World Cup

World Cup's Biggest Disasters: The Most Catastrophic National Teams Ever

The World Cup represents a month-long showcase of elite football, where the sport's greatest teams compete on its most prestigious platform, creating a spectacular tournament for spectators worldwide.

However, not every squad manages to perform at their peak.

Any football enthusiast can remember at least one major disappointment: A country that entered with high expectations and enthusiasm, only to face early elimination. Throughout the tournament's history, numerous such cases have occurred.

Here, Sports Illustrated examines some of the most underwhelming—and disappointing—squads to ever participate in the World Cup.

12. France (2010)

France's catastrophic 2010 World Cup performance concluded an extraordinarily erratic 12-year tournament cycle.

Champions in 1998, Les Bleus exited at the group phase in 2002 before making the final once more in 2006. In 2010, though, under Raymond Domenech, everything went dramatically awry.

Following a goalless tie with Uruguay and a defeat to Mexico—a game remembered equally for the interval dispute between Nicolas Anelka and Domenech as for the actual football—France stumbled out of the competition with a closing loss to hosts South Africa.

Humiliating barely begins to describe it.

11. Dutch East Indies (1938)

The Dutch East Indies—present-day Indonesia—hold one of the poorest World Cup records in history.

The sole team to have participated in just one World Cup fixture (excellent trivia knowledge for you), they possess only a comprehensive defeat to their credit.

In 1938, when the competition proceeded directly to knockout rounds, the Dutch East Indies faced eventual runners-up Hungary in the round of 16, where they suffered a 6-0 demolition in their singular World Cup outing.

Brief and far from pleasant.

10. Qatar (2022)

Many teams have departed the World Cup pointless, but while Qatar's statistics aren't the absolute worst recorded, they secure a position here for being the weakest-performing host country in tournament history.

Spain in 1982 and South Africa in 2010 previously held that unfortunate distinction, but after a terrible group phase where Qatar were completely dominated in losses to Ecuador, Senegal and the Netherlands, Félix Sánchez's team cannot avoid condemnation.

9. Mexico (1978)

Mexico have participated in World Cup finals 17 times, though not every tournament has been noteworthy for positive reasons.

One of their most dreadful showings occurred in 1978, when they departed the competition having been defeated in all three group fixtures—and decisively so.

Their tournament started with a 3-1 loss to Tunisia, continued with a 6-0 battering by West Germany and finished with a 3-1 defeat to Poland. A competition to erase from memory for El Tri.

8. France (2002)

France returns again...

In 2002, defending champions France started their World Cup title defense with one of the tournament's biggest upsets, falling 1-0 to Senegal as the late Papa Bouba Diop scored a first-half winner.

Roger Lemerre's team proceeded to finish their 2002 tournament with a goalless draw against Uruguay and a 2-0 loss to Denmark, completing their title defense without finding the net once.

7. Saudi Arabia (2002)

While Saudi Arabia may have quietly impressed in Qatar in 2022, their 2002 squad did the complete opposite.

A group phase where they suffered an 8-0 loss to Germany, 1-0 defeat to Cameroon and 3-0 loss to the Republic of Ireland solidly established their position as the tournament's weakest team—and among the World Cup's worst ever.

6. North Korea (2010)

North Korea reached the World Cup for just the second time in 2010, but their comeback to the tournament was hardly remarkable.

In their initial World Cup fixture in 44 years, the North Koreans showed resilience in a 2-1 loss to Brazil, which appeared decent statistically. Sadly, that proved to be their peak—they were subsequently demolished 7-0 by Portugal and defeated 3-0 by Ivory Coast.

5. Bolivia (1950)

The 1950 World Cup featured an unconventional format. There were four groups—two containing four teams, one with three, and a final group of merely two after France withdrew before competing.

In that final two-team group, eventual winners Uruguay met Bolivia in what was intended to be a single fixture to determine who would progress to the final phase.

"Fixture" seems insufficient, however, because on July 2, 1950, Uruguay crushed Bolivia 8-0, ending their World Cup journey in swift and mortifying fashion.

4. Greece (1994)

Recall when a somewhat unhinged Diego Maradona celebrated wildly at the World Cup after striking one from distance? Indeed, that was against unfortunate Greece in a calamitous 1994 tournament.

The Greeks lost that specific match 4-0, before falling to Daniel Amokachi and Nigeria by a marginally more respectable 2-0 margin.

But determined to be remembered as one of the worst World Cup squads ever, Greece were crushed 4-0 by Bulgaria in their closing group fixture, finishing with zero goals and 10 conceded.

Unsurprisingly, head coach Alketas Panagoulias stepped down immediately.

3. Haiti (1974)

The 1974 World Cup included several notably poor performances, Haiti being one of them.

The Caribbean country's inaugural World Cup participation concluded disappointingly. They exited at the group phase following a 3-1 defeat to Italy, a devastating 7-0 loss to eventual third-place Poland and a 4-1 defeat to Argentina—resulting in a goal difference of -12.

2. El Salvador (1982)

El Salvador equaled Haiti's terrible goal difference eight years subsequently, completing their 1982 World Cup group-phase tournament with three crushing defeats where they scored only once while allowing 13.

Positively, that made their 1970 tournament—their sole other World Cup participation—appear marginally better, as they scored zero and conceded nine in the group phase.

Their closing two fixtures in Spain were comparatively tight, losing 1-0 to Belgium and 2-0 to Argentina, but recovery was impossible following their opening 10-1 defeat to Hungary.

1. Zaire (1974)

The poorest World Cup squad ever must be Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), the other remarkably weak team from 1974.

In their singular World Cup appearance to this day, the team lost all three group fixtures—2-0 to Scotland, 9-0 to Yugoslavia and 3-0 to Brazil—accumulating 14 goals against and absolutely zero in their favor.

Their results remain notorious, establishing the worst-ever goal difference in a World Cup group-phase tournament—at least currently.