What is the most populated country that has never qualified to the Football (Soccer) World Cup?

AyatollahK

#2 India qualified by default for the 1950 World Cup, although it then refused to participate because of a "no barefoot players" requirement imposed by FIFA. Although India has never played in the FIFA World Cup, it did at least qualify once, and so it isn't the answer. #1 China (2002) and #4 Indonesia (1938, as Dutch East Indies) have also qualified once (and, unlike India, competed). #3 US and #5 Brazil have qualified repeatedly. Thus, the answer is the world's 6th-most populous country, Pakistan. "Pakistan national football team is the national team of Pakistan and is controlled by the PFF and is a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It has not yet qualified for either the FIFA World Cup or Asian Cup championships." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan_national_football_team #7 Bangladesh also has never qualified. Nov 26 07, 12:03 PM

zbeckabee

Looks like India. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_outlying_territories_by_total_area http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_team_appearances_in_the_FIFA_World_Cup Nov 26 07, 12:04 PM

zbeckabee

India's tryst with destiny "Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny that we, the planet's seventh-largest country, would never qualify for the World Cup, preferring to let suburb-sized Trinidad and Tobago show that we are smaller than everybody else where it counts." http://sports.indiatimes.com//Sections/Features/Indias_tryst_with_destiny/articleshow/1715427.cms? Nov 26 07, 12:06 PM

AyatollahK

Here's the story for why three teams (Scotland, India and Turkey) withdrew after qualifying for the 1950 FIFA World Cup: "The British nations were able to take part, having rejoined FIFA four years earlier, after 17 years of self-imposed exile. It was decided to use the 1949-1950 British Home Championship as a qualifying group, with whoever finished first and second qualifying. England finished first and Scotland second, but the Scots withdrew as they were not British Champions. "Two other teams, Turkey and India, also withdrew after qualifying, with India refusing to go because FIFA would not allow the team to play barefoot. France and Portugal were invited as replacements but declined. Initially France agreed to play but they worked out that the venues for their two group matches were over 3,000 kilometres away from each other. The French told the Brazilians that they would stay at home unless the arrangements were changed. The Brazilian Federation refused and France withdrew. Therefore, even though 16 teams were originally going to participate, after the withdrawals only 13 teams were left to take part." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_FIFA_World_Cup Nov 26 07, 12:13 PM

zbeckabee

The jury is still out as to "why" India withdrew. It appears there are two schools of thought as to what constitutes "qualification." One being by default -- the other by talent. http://www.indianraj.com/2006/06/why_a_country_qualified_for_wo.html Nov 26 07, 1:08 PM

AyatollahK

But your latter article agrees that India qualified for the 1950 World Cup, although it disagrees on the reason why India didn't go: "For the last two weeks, I wrote many times that no country from South Asia could ever qualify for World Cup Football. I am happy to admit that I am wrong. India did qualify for World Cup Football 1950 but did not participate.... I am quoting from an article of Daily Pioneer written by Dina Nath Mishra: "'It may be recalled in 1950 the Indian football team qualified for the world cup in Brazil. But the country did not have enough foreign exchange to send the team there. And thereafter India never qualified again....'" As stated above, the correct answer to this question as worded ("country that has never qualified") is Pakistan ... and may soon be Bangladesh at current birthrates. Nov 26 07, 6:23 PM

zbeckabee

"Four countries from Asia were invited to participate in the qualifiers. Burma, Philippines and Indonesia all withdrew, so India qualified automatically." Like I said...Default and NOT talent. Nov 26 07, 9:53 PM

author

I think Pakistan is the best answer. But what about Indonesia? As far as I can see they never qualified, and with 222 million inhabitants it is more populated than Pakistan. The territory did compete in the 1938 games as Dutch East Indies, but never as the state of Indonesia. I don't think they ever withdrew after qualifying either. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia_national_football_team#World_Cup_Record Nov 27 07, 11:31 AM

AyatollahK

FIFA counts Indonesia's qualification as the colony of Dutch East Indies in 1938 as an Indonesia qualification, so I did the same. http://www.fifa.com/associations/association=idn/index.html And FIFA is not alone. Examples: "Indonesia have a mountain to climb to reach their second World Cup finals.... Beaten 4-1 at home in the first leg and criticised for having a convicted criminal for a soccer president, a third-round place is a now a distant hope for the 1938 World Cup qualifiers." http://football.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/feedstory/0,,-7082113,00.html Even Indonesians count their colonial qualification: "Back to the early days, it was the Dutch who introduced soccer to Indonesia. And amazingly, Indonesia surfaced in the final rounds of two big soccer competition, the soccer World Cup and Olympic Games." http://members.fortunecity.com/jftamaela/pssi.html Nov 27 07, 12:06 PM

zbeckabee

We better stick with Pakistan before we start a whole new discussion: Indonesia -- 1938 France FIFA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_team_appearances_in_the_FIFA_World_Cup http://baud.multiply.com/journal/item/6 Nov 27 07, 12:13 PM