Despite the expanded tournament doubling the number of participating nations from the U.S.-held edition in 1994, seven (eight if Nigeria fail to qualify) of the 10 most populous nations have not qualified.<\/p>\n
Here, The Athletic examines why many of the most populous nations will not be represented at the world\u2019s premier sporting event.<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s note: Population figures are taken from Worldometer<\/a> at date of publication.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Indian subcontinent \u2013\u00a0India, Pakistan and Bangladesh<\/p>\n India population: 1,463,865,525<\/p>\n Pakistan population: 255,219,554<\/p>\n Bangladesh population: 175,686,899<\/p>\n Previous total World Cup appearances: 0<\/p>\n India is the world\u2019s most populous nation and the three countries on the Indian subcontinent \u2014 including Pakistan and Bangladesh \u2014 are all in the world\u2019s top eight, comprising 23 per cent of the global population.<\/p>\n None of the three nations have participated in a World Cup finals. In 1950, India qualified by default, but opted not to take part after reported disagreements<\/a> over team selection, and insufficient practice time.<\/p>\n That was the fourth edition of the World Cup and came just three years after India and Pakistan (from which Bangladesh gained independence in 1971) gained independence and were partitioned into separate states.<\/p>\n India have not come close to qualifying for a World Cup since. In this campaign, they were eliminated in the second round of Asian qualifying, winning one of six group games from a group in which Qatar and Kuwait advanced.<\/p>\n \n India supporters display a banner in honour of Sunil Chhetri, the country\u2019s all-time top scorer (Debajyoti Chakraborty\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n India\u2019s best football moment came in 1964, when they were runners-up to Israel (then a member of the Asian Football Confederation) in a four-team edition of the Asian Cup.<\/p>\n Pakistan have never qualified for any major tournament, while Bangladesh lost all four of their matches in their sole appearance at the Asian Cup in 1980.<\/p>\n The three nations can be grouped together geographically, but also for the reasons behind their relative underperformance.<\/p>\n Alongside Afghanistan to the north and Sri Lanka to the south, the area comprises almost half of the world\u2019s Test-playing cricket nations. Cricket is the national sport due to its colonial legacy from British rule and is a major strand of national identity.<\/p>\n The prevalence of cricket, in part, helps explain the lack of infrastructure and funding for football \u2014 which may not hold national sport status but remains extremely popular, as evidenced by the passionate local support for Argentina and Brazil at major tournaments.<\/p>\n No club team from the Indian subcontinent has ever reached the final of the AFC Champions League, or its predecessor competition, the Asian Club Championship.<\/p>\n Domestic football is not thriving. At the time of writing, the top-flight Indian Super League remains on hold as India\u2019s federation, the AIFF, is struggling to sell the competition\u2019s commercial rights. As per a November 8 report from Reuters<\/a>, a number of its clubs have suspended first-team activities as a result, including champions Mohun Bagan Super Giant.<\/p>\n Pakistan, meanwhile, remains the world\u2019s largest country without a national football league. The Pakistan Premier League has remained inactive since the 2018\u201319 season.<\/p>\n China<\/p>\n Population: 1,416,096,094<\/p>\n Previous World Cup appearances: 1<\/p>\n Unlike the Indian subcontinent, China\u2019s continued struggles in men\u2019s football are complex.<\/p>\n They have featured just once at the World Cup, in the 2002 edition held in neighbouring Japan and South Korea, losing all three matches without scoring a goal.<\/p>\n In the mid-2010s, China\u2019s president, Xi Jinping, pledged to solve the nation\u2019s underperformance in the sport and declared an ambition to turn China into a \u201cfootball powerhouse\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n Huge corporations such as Suning (retail) and Evergrande (real estate) were urged to bankroll the Chinese Super League (CSL). In return, they would gain greater global exposure for their brands and, significantly, presidential approval.<\/p>\n A series of big-money transfers followed, but the project proved unsustainable. Tight financial regulations were introduced, with non-Chinese player signings heavily taxed. The Chinese FA announced a series of measures to address \u201cirrational investments by clubs, high-figure transfer fees and salaries paid to domestic and international athletes and other issues\u201d.<\/p>\n President Xi, who assumed the position in 2013, stated his aims for China to qualify for a World Cup, host a World Cup and, ultimately, win a World Cup. He instructed the installation of 70,000 new pitches and 20,000 training centres across the country by 2020. The sport became compulsory in schools for children aged six and above.<\/p>\n Football is hugely popular there. The average attendance in the CSL<\/a> is 25,000, with each matchday averaging 200,000 in the top division. However, the international team continue to struggle. China are ranked 93rd in FIFA\u2019s world rankings and 13th in Asia. President Xi\u2019s ambitions have not yet been realised.<\/p>\n China have, however, been regulars at the Women\u2019s World Cup. Since hosting its inaugural edition in 1991, they have reached eight of its nine tournaments and lost the final on penalties to the USWNT in 1999.<\/p>\n Indonesia<\/p>\n Population: 285,721,236<\/p>\n Previous World Cup appearances: 1 (Dutch East Indies)<\/p>\n Football is Indonesia\u2019s No 1 sport, but their only World Cup appearance came in 1938 when they were still known by their colonial name as Dutch East Indies. Independence followed seven years later.<\/p>\n The world\u2019s fourth most populous nation has struggled to produce top-level footballers due to an absence of infrastructure, but they have recently begun leaning on the nation\u2019s diaspora, predominantly based in the Netherlands, to improve their fortunes.<\/p>\n \n Indonesia\u2019s players celebrate beating the Philippines in a World Cup qualifier in 2024 (Robertus Pudyanto\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n According to the Director of Indonesian Citizen Protection<\/a>, over 2.2million Indonesian citizens officially live abroad and around 1.7m are in the Netherlands, which ruled the nation for over three centuries.<\/p>\n Indonesia\u2019s 23-man squad for the October international break included 15 players born in the Netherlands, one in Belgium, one in Spain and one in Finland \u2014 Eliano Reijnders, brother of Netherlands international and Manchester City player Tijjani.<\/p>\n Utilising their diaspora has improved Indonesia\u2019s results; reaching the knockout stage of the Asian Cup in 2023 and the fourth round of World Cup 2026 qualifying, before losing by one-goal margins to Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Nine months of that campaign was overseen by former Netherlands international Patrick Kluivert, who has subsequently left his position.<\/p>\n Indonesia have not yet reached the World Cup as an independent nation, but not doing so is now regarded as below par.<\/p>\n Russia<\/p>\n Population: 143,997,393<\/p>\n Previous World Cup appearances: 11 (seven as the Soviet Union, four as an independent nation)<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s national and domestic teams have been suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions since the country\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.<\/p>\n Unlike all other nations on this list, there is a strong football culture and tradition there. As an independent nation, Russia hosted and reached the quarter-final stage of the 2018 World Cup. A decade earlier, they advanced to the semi-finals of the European Championship \u2014 a tournament the Soviet Union won once (the inaugural tournament in 1960), as well as reaching three other finals.<\/p>\n Moscow clubs CSKA, Spartak and Lokomotiv, along with Zenit Saint Petersburg, had featured prominently in European club competitions prior to the ban.<\/p>\n In April this year, FIFA president Gianni Infantino spoke<\/a> of his hope that Russia can be introduced back into the football fold \u201csoon\u201d. Any return, however, is dependent on the ongoing situation in Ukraine.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2155828500-scaled.jpg\")
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