Fifa World Cup Underdogs 2026

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will mark the 23rd installment of the tournament. Held every four years, it brings together men’s national teams from FIFA’s member associations. The event is set to take place from June 11 to July 19, 2026, with matches played in sixteen cities – eleven in the United States, three in Mexico, and two in Canada.

In this article we are focusing on teams that are debutants or rare participants who are big World Cup underdogs and are unfamiliar to the general public. It is definitely worth betting against them, but now let’s jump in why.

Until now Uzbekistan has never qualified for the World Cup, but lately were very close. Yet, there were some signs that the dream one day will become a reality since their team performed very well on the youth level, winning the AFC U-23 tournament in 2018.

In the World Cup qualification Uzbekistan were competing against UAE, Iran, Qatar, Kyrgyzstan and North Korea. They finished second, only two points behind Iran losing only once to Qatar.

For a very long time this Asian team did not have any superstars playing in the top European level, but has produced some very exciting young talents lately. The team still has their main striker E.Shomurodov at the front who has recently moved to Turkey from AS Roma.

The highest valued player remains A.Khusanov who is starting to get his minutes for his club Manchester City, while another 22-year old A.Fayzullaev shows a lot of potential in Istanbul. Despite it, on paper they do not have the team who could fight for the possibility of passing the group stage.

Alongside several other nations, they have odds of 1001/1 to win the World Cup, and bettors should feel comfortable betting against them at World Cup bookmakers in Group K, as they are scheduled to face Portugal, Colombia, and Congo.

You might not know this, but Haiti has qualified for the World Cup once before by doing so back in 1974. They lost all of their group stage matches and it is likely that history will repeat itself.

North & Central American teams were not favourites in the qualification group clashing with Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala. Yet, by winning the final two games at home they have topped their group with a record of 3W, 2L and 1D.

You might be familiar with their duo who play in the Premier League – J.Bellegarde (Wolves) and W.Isidor (Sunderland). Also C.Argus (Angers) and F.Pierrot (AEK) can be considered as stand outs.

However, they are in a group with Morocco, Brazil and Scotland and we would be very surprised if this nation will get at least a point this summer.

Curacao country is not just another World Cup debutant, but the smallest nation by population and area ever to qualify for this tournament. Just like Haiti they were competing in the North & Central America qualification stage.

In group B they have faced Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and Bermuda and to everyone’s surprise finished first instead of the favourites Jamaica. Moreover, in six games they have not lost a single match, winning 3 and drawing 3 games.

Officially, they have only one player who is from the top European leagues in A.Obispo from PSV. Yet, some of the other players are still eligible to represent this nation, so we are looking forward to seeing the official quad list participating in the World Cup.

Curacao are in a very tough group alongside Germany, Ivory Coast and Ecuador. They should be in a similar situation like Haiti and we are seeing this nation finishing in the bottom of the group with zero points.

Cape Verde is the second smallest nation to participate in this year’s World Cup edition with the population of only 500 000 people. However, they might have the most potential from the teams that we have analyzed previously in this article.

This Nation participated in Africa’s qualification stage and were in a tough group with Cameron, Libya, Angola, Mauritius and Eswatini. Although the Cameroon fans were pretty certain that their loved ones would qualify fairly easily, Cape Verde spoiled the party by finishing first, surpassing the second place by 4 points.

This fact should bring more respect to their name as the squad has very few players that are worth mentioning. Villareal’s centre-back L.Costa is the most valued player of the squad, while other stars play in Turkey or outside Europe.

Cape Verde has the potential to collect more points than our previously mentioned nations thanks to their group. The African side will face Saudi Arabia and there will be no favourites in this match, while in the other match ups they will be heavy underdogs in the World Cup versus Spain and Uruguay.

As history has shown multiple times the World Cup is a tournament where miracles do happen and even these nations can pull up a rabbit from the hat.

Yet, as we look at it right now, they are huge World Cup underdogs for a reason, and the regular watchers and the bettors making bets at chosen well-known betting websites should keep an eye on these nations to root against them, as they have very slim chances to surprise us.