South Africa has been barred from more World Cups than any other country in history. 

Between 1970 and 1986, FIFA excluded the country from five consecutive tournaments because of its apartheid government’s racial segregation policies in sport. 

But South Africa is only the most extreme case in a much longer story.

Since 1950, FIFA has formally banned 12 countries from World Cup participation, resulting in 19 instances of exclusion across seven decades. 

This is based on data gathered from Give Me Sport. 

TL;DR

• Across 12 countries and 76 years, Asia accounts for the largest share of ban instances in the modern period, with Pakistan, Indonesia, Kuwait, Myanmar, and Japan together representing more than a third of all entries.
• Three countries are currently banned from the 2026 World Cup: Russia, Pakistan, and Congo.

Notes: 

• South Africa was officially expelled from FIFA in 1976 and readmitted in 1992.
• Congo (2026): ban was subsequently lifted before the qualifying process concluded
• Yugoslavia (1994): ban resulted from UN sanctions during the Yugoslav Wars.
• World Cup Year = the tournament year to which the ban applied, not the year the ban was formally announced.

76 years, 12 countries, 19 bans

The record starts in 1950, when Germany and Japan were barred from FIFA’s third World Cup. Both countries had lost World War II just five years earlier. 

Their exclusion had nothing to do with football and everything to do with the political settlement that followed the war. These are the only two bans in the dataset with a wartime origin.

The most unusual ban came from the United Nations, not FIFA

The most legally unusual entry came in 1994, when Yugoslavia was excluded not by an internal FIFA process but because of United Nations sanctions imposed during the Yugoslav Wars. 

The UN Security Council resolution left FIFA with little room to act otherwise. No other ban in the dataset was triggered by an external international legal instrument.

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Geopolitics is back

Russia’s entries, covering 2022 and 2026, mark the return of geopolitics to FIFA’s ban record, the first since Yugoslavia. 

The suspension followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Three countries are currently missing from the ongoing tournament. Russia, Pakistan, and Congo are all banned from the 2026 World Cup, which is currently being hosted across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. 

Congo’s ban was lifted before the qualifying process concluded, per Give Me Sport, though it was formally recorded. 

That makes 2026 the tournament with the highest number of simultaneously banned nations in the modern era, tied with 2018.

Across 12 countries and 76 years, Asia accounts for the largest share of ban instances in the modern period, with Pakistan, Indonesia, Kuwait, Myanmar, and Japan together representing more than a third of all entries. 

Europe, despite its historical dominance of world football, appears only three times: Germany in 1950, Yugoslavia in 1994, and Russia in 2022 and 2026.

ALSO READ: Visualized: Every Country That Has Ever Hosted the World Cup

ELI5

FIFA, the group that runs the World Cup, has kicked 12 countries out of the tournament at least once since 1950. Sometimes it was because of racism, sometimes war, sometimes cheating, and sometimes because governments tried to control their country’s football team. Right now, three countries are banned from the 2026 World Cup that is currently being played.

Source: 

Give Me Sport