In 2026, the most renowned footballing competition in history, the World Cup, will be back. Taking place in the United States of America, the tournament promises to be a spectacle and many will hope that the football matches the quality shown in Qatar back in 2022.
Many countries have been touted to enjoy glory on the biggest stage of them all, with Spain being considered a particular front-runner. This could be thrown entirely in the air, however, if Spain decide to boycott the 2026 World Cup.
The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, or PSOE, the current governing political party of the Spanish national side, are not ruling out the idea of boycotting the upcoming World Cup should Israel, who have a good chance of at least reaching a play-off spot, qualify for the tournament.
With that being a fresh topic of conversation, it has begged the question: has any nation ever boycotted the World Cup? As it would transpire, according to SPORTbible, Spain would certainly not be the first country to refuse a place in the prestigious tournament.
The Nine Nations to Boycott The World Cup
The first team to ever boycott the World Cup was, in fact, the maiden winner of the tournament. Uruguay, in response to a minimal number of European teams competing in the 1930 edition of the competition, chose not to travel to Italy in order to defend their crown in 1934.
That same year, the Home Nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland (which, at the time, included players from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) all chose to avoid the World Cup, instead favouring their own Home Championship, which they felt was of a higher standard.
Uruguay’s boycotts continued to 1938, a year in which Argentina, who faced Uruguay in the 1930 final, also chose not to take part, responding to the decision taken to host that year’s tournament in Europe rather than South America.
It was over a decade until another team voluntarily waived their chance to participate in the World Cup. India had taken the one qualifying position from the continent of Asia automatically after the other three nations chose not to compete, but due to their belief that the tournament was not overly important, they decided not to take part. Reports, however, suggested that the country were refused participation as, at the time, they played barefoot. Since turning down the chance to take part, India have never again qualified for a World Cup.
Taking place in Brazil, the 1950 World Cup also saw Turkey refuse to participate, as the country felt that the cost of sending their team to South America was too much.
The final country, at the time of writing, to have chosen not to partake in a World Cup was the USSR back in 1974, in perhaps the most famous example.
A country put on the map by the legendary Lev Yashin, they faced Chile in a World Cup qualifier, but their return leg in South America was scheduled to take place soon after the violent coup d’etat that saw General Pinochet rise to power. After they refused to put a team out for the match, Chile simply scored once in an empty net before the referee blew for full-time.