The World Cup is nearly here so what better to do than a fact file to strengthen our knowledge heading into the tournament. (Statistics correct as of time of writing).
Group A
Qatar:
Manager: Félix Sánchez
Star Player: Almoez Ali (Al-Duhail SC)
Rising Star: Bassam Al-Rawl (Al-Duhail SC)
Qualifying Record: N/A (Hosts)
Best Finish: N/A (First Tournament)
Biggest Win: N/A
Biggest Loss: N/A
First Tournament: 2022
Ecuador:
Manager: Gustavo Alfaro
Star Player: Piero Hincapié (Bayer Leverkusen)
Rising Star: Moises Caicedo (Brighton)
Qualifying Record: 7 Wins 5 Draws 6 Losses
Best Finish: Round of 16 (2006)
Biggest Win: 3-0 vs Costa Rica (2006)
Biggest Loss: 3-0 vs Germany (2006)
First Tournament: 2002 (Group Stage)
Senegal:
Manager: Aliou Cissé
Star Player: Sadio Mané (Bayern Munich)
Rising Star: Ismaïla Sarr (Watford)
Qualifying Record: 6 Wins 1 Draw 1 Loss (1 Win on Penalties)
Best Finish: Quarter-Finals (2002)
Biggest Win: 1-0 vs France (2002) & 2-1 vs Sweden (2002) & vs Poland (2018)
Biggest Loss: 1-0 vs Turkey (2002) & vs Colombia (2018)
First Tournament 2002 (Quarter Finals)
Netherlands:
Manager: Louis van Gaal
Star Player: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Rising Star: Xavi Simons (PSV)
Qualifying Record: 7 Wins 2 Draws 1 Loss
Best Finish: 2nd (1974, 1978 & 2010)
Biggest Win: 5-0 vs South Korea (1998)
Biggest Loss: 3-0 vs Chezchoslovakia (1938)
First Tournament: 1934 (Round 1)
Group B:
England:
Manager: Gareth Southgate
Star Player: Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)
Rising Star: Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund)
Qualifying Record: 8 Wins 2 Draws 0 Losses
Best Finish: Winners (1966)
Biggest Win: 6-1 vs Panama (2018)
Biggest Loss: 4-1 vs Germany (2010)
First Tournament: 1950 (Group Stage)
Iran:
Manager: Carlos Queiroz
Star Player: Mehdi Taremi (FC Porto)
Rising Star: Abolfazl Jalili (Estegahl)
Qualifying Record: 14 Wins 1 Draw 3 Losses
Best Finish: Group Stage (1978,1998,2006 & 2014)
Biggest Win: 2-1 vs USA (1998) & 1-0 vs Morocco (2014)
Biggest Loss: 4-1 vs Peru (1978)
First Tournament: 1978 (Group Stage)
USA:
Manager: Gregg Berhalter
Star Player: Christian Pulisic (Chelsea)
Rising Star: Brendan Aaronson (Leeds United)
Qualifying Record: 7 Wins 4 Draws 3 Losses
Best Finish: 3rd (1930)
Biggest Win: 3-0 vs Belgium (1930) & 3-0 vs Paraguay (1930)
Biggest Loss: 7-1 vs Italy (1934)
First Tournament: 1930 (3rd)
Wales:
Manager: Rob Page
Best Player: Gareth Bale (LAFC)
Rising Star: Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest)
Qualifying Record: 6 Wins (2 in playoffs) 3 Draws 1 Loss
Best Finish: Quarter Finals (1958)
Biggest Win: 2-1 vs Hungary (1958)
Biggest Loss: 1-0 vs Brazil (1958)
First Tournament: 1958 (Quarter Finals)
Group C
Argentina:
Manager: Lionel Scaloni
Star Player: Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain)
Rising Star: Julián Álvarez (Manchester City)
Qualifying Record: 11 Wins 6 Draws 0 Losses
Best Finish: Winners (1978 & 1986)
Biggest Win: 6-0 vs Peru (1978) & 6-0 vs Serbia & Montenegro (2006)
Biggest Loss: 6-1 vs Czechoslovakia (1958)
First Tournament: 1930 (Runners Up)
Saudi Arabia:
Manager: Hervé Renard
Star Player: Yasser Al Shahrani (Al-Hihal)
Rising Star: Saud Abdulhamid (Al-Hihal)
Qualifying Record: 13 Wins 4 Draws 1 Loss
Best Finish: Round of 16 (1994)
Biggest Win: 2-1 vs Morocco (1994), 1-0 vs Belgium (1994) & 2-1 vs Egypt (2018)
Biggest Loss: 8-0 vs Germany (2002)
First Tournament: 1994 (Round of 16)
Mexico:
Manager: Gerardo Martino
Best Player: Hirving Lozano (Napoli)
Rising Star: Diego Lainez (Real Betis)
Qualifying Record: 8 Wins 4 Draws 2 Losses
Best Finish: Quarter Finals (1970 & 1986)
Biggest Win: 4-0 vs El Salvador (1970)
Biggest Loss: 6-0 vs Germany (1978)
First Tournament: 1930 (Group Stage)
Poland:
Manager: Czeslaw Michniewicz
Star Player: Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)
Rising Star: Nicola Zalewski (Roma)
Qualifying Record: 7 Wins 2 Draws 2 Losses
Best Finish: 3rd (1974 & 1982)
Biggest Win: 7-0 vs Haiti (1974)
Biggest Loss: 4-0 vs Brazil (1986) & 4-0 vs Portugal (2002)
First Tournament: 1938 (1st Round)
Group D
France:
Manager: Didier Deschamps
Star Player: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
Rising Star: Aurélien Tchouameni (Real Madrid)
Qualifying Record: 5 Wins 3 Draws 0 Losses
Best Finish: Winners (1998 & 2018)
Biggest Win: 7-3 vs Paraguay (1958), 4-0 vs Northern Ireland (1958) & 4-0 vs Saudi Arabia (1998)
Biggest Loss: 5-2 vs Brazil (1958)
First Tournament: 1930 (Group Stage)
Australia:
Manager: Graham Howard
Star Player: Matthew Ryan (FC Copenhagen)
Rising Star: Harry Souttar (Stoke City)
Qualifying Record: 12 Wins 3 Draws 3 Losses
Best Finish: Round of 16 (2006)
Biggest Win: 3-1 vs Japan (2006)
Biggest Loss: 4-0 vs Germany (2010)
First Tournament: 1974 (Group Stage)
Denmark:
Manager: Kasper Hjuland
Star Player: Christian Eriksen (Manchester United)
Rising Star: Mikkel Damsgaard (Brentford)
Qualifying Record: 9 Wins 0 Draws 1 Loss
Best Finish: Quarter Finals (1998)
Biggest Win: 6-1 vs Uruguay (1986)
Biggest Loss: 5-1 vs Spain (1986)
First Tournament: 1986 (Round of 16)
Tunisia:
Manager: Jalel Kadri
Star Player: Wahbi Khazri (Montpellier)
Rising Star: Hannibal Mejbri (Birmingham City)
Qualifying Record: 5 Wins 2 Draws 1 Loss
Best Finish: Group Stage (1978,1998,2002,2006 & 2018)
Biggest Win: 3-1 vs Mexico (1978)
Biggest Loss: 5-2 vs Belgium (2018)
First Tournament: 1978 (Group Stage)
Group E
Spain:
Manager: Luis Enrique
Star Player: Rodri (Manchester City)
Rising Star: Pedri (Barcelona)
Qualifying Record: 6 Wins 1 Draw 1 Loss
Best Finish: Winners (2010)
Biggest Win: 6-1 vs Bulgaria (1998)
Biggest Loss: 6-1 vs Brazil (1950)
First Tournament: 1934 (Quarter Finals)
Costa Rica:
Manager: Luis Fernando Suárez
Star Player: Keylor Navas (Paris Saint-Germain)
Rising Star: Jewison Bennette (Sunderland)
Qualifying Record: 9 Wins 4 Draws 2 Losses
Best Finish: Quarter Finals (2014)
Biggest Win: 2-0 vs China (2002) & 3-1 vs Uruguay (2014)
Biggest Loss: 4-1 vs Czechslovakia (1990), 5-2 vs Brazil (2002) & 3-0 vs Ecuador (2006)
First Tournament (1990)
Germany:
Manager: Hansi Flick
Star Player: Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)
Rising Star: Karim Adeyemi (Borussia Dortmund)
Qualifying Record: 9 Wins 0 Draws 1 Loss
Best Finish: Winners (1954, 1974, 1990, 2014)
Biggest Win: 8-0 vs Saudi Arabia (2002)
Biggest Loss: 8-3 vs Hungary (1954)
First Tournament: 1934 (3rd)
Japan:
Manager: Hajime Moriyasu
Star Player: Junya Ito (Reims)
Rising Star: Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal)
Qualifying Record: 15 Wins 1 Draw 2 Losses
Best Finish: Round of 16 (2002,2010 & 2018)
Biggest Win: 2-0 vs Tunisia (2002) & 3-1 vs Denmark (2010)
Biggest Loss: 4-1 vs Brazil (2006) & 4-1 vs Colombia (2014)
First Tournament: 1998 (Group Stage)
Group F
Belgium:
Manager: Roberto Martínez
Star Player: Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)
Rising Star: Charles de Kaetelaere (AC Milan)
Qualifying Record: 6 Wins 2 Draws 0 Losses
Best Finish: 3rd (2018)
Biggest Win: 3-0 vs El Salvador (1970) , 3-0 vs Panama (2018) & 5-2 vs Tunisia (2018)
Biggest Loss: 3-0 vs USA (1930), 5-2 vs Germany (1934),
4-1 vs Italy (1954),& 4-1 vs Soviet Union (1970)
First Tournament: 1930 (Group Stage)
Canada:
Manager: John Herdman
Star Player: Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich)
Rising Star: Jonathan David (LOSC)
Qualifying Record: 14 Wins 4 Draws 2 Losses
Best Finish: Group Stage (1986)
Biggest Win: N/A
Biggest Loss: 2-0 vs Hungary (1986) & 2-0 vs Soviet Union (1986)
First Tournament: 1986 (Group Stage)
Morocco:
Manager: Walid Regragui
Star Player: Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain)
Rising Star: Noussair Mazraoui (Bayern Munich)
Qualifying Record: 7 Wins 1 Draw 0 Losses
Best Finish: Round of 16 (1986)
Biggest Win: 3-0 vs Scotland (1998)
Biggest Loss: 3-0 vs Peru (1970) & 3-0 vs Brazil (1998)
First Tournament: 1970 (Group Stage)
Croatia:
Manager: Zlatko Dalic
Star Player: Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
Rising Star: Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig)
Qualifying Record: 7 Wins 1 Draw 2 Losses
Best Finish: 2nd (2018)
Biggest Win: 4-0 vs Cameroon (2014)
Biggest Loss: 3-1 vs Brazil (2014), 3-1 vs Mexico (2014) &
4-2 vs France (2018)
First Tournament: 1998 (3rd)
Group G
Brazil:
Manager: Tite
Star Player: Neymar Jr (Paris Saint-Germain)
Rising Star: Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid)
Qualifying Record: 14 Wins 3 Draws 0 Losses
Best Finish: Winners (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 & 2002)
Biggest Win: 7-1 vs Sweden (1950)
Biggest Loss: 7-1 vs Germany (2014)
First Tournament: 1930 (Group Stage)
Serbia:
Manager: Dragan Stojkovic
Star Player: Dušan Vlahovic (Juventus)
Rising Star: Nikola Milenkovic (Fiorentina)
Qualifying Record: 6 Wins 2 Draws 0 Losses
Best Finish: Group Stage (2010 & 2018 - as Serbia)
Biggest Win: 1-0 vs Germany (2010) & 1-0 vs Costa Rica (2018)
Biggest Loss: 2-0 vs Brazil (2018)
First Tournament: (2010 - as Serbia)
Switzerland:
Manager: Murat Yakin
Star Player: Yann Sommer (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Rising Star: Noah Okafor (RB Salzburg)
Qualifying Record: 5 Wins 3 Draws 0 Losses
Best Finish: Quarter Finals (1934, 1938 & 1954)
Biggest Win: 4-1 vs Italy (1954), 4-1 vs Romania (1994) &
3-0 vs Honduras (2014)
Biggest Loss: 5-0 vs West Germany (1996)
First Tournament: 1934 (Quarter Finals)
Cameroon:
Manager: Rigobert Song
Star Player: André-Franck Zambo Anguissa (Napoli)
Rising Star: Christopher Wooh (Stade Rennais)
Qualifying Record: 6 Wins 0 Draws 2 Losses
Best Finish: Quarter Finals (1990)
Biggest Win: 1-0 vs Argentina (1990), 2-1 vs Romania (1990),
2-1 vs Colombia (1990) & 1-0 vs Saudi Arabia (2002)
Biggest Loss: 6-1 vs Russia (1994)
First Tournament: 1982 (Group Stage)
Group H
Portugal:
Manager: Fernando Santos
Star Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Rising Star: Rafael Leao (AC Milan)
Qualifying Record: 7 Wins 2 Draws 1 Loss
Best Finish: 3rd (1966)
Biggest Win: 7-0 vs North Korea (2010)
Biggest Loss: 4-0 vs Germany (2014)
First Tournament: 1966 (3rd)
Ghana:
Manager: Otto Addo
Star Player: Thomas Partey (Arsenal)
Rising Star: Mohammad Kudus (Ajax)
Qualifying Record: 4 Wins 3 Draws 1 Loss
Best Finish: Quarter Final (2010)
Biggest Win: 2-0 vs Czech Republic (2006)
Biggest Loss: 3-0 vs Brazil (2006)
First Tournament: 2006 (Round of 16)
Uruguay:
Manager: Diego Alonso
Star Player: Luis Suárez (Nacional)
Rising Star: Ronald Araújo (Barcelona)
Qualifying Record: 8 Wins 4 Draws 6 Losses
Best Finish: Winners (1930 & 1950)
Biggest Win: 8-0 vs Bolivia (1950)
Biggest Loss: 6-1 vs Denmark (1986)
First Tournament: 1930 (Winners)
South Korea
Manager: Paulo Bento
Star Player: Heung-Min Son (Tottenham Hotspur)
Rising Star: Min-Jae Kim (Napoli)
Qualifying Record: 12 Wins 2 Draws 1 Loss
Best Finish: 4th (2002)
Biggest Win: 2-0 vs Poland (2002), 2-0 vs Greece (2010) &
2-0 vs Germany (2018)
Biggest Loss: 9-0 vs Hungary (1954)
First Tournament: 1954 (Group Stage)
Hope you enjoy!
By Jake MacLeod
(as always this is my opinion)
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