The 2026 FIFA World Cup marked an unprecedented milestone that highlights the major shift in the global football landscape. For the first time in nearly a century of tournament history, neither Brazil nor Germany will be among the competition’s eight best teams.
Since the first edition in Uruguay in 1930, fans had grown used to seeing at least one of these two giants in the final stages of the tournament. It is an impressive record of consistency and dominance that remained intact for 22 consecutive World Cup editions.
On several occasions over the decades, both powerhouses shared a place in the coveted world “Top 8” (such as from 1954 to 1962, or from 1970 to 1986).
In years when one of them stumbled, the other always ensured the representation of the most successful champions, as was the case with Germany taking center stage in 1934, 1966, and 1990, or Brazil securing its place in 1930, 1938, 1950, and in the more recent editions of 2018 and 2022.
But the 2026 edition definitively broke with this nearly century-old tradition. The simultaneous absence of the five-time and four-time world champions from the quarterfinals reflects not only the crisis faced by both confederations, but also the strong tactical leveling and the rise of new forces on the international stage.
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