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All-Time World Cup League Table: England 129 Points Behind Brazil

The FIFA World Cup trophy pictured on a stand in New York

The 2026 World Cup is going to be the biggest ever with 48 teams competing across 104 games in North America, but here at FootballBlog.co.uk we like to think even bigger!

So ahead of Friday’s World Cup draw — which will be attended by Donald Trump — we decided to compile the ultimate World Cup league table.

Our all-time World Cup league table was built using the results of all 964 matches that have taken place across the first 22 FIFA men’s World Cups.

We believe the table below definitively provides an answer to anyone wanting to know which country is the best in the history of men’s international football.

Although FIFA only awarded two points for a group stage win until the 1994 World Cup, every win equals three points in our all-time World Cup league table. That includes wins in knockout games, even those decided in extra time. However, all matches that went to a penalty shootout count as draws.

All-time FIFA World Cup league table

Team MP W D L GD Pts
1. Brazil 114 76 19 19 129 247
2. Germany* 112 68 21 23 102 225
3. Argentina 88 47 17 24 51 158
4. Italy 83 45 21 17 51 156
5. France 73 39 14 20 51 131
6. England 74 32 22 20 36 118
7. Spain 67 31 17 19 33 110
8. Netherlands 55 30 14 11 44 104
9. Uruguay 59 25 13 21 13 88
10. Belgium 51 21 10 20 −5 73
11. Sweden 51 19 13 19 7 70
12. Russia* 45 19 10 16 23 67
13. Mexico 60 17 15 28 −39 66
14. Serbia* 49 18 9 22 0 63
15. Portugal 35 17 6 12 20 57
16. Poland 38 17 6 15 −1 57
17. Switzerland 41 14 8 19 −18 50
18. Hungary 32 15 3 14 30 48
19. Croatia 30 13 8 9 10 47
20. Czech Republic* 33 12 5 16 −2 41
21. Austria 29 12 4 13 −4 40
22. Chile 33 11 7 15 −9 40
23. USA 37 9 8 20 −26 35
24. Denmark 23 9 6 8 2 33
25. Paraguay 27 7 10 10 −8 31
26. South Korea 38 7 10 21 −39 31
27. Colombia 22 9 3 10 2 30
28. Romania 21 8 5 8 −2 29
29. Japan 25 7 6 12 −8 27
30. Costa Rica 21 6 5 10 −17 23
31. Cameroon 26 5 8 13 −25 23
32. Morocco 23 5 7 11 −7 22
33. Nigeria 21 6 3 12 −7 21
34. Scotland 23 4 7 12 −16 19
35. Senegal 12 5 3 4 −1 18
36. Ghana 15 5 3 7 −5 18
37. Peru 18 5 3 10 −12 18
38. Ecuador 13 5 2 6 0 17
39. Bulgaria 26 3 8 15 −31 17
40. Turkey 10 5 1 4 3 16
41. Australia 20 4 4 12 −20 16
42. Republic of Ireland 13 2 8 3 0 14
43. Northern Ireland 13 3 5 5 −10 14
44. Tunisia 18 3 5 10 −12 14
45. Saudi Arabia 19 4 2 13 −30 14
46. Iran 18 3 4 11 −18 13
47. Algeria 13 3 3 7 −6 12
48. Ivory Coast 9 3 1 5 −1 10
49. South Africa 9 2 4 3 −5 10
50. Norway 8 2 3 3 −1 9
51. East Germany* 6 2 2 2 0 8
52. Greece 10 2 2 6 −15 8
53. Ukraine 5 2 1 2 −2 7
54. Wales 8 1 4 3 −5 7
55. Slovakia* 4 1 1 2 −2 4
56. Slovenia 6 1 1 4 −5 4
57. Cuba 3 1 1 1 −7 4
58. North Korea 7 1 1 5 −15 4
59. Bosnia and Herzegovina 3 1 0 2 0 3
60. Jamaica 3 1 0 2 −6 3
61. New Zealand 6 0 3 3 −10 3
62. Honduras 9 0 3 6 −11 3
63. Angola 3 0 2 1 −1 2
64. Israel 3 0 2 1 −2 2
65. Egypt 7 0 2 5 −7 2
66. Iceland 3 0 1 2 −3 1
67. Kuwait 3 0 1 2 −4 1
68. Trinidad and Tobago 3 0 1 2 −4 1
69. Bolivia 6 0 1 5 −19 1
70. Iraq 3 0 0 3 −3 0
71. Togo 3 0 0 3 −5 0
72. Qatar 3 0 0 3 −6 0
73. Dutch East Indies* 1 0 0 1 −6 0
74. Panama 3 0 0 3 −9 0
75. UAE 3 0 0 3 −9 0
76. China 3 0 0 3 −9 0
77. Canada 6 0 0 6 −10 0
78. Haiti 3 0 0 3 −12 0
79. Zaire* 3 0 0 3 −14 0
80. El Salvador 6 0 0 6 −21 0

* Germany includes West Germany; Russia includes the Soviet Union; Serbia includes Yugoslavia and Serbia & Montenegro; the Czech Republic includes Czechoslovakia; Dutch East Indies and Zaire are former names of Indonesia and DR Congo respectively.

It’s official… Brazil are the best nation in World Cup history

Perhaps unsurprisingly, considering they have competed at every World Cup and won the tournament five times, Brazil rank in first place on the all-time World Cup table.

With a 22-point lead going into the 2026 World Cup, it looks like the South American giants will remain in top spot until 2030 at the very earliest.

As well as topping the all-time World Cup table in terms of points, Brazil have scored more goals than any other nation and boast the highest win percentage with 66.67%.

Due to having played more games than any other nation, Brazil also rank quite high in the goals conceded column. They have let in 108 World Cup goals, placing them second on that list behind Germany.

Most World Cup goals scored

Team Matches
played		 Goals
scored
1. Brazil 114 237
2. Germany 112 232
3. Argentina 88 152
4. France 73 136
5. Italy 83 128
6. Spain 67 108
7. England 74 104
8. Netherlands 55 96
9. Uruguay 59 89
10. Hungary 32 87
11. Sweden 51 80
12. Russia 45 77
13. Serbia 49 71
14. Belgium 51 69
15. Mexico 60 62
16. Portugal 35 61
17. Switzerland 41 55
18. Poland 38 49
19. Czech Republic 33 47
20. Croatia 30 43

Most World Cup goals conceded

Team Matches
played		 Goals
conceded
1. Germany 112 130
2. Brazil 114 108
3. Argentina 88 101
4. Mexico 60 101
5. France 73 85
6. South Korea 38 78
7. Italy 83 77
8. Uruguay 59 76
9. Spain 67 75
10. Belgium 51 74
11. Sweden 51 73
12. Switzerland 41 73
13. Serbia 49 71
14. England 74 68
15. USA 37 66
16. Hungary 32 57
17. Russia 45 54
18. Bulgaria 26 53
19. Netherlands 55 52
20. Poland 38 50

Best-performing World Cup teams by points per game

Team MP W Win% Pts PPG
1. Brazil 114 76 66.67% 247 2.17
2. Germany 112 68 60.71% 225 2.01
3. Netherlands 55 30 54.55% 104 1.89
4. Italy 83 45 54.22% 156 1.88
5. Argentina 88 47 53.41% 158 1.80
6. France 73 39 53.42% 131 1.79
7. Spain 67 31 46.27% 110 1.64
8. Portugal 35 17 48.57% 57 1.63
9. Turkey 10 5 50.00% 16 1.60
10. England 74 32 43.24% 118 1.59
11. Croatia 30 13 43.33% 47 1.57
12. Poland 38 17 44.74% 57 1.50
13. Hungary 32 15 46.88% 48 1.50
14. Senegal 12 5 41.67% 18 1.50
15. Uruguay 59 25 42.37% 88 1.49
16. Russia 45 19 42.22% 67 1.49
17. Denmark 23 9 39.13% 33 1.43
18. Belgium 51 21 41.18% 73 1.43
19. Ukraine 5 2 40.00% 7 1.40
20. Romania 21 8 38.10% 29 1.38

PPG = Points per game (Pts ÷ MP); Win% = (W ÷ MP) × 100.

England behind five fellow champions in FIFA World Cup league table

Eight different nations have won the men’s World Cup and five of them are ranked above England in the FIFA World Cup league table.

Brazil have more than double England’s tally of 118 points, while the 1966 champions are also well behind Germany, Argentina, Italy and France. England are just as likely to move down in future as they are up, considering the gap down to Spain — who have the highest probability of winning the 2026 World Cup — is only eight points, while the distance to France above is 13.

Other than Spain, the only World Cup winners below England in the table are Uruguay. Two-time champions Uruguay are ninth with 88 points. They won the World Cup in 1930 and 1950 but have failed to qualify for six of the 18 tournaments since their last triumph.

Top-performing World Cup nations by continent

As the most successful nation in the world, Brazil are naturally No 1 in South America, while Germany are Europe’s best historically.

Mexico are top dogs across North and Central America, beating the USA’s tally by 31 points, despite having an inferior goal difference.

South Korea are the most successful Asian team in World Cup history, but fellow 2002 World Cup co-hosts Japan actually have a superior points-per-game average.

Russia are ranked higher than both Japan and South Korea, having reached four consecutive quarter-finals as the USSR between 1958 and 1970. But despite much of the country sitting within Asia, the USSR was a founder member of UEFA and Russia have always competed as a European team.

Cameroon, ranked 31st on the all-time World Cup table, are Africa’s most successful side. However, they are just one point above Morocco, who are tipped to go well in 2026 after finishing fourth at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Australia are technically the most successful team in the Oceania region, despite leaving the OFC to compete in Asia’s AFC in 2006. Five of Australia’s 16 World Cup points came at the tournaments in 1974 and 2006, which they qualified for as an OFC nation.

Since Australia left the OFC, the only World Cup representative from Oceania has been New Zealand, who lost all three games on debut at the 1982 tournament, but claimed three points in 2010 by drawing with Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay.

Canada among nations targeting first World Cup points in 2026

Of the 11 nations still on zero after at least one previous World Cup appearance, at least four will get the chance to win their first points in 2026.

Co-hosts Canada will be joined in the tournament by Qatar, Panama and Haiti. Iraq and DR Congo — who formerly competed as Zaire — could also still qualify via FIFA’s Inter-confederation play-offs at the end of March.

Meanwhile, El Salvador — who appeared at the 1970 and 1982 World Cups — look destined to stay bottom of the all-time World Cup league table after the 2026 tournament.

It is mathematically possible that El Salvador — who finished below Guatemala and Suriname in qualifying — could be replaced in last place by one of the World Cup debutants, but they would need to lose all three of their group games and concede at least 21 goals in the process.

Related TopicsBrazil Cameroon England Featured Germany Mexico Morocco New Zealand South Korea Sports Features World Cup World Football

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