Ranking the 37th-48th Place Finishers in 2026 Quiz

Uruguay is the only team that finished third in their group who ranked among the bottom twelve teams overall. This is because they finished the tournament with only two points from draws while Turkiye finished fourth in another group with three points.

Uruguay started the tournament with two draws against Saudi Arabia (1-1) and Cabo Verde (2-2). They needed a win or a draw against Spain to have any chance at advancing but ended up on the losing end of a 1-0 decision. They ended up tied for third in their group with Saudi Arabia but were credited with third place as Saudi Arabia had lost to Spain by four rather than one. But with only two points Uruguay was not one of the top eight third place teams that moved on to the knockout.

This was Uruguay's fifth consecutive appearance in the tournament and fifteenth overall. It was the second consecutive time they were eliminated in the group stage. They are a two time winner of the World Cup having won both the very first World Cup in 1930 and again in 1950. They also finished just off the podium in fourth place on three occasions, 1954, 1970, and 2010.

Saudi Arabia had the fewest losses among teams finishing last in their group with one loss and two draws. This was good enough for 38th place. While they drew with Uruguay (1-1) and Cape Verde (0-0) in their first and last games, those two draws sandwiched a 4-0 loss to Spain. Saudi Arabia had the same record in the group as Uruguay but Uruguay won the tiebreaker for third as their loss to Spain was only by one goal.

This was Saudi Arabia's third straight appearance in the World Cup but also their third straight time being eliminated in the group stage. Prior to 2026 the only time they had advanced out of the group stage was in their very first appearance in 1994, where they lost in the first round of the knockout stage. Since then they were eliminated in the group stage six times.

Czechia was the top finishing team of the four that ended with two losses and a draw giving them 39th place. They finished with a goal differential of -4 with a 2-1 loss to South Korea and a 3-0 loss to Mexico sandwiching a 1-1 draw with South Africa.

This was Czechia's first appearance in the World Cup since 2006 where they also went out in the group stage. The last time they made it to the knockouts was the one before that 2006 appearance, in 1990, when they were still part of Czechoslovakia. Including their appearances as Czechoslovakia this was their tenth appearance. They finished second in the tournament on two occasions, losing the finals in 1934 to Italy and in 1962 to Brazil.

Despite having the same record New Zealand finished behind Czechia due to a poorer goal differential (-6 to -4) winding up in 40th place. Although they started with a 2-2 draw against Iran and took an early lead against Egypt, things went downhill in the second half as they lost 3-1 and followed that up with a 5-1 loss to Belgium.

This was New Zealand's first appearance since 2010 and third overall (their debut was in 1982). They've never progressed out of the group stage.

Qatar was tied with Curacao in both points and goal differential but edged the Caribbean squad out for 41st by virtue of having scored one more goal. They started with a 1-1 draw against Switzerland thanks to scoring the tying goal in stoppage time. Unfortunately, things then unraveled as they lost 6-0 to cohosts Canada thanks in part to finishing the game with only 9 players as they had a player sent off in each half.

They finished the group stage with a 3-1 loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina. This was Qatar's second World Cup after hosting the 2022 edition, where they lost all three of their group games. So the draw against Switzerland marked the first world cup game that they didn't lose.

Curacao had two losses and a draw and the same goal differential as Qatar but finished in 42nd just behind Qatar by virtue of scoring one less goal. They had the unenviable task of starting off against four time winners Germany and while they scored their only goal of the tournament to tie the game 21 minutes in, it was all Germany from there as the Germans won 7-1.

In their second game they held Ecuador to a scoreless draw before falling 2-0 to Cote d'Ivoire in their final game. Curacao was one of four teams playing in their first World Cup and finished second best of the four.

Panama was the only team in the tournament not to score a goal and while they kept the games close, they were unable to do better than losing three close games and finishing in 43rd position. They started with a 1-0 loss to Ghana after giving up a goal in second half stoppage time, just missing the 0-0 draw. They then held Croatia to one goal but again lost when they failed to score. They were losing 2-0 to England in stoppage time when it appeared they had scored but the goal was ruled back for offsides so the game ended 2-0.

This was Panama's second World Cup after having qualified in 2018 where they also lost all three of their group games. They scored two goals in 2018 but gave up eleven so while they had less offense in 2026 their defense improved significantly.

Jordan was the highest scoring team of those who lost all three games scoring once in each of their three outings and finishing in 44th position. They started with a 3-1 loss to Austria and followed it up with a 2-1 loss to Algeria. They ended their tournament with a 3-1 loss to Argentina. This was the first time Jordan qualified for the World Cup.

Haiti lost all three games by a total of six goals which left them in 45th place. They started with a 1-0 loss to Scotland and then had to face a pair of top ten ranked opponents. After giving up three goals in the first half to sixth ranked Brazil they held Brazil scoreless in the second half of a 3-0 loss. Against seventh ranked Morocco they took the lead twice in the first half but were tied up twice before giving up two goals in the second half to lose 4-2. Still between the second half against Brazil and the first half against Morocco they played to a standoff against two of the top teams.

This was Haiti's second World Cup; their first was in 1974 where they also lost all three group games. They had an especially tough time during qualifying this time as they played all of their "home" games in neutral countries due to the violence and unrest prevalent in Haiti.

Uzbekistan was able to score two goals, but gave up eleven. They started with a 3-1 loss to Colombia and followed that with a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Portugal. They knew the best they could do was third in the group and given that this was one of the last groups to play their games, they had to win at least six goals in order to have any chance at qualifying for the knockouts as one of the eight best third place teams (and it turned out they would have needed to win by seven). While they took an early lead 10 minutes into their final game, they ultimately succumbed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo 3-1.

This was the first time Uzbekistan qualified for the World Cup as an independent nation although they were part of the Soviet Union which competed at seven World Cups. Russia is considered the successor to the USSR. Uzbekistan ended up with the worst record among the four first-time teams although they did finish ahead of two teams not making their debut.

Tunisia had a tough go around in this World Cup scoring two goals but giving up twelve. They opened up with a 5-1 loss against Sweden and followed that with a 4-0 loss to Japan. They did slightly better against group winners The Netherlands but still finished with a 3-1 loss.

In all three games they gave up the first goal in the first 7 minutes and were never able to tie the game up. This was Tunisia's third straight World Cup and seventh overall, but they have never qualified for the knockout round going all the way back to their first try in 1978.

Iraq finished the tournament in 48th and last place. They scored one goal and gave up twelve for a -11 goal differential. Their first game didn't start off too badly as they were able to score a tying goal in the 39th minute but then gave up the game winner before the end of the first half en route to a 4-1 loss. Their next outing was a 3-0 loss to France before finishing with a 5-0 loss to Senegal who knew that they needed a big win in order to qualify as one of the top eight third place teams (which they did as the last of the eight). To top it all off, the game against France was the only game in the group stage to feature a weather delay with halftime lasting over two hours due to lightning in the area. So they had to hang around an extra long time to pick up the loss.

This was Iraq's second World Cup, the first coming in 1986 (the last time that Mexico was a World Cup host), although in this case they played two games in the USA and one in Canada. They also lost all three of their games in 1986 although that time each of the losses was by only one goal.