All eyes will be on teams such as France, England and Spain at the 2026 World Cup – today, however, we’d like to look at the tournament’s minnows.
We will list the five smallest countries at this year’s World Cup, based on population size. We’ll be basing our figures on country’s most recent population censuses – not all of these are from the same year, so numbers may be somewhat inaccurate compared to current figures.
As a point of reference, almost 70 million people live in the United Kingdom – meanwhile, the USA is home to a staggering 342 million people.
Uruguay (3,499,451)
Yes – despite having two World Cups to their name, Uruguay are amongst the smallest nations to have ever competed at a World Cup. Their success in international football has often been astonishing – it’s hard to believe that fewer than 3.5 million people live there.
Uruguay have some real stars in their team – the most notable of which is probably Federico Valverde, who dictates Real Madrid’s midfield.
Historically, the likes of Luis Suarez, Diego Forlan and Diego Godin have all represented La Celeste – they might have the best success-to-size ratio of any team in world football.
Bosnia & Herzegovina (3,412,000)
Bosnia & Herzegovina stunned the world when they made it to the finals of the World Cup by eliminating Italy on penalties – it was amongst the greatest shocks in World Cup qualification history.
Bosnia have qualified for the World Cup on one previous occasion (not counting the times when they were part of Yugoslavia), back in 2014. Sadly, they failed to escape the group stage.
Edin Dzeko will be amongst the oldest players in World Cup history if he plays the former Manchester City star is now 40 years of age.
Qatar (3,214,609)
Qatar were the hosts of the last World Cup. Despite their lack of footballing pedigree, they have emerged as a bit of a force on the Asian scene.
They lost all three of their group games in 2022, making them the only World Cup hosts to have lost all of their three opening games at the tournament – furthermore, they only scored a solitary goal.
They will be hoping to build upon this at the 2026 World Cup – however, for a nation of under 3.5 million people, they will always be up against it.
Cape Verde (491,233)
The third-least populated country in World Cup history, fewer than 500,000 live in Cape Verde – for them to make it to the finals of the World Cup is an astonishing feat.
Their playing squad is understandably limited. Many of them are over the age of 30 – their vice-captain, goalkeeper Vonzinha, is 39 years old.
With that being said, they have some decent emerging stars coming through. The most notable of which is probably 18-year-old Fabio Domingues, who plays for PSG’s academy.
Curacao (155,826)
If you thought Cape Verde are a small nation, then Curacao are absolutely miniscule. Their story is utterly spell-binding – despite being a country of just over 150,000 people, they will be playing at the 2026 World Cup.
A former Dutch colony, several top players for The Netherlands have Curacaoan heritage – including Jurrien Timber, Justin Kluivert and former PSG star Gregory van der Wiel.
Many of their stars were not born in Curacao, instead opting to represent them through their heritage. Several of them play in the EFL – for example, Ar’jany Martha plays for Rotherham United in League One.
