2026 FIFA WORLD CUP: 12 Big Football Nations That Missed Qualification

The journey to the 2026 FIFA World Cup has surprised many people. This is because some of the big and well-known football countries was not able to qualify this time. The fans of these teams didn’t expect to see these teams to miss out due to how they were highly ranked by FIFA during the November 2025 FIFA rankings.

One of the biggest surprises is Serbia, which is ranked 37th by FIFA during the November 2025 rankings. Serbia is a very strong team in Europe but they couldn’t make it through the qualifiers. This is the first time Serbia failed to qualify since 2014. Serbia were officially eliminated from the process after a 2-0 defeat to England at Wembley.

Another shock is Nigeria. Nigeria is ranked 38th by FIFA and this team is one of Africa’s top football country with a long history in World Cup. The Super Eagles were also eliminated by DR Congo in a penalty shootout as DR Congo earned a 4-3 victory after 1-1 in a full 90 minutes and extra time play. The fans of Nigeria were very disappointed because Nigeria failed to qualify.

Other teams like Hungary which is also ranked 40th and Greece 46th from Europe didn’t make it to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Many people thought both teams had a good chance. Venezuela, ranked 48th, Costa Rica 49th, Peru 51st and Chile 52nd from South America were all knocked out. This was unexpected because these teams have played in the past World Cup.

Again, Africa lost two strong teams namely Mali 53rd and Cameron 57th. Cameroon, especially has been to many World Cup so they not qualifying is a big deal. Cameroon we’re embarrassingly beaten to automatic qualification for the 2026 World Cup by Cape Verde. As a result they played against DR Congo in the CAF play-offs and lost by 1-0.

Slovenia, ranked 55th and Burkina Faso 62nd also didn’t qualify. The Slovenia team haven’t qualified to the World Cup since 2010.

Now the qualified teams out there have the chance to make history as these 12 big teams didn’t qualify.

Below are the 12 big teams listed according to the November 2025 FIFA rankings who didn’t qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup

#37 🇷🇸 Serbia

#38 🇳🇬 Nigeria

#40 🇭🇺 Hungary

#46 🇬🇷 Greece

#48 🇻🇪 Venezuela

#49 🇨🇷 Costa Rica

#51 🇵🇪 Peru

#52 🇨🇱 Chile

#53 🇲🇱 Mali

#55 🇸🇮 Slovenia

#57 🇨🇲 Cameroon

#62 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso

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