Sunday, November 23, 2008

Longest World Cup Absence since Last Appearance

This list consists of nations that have waited a long time to make their return to a FIFA World Cup since their previous appearance.

# of WC -- Nation -- Year of Last Appearance

15 - Cuba (1938)
15 - Indonesia (as Dutch East Indies: 1938)
12 - Wales (1958)
10 - Korea DPR (1966)
9 - Israel (1970)
8 - Congo DR (as Zaire: 1974)
8 - Haiti (1974)
6 - El Salvador (1982)
6 - Honduras (1982)
6 - Kuwait (1982)
6 - New Zealand (1982)
6 - Peru (1982)
5 - Algeria (1986)
5 - Canada (1986)
5 - Hungary (1986)
5 - Iraq (1986)
5 - Northern Ireland (1986)
4 - Egypt (1990)
4 - UAE (1990)


Which nations have the best chance to get themselves off this list in 2010? Honduras? New Zealand? Egypt?

EDIT: May 4, 2010
Algeria, Honduras, New Zealand, and Korea DPR can all remove themselves from this list, congrats to those nations for returning to the World Cup in 2010


Long Non-Appearance streaks that have been broken in the past 4 World Cups:
11 - Turkey (2002)
11 - Norway (1994)
10 - Bolivia (1994)
7 - Australia (2006)
6 - Switzerland (1994)
4 - Iran (1998)

3 comments:

  1. I think you mean last appearance not initial appearance.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're right, In my mind initial appearance sounded right but it's not the correct word for a few of the nations that have made multiple appearance. Corrected, thanks

    ReplyDelete