With Qatar being selected as the hosts of the 2022 World cup we decide to take a look at other countries with small populations that had qualified.
Its usually stated that small countries don’t qualify but as you can see with the right timing, a bit of luck and usually a golden generation of players sometimes they can overcome the odds and qualify
List
Iceland – 334,000
Iceland became the smallest country in history to qualify for the World Cup following their qualification for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
This was no fluke though as in the qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Iceland reached the playoffs before losing to Croatia. They then bested that by reaching its first major tournament, UEFA Euro 2016.
They were placed in a group with Portugal, Austria, and Hungary managing to win one and draw two. In the next round they beat England 2-1, a game which resulted in the meltdown of many English commentators and pundits before losing to home team France 5-2
They then followed this up by qualifying for the 2018 World Cup being drawn in a group with Argentina, Croatia, and Nigeria. They started off great by earning a 1-1 draw with Argentina before losing the final 2 games and exiting the torunament.
A great example of a golden generation, since these 2 qualifications there performances and results have regressed
Paraguay – 800,000
First thing is that no-one knows what the population of Paraguay was in 1930, the first time they participated. Its estimated between 600000 and 900000
They were placed in a group of Belgium, Paraguay and the United States. The US wen’t through with Paraguay beating Belgium – only one team qualified from the group
Paraguay qualified for eight FIFA World Cup competitions in 1930, 1950, 1958, 1986, 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010), with their best performance coming in 2010 when they reached the quarter-finals
The era in 2000’s being their golden era with the enigmatic José Luis Chilavert being one of their key players
Trinidad & Tobago – 1.3 million
The team defeated Bahrain 2–1 on aggregate in the CONCACAF–AFC intercontinental play-off to reach the 2006 world cup
They were drawn with England,Sweden and Paraguay in the group stages getting off to a solid start drawing 0-0 with Sweden
Then followed two 2-0 defeats to Paraguay and England and their tournament was over. In the England game they had managed to hold England scoreless for 83 minutes until 2 late goals.
Again this was a team with established players like Shaka Hislop, Dwight Yorke and Kenwyne Jones. All of these had top level experience in England.
Since then they have not really come close to qualifying for the world cup again, another team who had a bunch of top players at the same time and were able to capatilise.
Kuwait – 1.37 million
They managed to qualify for their only world cup appearance in 1982, this was during an era when the team was at its strongest in Asia.
It didn’t look easy t hough as they were drawn into a group with England, France and Czechoslovakia. They did start off with a 1-1 draw with Czechoslovakia
The they then lost 4-1 to France and narrowly lost 1-0 to England
It was the game against France which had the most bizarre incident – France were leading 3–1 when Alain Giresse scored a goal contested by the Kuwait team, who had stopped after hearing a whistle from the stands, which they thought had come from the referee. Play had not yet resumed when the president of the Kuwaiti FA, rushed onto the pitch to argue with the referee. The referee then reveresed the decision.
After that they never really came that close to qualifying with the team going downhill , also being suspended by FIFA for corruption on several occasions.
Northern Ireland – 1.4 million
Northern Ireland qualified for its first world cup in 1958, reaching the quarter-final stage
The group looked daunting with them drawn alongside Argentina, Czechoslovakia and West Germany.
They beat the Czechs 1-0 in the first game, lost to Argentina 3-1 before getting a draw with West germany 2-2. In those days if you finished level with another team it meant a play-off and they then went to beat the Czechs again in extra time
In the quarter final they were soundly beaten by France 4-1
The team then had their golden generation by qualifying for the 1982 and 1986 world cups repeating the quarter final place in the 1982 one and famously beating home team Spain 1-0 in the group stage
Slovenia – 1.99 million
After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Slovenia had its own golden generation. They had qualified for Euro 2000, managing 2 draws from the 3 games
Then Slovenia qualified for 2002 World cup via the playoffs. Slovenia played in Group B with Spain, Paraguay and South Africa.
Sadly, they did not even get a point. A key reason being that after the first game, a loss to Spain their was a falling out between manager Katanec and star player Zahovič.
The outcome of this was Katanec announced his retirement after the tournament, while Zahovič was expelled from the team and sent home. Slovenia lost the two remaining matches against South Africa 1–0 and Paraguay 3–1.
They did get back to the World cup in 2010 being drawn with England, the United States and Algeria. They went out of a closely contested group with 4 points, the 2 teams that qualified England and the US had 5 points
The group was so tight and games were so low scoring that they scored 3 goals and conceded 3 goals. England only beating them 1-0
