3 Worst Performing Host Nations of the FIFA World Cup

While a fair few nations have managed to win the sought-after World Cup trophy on home soil, six to be precise — Uruguay (1930), Italy (1934), England (1966), West Germany (1974), Argentina (1978) and most recently France in 1998 — it is clearly easier said than done. Whether it be the weight of expectation from the home fans, or the fact that the host nation just isn’t good enough, hoisting aloft the famous gold cup doesn’t come often for the host nations these days.

The hosts of this year’s edition are already out of the equation, with Qatar coming in at a rather timid 50^th place in the FIFA World Rankings. In fact, with European powerhouses the Netherlands and African champions Senegal in their group alongside South Americans Ecuador, the Middle East nation might just go down as one of the worst performing in the tournament’s history.

So, with just weeks to go until the competition — which Brazil are the favourites to win in the football World Cup odds — gets underway and expectations are incredibly low for Qatar. Let’s take a look at some of the host nations who have had tournaments to forget in the past.

👎 2010: South Africa

Cast your minds back to 2010, South Africa certainly brought noise and colour to the World Cup — with the sound of vuvuzelas one of the first things you think of when someone mentions this renewal of the tournament. Unfortunately, the Bafana Bafana themselves didn’t make much noise as they failed to qualify from their group.

A 2-1 victory over a lacklustre France side in their final game was a memorable victory, but the writing was already on the wall for the hosts after they lost 3-0 to Uruguay at the Loftus Vesfeld Stadium in Pretoria on matchday two. It could have been oh-so different for South Africa had Mexico not have salvaged a late draw in the opener at Soccer City in Johannesburg.

👎 1938: France

In what was just the third edition of the World Cup, France became the first host nation not to win the title on home soil after Uruguay and Italy’s previous successes in Montevideo and Rome respectively. There were just 15 entries at this World Cup as Austria withdrew due to the Anschluss, meaning the tournament started in the round of 16 stage — with Sweden getting a walkover to the last eight.

France got off to the perfect start, as Emile Veinante scored in the first minute before Les Bleus doubled their advantage in the 16^th minute. Hendrik Isemborghs grabbed one back, but France put the game out of their reach in the second half as Jean Nicolas scored a second. France crashed out to defending champions Italy in the quarter-finals, and Gli Azzurri went on to retain their crown.

👎 1982: Spain

While Spain’s golden generation that won the World Cup in 2010 and two European championships on either side in 2008 and 2012 will go down as one of the greatest teams of all time, the 1982 squad would rather be forgotten.

In what was a weirdly formatted tournament, the 24 nations were split into six groups of four before the top two from each were then being divided into four groups of three for a second phase of groups. La Roja drew their opener with Honduras and beat Yugoslavia, but a shock 1-0 defeat to Northern Ireland meant they finished second in the first group.

Up against West Germany and England in the second stage, Spain lost 2-1 to the former before being held to a 0-0 draw by the Three Lions — meaning they finished bottom and crashed out alongside England as only West Germany progressed. The tournament never followed this set up again.