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1938 -

Spain didn’t participate in the 1938 World Cup because their application was allegedly rejected by FIFA due to the ongoing Spanish Civil War.

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1938 -

Though there is another version of events that claims that it was Spain that dropped out of the process. Either way, the nation never made it to the qualifying rounds.

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1950 -

The 1950 FIFA World Cup was held in Brazil. There were two banned nations following the aftermath of World War II, which had ended just five years prior. One was Germany.

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1950 -

And the other nation banned from the 1950 FIFA World Cup was Japan. FIFA's decision was influenced by the United Nations, which was founded in 1945.

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1954 -

Germany and Japan made it to the 1954 FIFA World Cup, hosted by Switzerland. Though a whopping six nations weren't able to participate in the tournament, and not because of anything they did on the pitch.

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1954 -

Iceland, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Vietnam, and India didn’t meet the application deadline and consequently missed the qualifiers.

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1958 -

Sweden hosted the World Cup in 1958. The tournament saw Brazil winning their first World Cup, but both South Korea and Ethiopia were not present.

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1958 -

The reason why these nations were not there remains unknown. It is believed that the two countries were the last to apply and ended up being discarded due to the competition format.

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1958 -

The Confederation of African Football had just been founded, and the Asian and African qualifiers were still being held as one. It’s believed that FIFA capped the number of participants.

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1958 -

But while these teams didn’t make it, others actually dropped out due to political and religious reasons. Turkey, Indonesia, and Sudan withdrew from the qualifiers because they refused to play against Israel.

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1966 -

The 1966 FIFA World Cup, which was hosted and won by England, also marked the ban of South Africa from the tournament.

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1966 -

Thirty-one African countries boycotted the World Cup to protest a 1964 FIFA ruling that affected how they would qualify. But they also protested the readmission of South Africa to FIFA in 1963.

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1966 -

South Africa had been banned from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) due to the apartheid regime in 1958. They were then assigned to the Asia and Oceania qualifying group, but in the end FIFA banned the nation altogether.

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1966 -

It was not until 1992 that South Africa participated in the qualifying rounds for the World Cup, held in 1994. Though they didn’t make it to the group stages of the World Cup until 1998.

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1966 -

But South Africa was not the only nation to be banned from the 1966 World Cup. Guatemala, Congo, and the Philippines also joined them.

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1966 -

However, these nations’ absences were due to technical reasons. Congo didn’t submit the request to FIFA in writing, Guatemala missed the deadline, and the Philippines didn’t pay the necessary fees.

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1970 -

The 1970 World Cup was held in Mexico. FIFA rejected the applications of Guinea and Zaire, for reasons that are unknown.

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1970 -

Albania also didn’t participate in the qualifiers for the 1970 World Cup. The reason why remains unknown to this day.

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1982 -

In 1982, it was the Central African Republic that failed to submit their application on time and pay the fees to enter the tournament.

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1986 -

Mexico 1986 was the World Cup that banned Iran. This was because of the Iran–Iraq War. However, Iraq was allowed to compete, and managed to qualify for the final tournament.

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1990 -

Mexico, the host nation of the 1986 World Cup, didn’t compete in the 1990 edition in Italy because they were suspended by FIFA.

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1990 -

Mexico adulterated the age of players during the qualification rounds of the U-20 World Cup. The senior squad was subsequently punished and was out of the 1990 World Cup.

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1994 -

For the 1994 World Cup held in the United States, two nations were banned from the competition due to war and terrorism: Yugoslavia and Libya.

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1994 -

And then there’s the bizarre case of Chile. They were losing against Brazil in 1989 during the last round of the qualifiers when a fan threw a flare onto the pitch. Chile’s goalkeeper Roberto Rojas pretended to have been hit by it, he then pulled a blade hidden in his glove and cut himself with it. The referee stopped the game over safety concerns.

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1994 -

The whole episode, which became known as "The Maracanazo of the Chilean team," was uncovered, and Chile was eventually barred by FIFA from qualifying for the 1994 World Cup.

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2002 -

For financial reasons, Guiana didn’t get the chance to play the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.

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2014 -

In 2014, Brunei was the only team barred from the FIFA competition, for having their government interfere with their national soccer federation.

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2018 -

Similarly, in 2018 Indonesia was banned by FIFA following their government's interference with the soccer federation.

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2018 -

Zimbabwe was also left out of the 2018 World Cup, in this case because the federation owed then-manager José Claudinei months of unpaid salaries.

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2022 -

In light of the recent conflict involving the invasion of Ukraine, FIFA and UEFA announced that "all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams" were indefinitely suspended. This, of course, includes Russian participation in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Sources: (ESPN)

See also: FIFA World Cup fails: the biggest blunders ever made

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