the 31 others have previous World Cup experience. The only other time there was no debutant taking part was in 1950, but debutant teams that earned their spot withdrew ahead of the tournament.

11) Surprise semifinalists

Since 1998, there has always been one team that no one expected to get very far in the tournament who somehow managed to make their way into the Semifinals. In 1998, Croatia which made their debut in this tournament reached the semis joining three perennial powers including Brazil, France, and the Netherlands. The tragedy for the Croatians is that they have failed to advance out of their group in their ensuing three appearances - until they got to the Final in 2018.

In 2002, there were two unexpected guests at the semifinals, Turkey and the Korea Republic who reached this stage behind very shady officiating.

In Germany 2006, Portugal was the surprise package, joining Germany, Italy, and France. Portugal wasn’t really an underdog, but a lot of their stars were older and in decline and defeated slightly favored teams such as the Netherlands and England to get there.

In South Africa, Uruguay was the tournament’s sensation joining the Netherlands, Spain, and Germany among the top four.

In 2014 it was the Netherlands who surprised many by reaching the semis, despite being one of the perennial powers, the Dutch had endured an embarrassing early exit in the 2012 Euro, and when grouped together with Spain, they were not expected to make it past the Round of 16. The evidence of how much this team overperformed in 2014 is simple, the Dutch failed to qualify for an expanded 24-team Euro in 2016 and failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

And as mentioned before Croatia did it once again in 2018.

12) Surprise group winners

One of the reasons some teams manage to make it far into a tournament is because they unexpectedly win their group or have to knock out teams who were not expected to win their group.

In 2002, Turkey got as far as it did because it kept running into teams who had done better than expected. After finishing second to Brazil in their group, Turkey had the advantage of defeating overachievers such as Japan in the Round of 16 and Senegal in the quarterfinals to earn a semifinal rematch against Brazil who defeated them 1-0.

In South Africa, Uruguay won a wide-open Group A ahead of Mexico, South Africa, and France, and had the luck that Group C was unexpectedly won by the United States. This meant that in order to get to the Semifinals Uruguay needed to beat Korea Republic in the Round of 16 and Ghana in the quarterfinals.

In 2014 the Netherlands unexpectedly won Group B ahead of Chile and Spain which allowed them to avoid Brazil in the Round of 16. To reach the Semifinals the Netherlands had to eliminate Mexico and Costa Rica in the knockout stage.

13) Mexico’s Round of 16 run

Based on what you’ll hear from Mexican fans and media alike is that having reached the Round of 16 and getting eliminated in the same stage seven times in a row is a big failure, but it really depends on perspective, you can make arguments for both sides.

On one hand, Mexico has never managed to win a knockout stage game in any FIFA competition outside of its boundaries.

However, you can also see it from a more positive perspective, Since 94 only two nations have advanced out of the group stage every tournament: Brazil and Mexico.

Argentina was eliminated in the group stage in 2002, Spain in 1998 and 2014; England failed to qualify in 1994 and was eliminated in the first round in 2014; the Netherlands failed to reach the tournament in 2002, Uruguay was absent in 1998 and 2006; Italy failed to make it out in 2010 and 2014 and now Germany failed to advance in 2018.

14) Three of last four finals have gone to extra time

World Cup finals have become very tight affairs in recent years with the three of the last four finals needing Extra Time to settle the match.

Italy and France battled the 2006 trophy in the second ever penalty kicks in a final which the Italians won after losing to Brazil in penalties 12 years earlier.

Spain and Germany won 1-0 with goals from Iniesta and Gotze late into extra time, in 2014 and 2018 respectively.

15) Coaching

Despite the spreading talent of coaching worldwide, still all nations that have lifted the World Cup trophy have one thing in common, all 20 World Cup winners had a coach with the same nationality as the winning team.

In fact, you have to go back to 1978 to find the last time a foreign coach took a team to the final, that was Austrian coach Ernst Happel who took the Netherlands to the final.

The last time a foreign coach took a team to the semifinals was Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari who took Portugal to the last four in 2006.

16) Uruguay’s Deep Runs

Though Uruguay is a highly regarded soccer nation thanks to their two World Cups won since 1950 La Celeste has only managed to make it to the quarterfinals twice, South Africa 2010 when they reached the semifinals and Russia 2018.

17) England’s fading success

England is arguably the most underachieving national team in the world considering the amount of talent that they’ve enjoyed.

In their last six World Cup appearances England has managed to win its group only once, back in 2006 when it topped a group with Sweden, Paraguay, and Trinidad & Tobago. England would later eliminate Ecuador in the Round of 16 to make the quarterfinals.

In 2002, England also made the quarterfinals, but after finishing second in the group with Sweden, Argentina and Nigeria, and later defeating Denmark in the Round of 16 before getting ousted by Brazil.

In 2018, England once again finished second behind Belgium, and managed to advance to the semifinals.

18) More Mexico numbers

Since 1998, Mexico has only suffered three losses in the group stage, a 2-1 loss to Portugal in 2006, a 1-0 loss to Uruguay in 2010 and a 3-0 loss to Sweden.

All three losses came in the third round of games and both teams that beat Mexico went all the way to the semifinals. Since 98 Mexico has accumulated 10 wins, seven draws and three losses in the group stage.

19) Paving the way for VAR

On June 27, 2010, with England down 2-1 to Germany late in the first half of the 2010 World Cup Round of 16 matches up, Frank Lampard took a long-range shot which sailed past Manuel Neuer struck underneath the crossbar and bounced inside the goal.

That should’ve tied the game at 2, but it didn’t. Neither the referee nor his assistant saw that the ball bounced a yard inside the goal, so the goal never counted and in the end, England was defeated by Germany 4-1.

That clear mistake by the officials busted open the gates keeping technology out of the beautiful game, it paved the way for goal-line technology which was used for the 2014 World Cup which eventually led the way for Video Assistant Referees being called upon for FIFA youth tournaments, and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

20) Semi-auto offside technology

Four years after VAR made its debut in the biggest stage - now is the turn of semi-automatic offside technology. Similar to goal-line technology - it will allow officials to know when the ball is played and where the players’ position is in relation to the ball. The technology offers the ability to verify offside calls within seconds - while is another step in the right direction - expect it to be highly debated during the tournament.

21) Smallest World Cup

Qatar is the smallest country to have ever hosted a World Cup - It will be the most compact tournament in history, the furthest travel distance between stadiums is between Al-Bayt Stadium in Al-Khor to Al-Janoub Stadium in Al-Wakrah which takes under an hour to complete by car. At 8 venues it is the smallest number since the 1978 World Cup in Argentina which used six venues.

22) Last 32-team tournament

Most fans have grown accustomed to watch the World Cup with 32 countries and it give it a good balance of quality and representation but this will be the final edition with 32 teams as the tournament is set to expand to 48 teams starting in 2026