With all the recent bleating over the allotment of spots for the World Cup, I've dusted off this long ago message which shows the results of the various inter-federational matchups in World Cup finals. The stats don't tell us much that we don't already know, but I am eager to see how the RSS community manipulates them to prove their points of view. WARNING - there are no comments on GNPs, boxing, chess, beef or breakfast cereal to be found in this message. My take on the obvious (at least in my opinion): 1. Europe and South America are by far the strongest federations. 2. Africa is the (slightly) strongest of the minnows. 3. There is so little data between the minnow federations that it is meaningless to try and compare them. 4. The minnows are slowly catching up to the old boys. A few notes: 1. Games which were decided on penalty kicks (there were only a few) were counted as draws. 2. Oceania is included with Asia since the two Oceanian teams which qualified (Australia in 1974 and New Zealand in 1982) did so by competing against Asian teams. 3. Israel's 1970 results are included as part of Asia as they were in this region for qualifying (they are now considered part of Europe). 4. The T82 values are the totals from 1982-2006 inclusive. They are an attempt to show how the various federations compare in the "modern" era of the World Cup, when there were 24 teams and the allotments were relatively stable (yes, they have changed over this time period but not significantly, in my opinion) WORLD CUP Head to Head Results: South America vs. Europe SA v E P W D L F A GF/M GA/M G/M 1930 8 5 0 3 15 10 1.88 1.25 3.13 1934 2 0 0 2 3 6 1.50 3.00 4.50 1938 5 3 1 1 14 11 2.80 2.20 5.00 1950 10 4 3 3 24 16 2.40 1.60 4.00 1954 7 3 1 3 19 14 2.71 2.00 4.71 1958 12 7 2 3 30 26 2.50 2.17 4.67 1962 17 9 3 5 25 24 1.47 1.41 2.88 1966 12 4 2 6 11 17 0.92 1.42 2.33 1970 10 6 1 3 17 11 1.55 1.00 2.55 1974 13 1 6 6 7 20 0.54 1.54 2.08 1978 13 8 3 2 19 9 1.46 0.69 2.15 1982 10 3 1 6 16 20 1.60 2.00 3.60 1986 13 7 4 2 23 17 1.77 1.31 3.08 1990 12 3 5 4 9 11 0.75 0.92 1.67 1994 12 5 2 5 17 15 1.42 1.25 2.67 1998 15 3 6 6 14 20 0.93 1.33 2.26 2002 14 7 2 5 16 13 1.14 0.93 2.07 2006 10 3 2 5 10 8 1.00 0.80 1.80 __________________________________________ TOTAL 195 81 44 70 289 268 1.48 1.37 2.85 T82 86 31 22 33 105 104 WORLD CUP Head to Head Results: South America vs. CONCACAF SA v C P W D L F A GF/M GA/M G/M 1930 3 2 0 1 9 6 3.00 2.00 5.00 1950 2 2 0 0 9 2 4.50 1.00 5.50 1954 1 1 0 0 5 0 5.00 0.00 5.00 1962 1 1 0 0 2 0 2.00 0.00 2.00 1966 1 0 1 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 1974 1 1 0 0 4 1 4.00 1.00 5.00 1982 1 1 0 0 2 0 2.00 0.00 2.00 1986 1 0 1 0 1 1 1.00 1.00 2.00 1990 1 1 0 0 1 0 1.00 0.00 1.00 1994 2 1 0 1 2 2 1.00 1.00 2.00 1998 1 1 0 0 5 0 5.00 0.00 5.00 2002 2 1 0 1 6 4 3.00 2.00 5.00 2006 3 3 0 0 7 1 2.33 0.33 2.66 __________________________________________ TOTAL 20 15 2 3 53 17 2.65 0.85 3.50 T82 11 8 1 2 24 8 WORLD CUP Head to Head Results: South America vs. Africa SA v A P W D L F A GF/M GA/M G/M 1970 1 1 0 0 3 0 3.00 0.00 3.00 1974 1 1 0 0 3 0 3.00 0.00 3.00 1982 2 0 1 1 2 3 1.00 1.50 2.50 1986 1 1 0 0 1 0 1.00 0.00 1.00 1990 2 0 0 2 1 3 0.50 1.50 2.00 1994 2 2 0 0 5 1 2.50 0.50 3.00 1998 4 3 1 0 8 2 2.00 0.50 2.50 2002 3 1 2 0 6 5 2.00 1.66 3.66 2006 2 2 0 0 5 1 2.50 0.50 3.00 __________________________________________ TOTAL 18 11 4 3 34 15 1.88 0.83 2.71 T82 16 9 4 3 28 15 WORLD CUP Head to Head Results: South America vs. Asia/Oceania SA v AO P W D L F A GF/M GA/M G/M 1966 1 0 1 0 1 1 1.00 1.00 2.00 1970 1 1 0 0 2 0 2.00 0.00 2.00 1974 1 0 1 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 1978 1 1 0 0 4 1 4.00 1.00 5.00 1982 1 1 0 0 4 0 4.00 0.00 4.00 1986 2 2 0 0 4 1 2.00 0.50 2.50 1990 2 2 0 0 3 0 1.50 0.00 1.50 1994 1 0 1 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 1998 1 1 0 0 1 0 1.00 0.00 1.00 2002 1 1 0 0 4 0 4.00 0.00 4.00 2006 2 2 0 0 6 1 3.00 0.50 3.50 __________________________________________ TOTAL 14 11 3 0 29 4 2.07 0.28 2.35 T82 10 9 1 0 22 2 WORLD CUP Head to Head Results: Europe vs. CONCACAF E v C P W D L F A GF/M GA/M G/M 1930 2 1 0 1 4 3 2.00 1.50 3.50 1934 1 1 0 0 7 1 7.00 1.00 8.00 1938 4 2 1 1 18 5 4.50 1.25 5.75 1950 4 3 0 1 9 4 2.25 1.00 3.75 1954 2 2 0 0 8 2 4.00 1.00 5.00 1958 3 2 1 0 8 1 2.67 0.33 3.00 1962 2 1 0 1 2 3 1.00 1.50 2.50 1966 2 1 1 0 3 1 1.50 0.50 2.00 1970 5 3 1 1 9 2 1.80 0.40 2.20 1974 2 2 0 0 10 1 5.00 0.50 5.50 1978 2 2 0 0 9 1 4.50 0.50 5.00 1982 5 3 2 0 14 3 2.80 0.60 3.40 1986 6 3 1 2 6 4 1.00 0.67 1.67 1990 6 4 0 2 13 6 2.17 1.00 3.17 1994 6 2 3 1 6 5 1.00 0.83 1.83 1998 6 4 2 0 12 6 2.00 1.00 3.00 2002 6 2 2 2 8 7 1.33 1.17 2.50 2006 7 5 2 0 14 5 2.00 0.71 2.71 __________________________________________ TOTAL 71 43 16 12 160 60 2.25 0.84 3.09 T82 42 23 12 7 73 36 WORLD CUP Head to Head Results: Europe vs. Africa E v A P W D L F A GF/M GA/M G/M 1934 1 1 0 0 4 2 4.00 2.00 6.00 1970 2 1 1 0 3 2 1.50 1.00 2.50 1974 2 2 0 0 11 0 5.50 0.00 5.50 1978 2 1 1 0 1 0 0.50 0.00 0.50 1982 4 1 2 1 4 3 1.00 0.75 1.75 1986 5 2 2 1 6 4 1.20 0.80 2.00 1990 6 3 2 1 10 5 1.67 0.83 2.50 1994 8 5 1 2 16 10 2.00 1.25 3.25 1998 11 4 4 3 19 13 1.72 1.18 2.90 2002 12 5 4 3 14 10 1.17 0.83 2.00 2006 9 7 0 2 15 7 1.66 0.77 2.43 __________________________________________ TOTAL 62 32 17 13 103 56 1.66 0.90 2.56 T82 55 27 15 13 84 52 WORLD CUP Head to Head Results: Europe vs. Asia/Oceania E v AO P W D L F A GF/M GA/M G/M 1954 2 2 0 0 16 0 8.00 0.00 8.00 1966 4 2 1 1 9 5 2.25 1.25 3.50 1970 2 0 2 0 1 1 0.50 0.50 1.00 1974 2 2 0 0 5 0 2.50 0.00 2.50 1978 2 1 1 0 1 0 0.50 0.00 0.50 1982 5 4 1 0 14 4 2.80 0.80 3.60 1986 3 2 1 0 6 4 2.00 1.33 3.33 1990 4 4 0 0 14 3 3.50 0.75 4.25 1994 5 3 1 1 10 7 2.00 1.40 3.40 1998 7 6 1 0 15 1 2.12 0.14 2.26 2002 12 6 2 4 22 10 1.83 0.83 2.66 2006 8 5 3 0 13 3 1.62 0.37 1.99 __________________________________________ TOTAL 56 37 13 6 126 38 2.25 0.67 2.93 T82 44 30 9 5 94 32 WORLD CUP Head to Head Results: Africa vs. CONCACAF A v C P W D L F A GF/M GA/M G/M 1978 1 1 0 0 3 1 3.00 1.00 4.00 2006 2 1 1 0 2 1 1.00 0.50 1.50 __________________________________________ TOTAL 3 2 1 0 5 2 1.66 0.66 2.32 WORLD CUP Head to Head Results: CONCACAF vs. Asia/Oceania CA v AO P W D L F A GF/M GA/M G/M 1986 1 1 0 0 1 0 1.00 0.00 1.00 1998 3 2 0 1 6 4 2.00 1.33 3.33 2002 2 1 1 0 3 1 1.50 0.50 2.00 2006 1 1 0 0 3 1 3.00 1.00 4.00 __________________________________________ TOTAL 7 5 1 1 13 6 1.85 0.85 2.70 WORLD CUP Head to Head Results: Asia/Oceania vs. Africa AO v A P W D L F A GF/M GA/M G/M 1994 1 1 0 0 2 1 2.00 1.00 3.00 1998 1 0 1 0 2 2 2.00 2.00 4.00 2002 2 1 0 1 2 1 1.00 0.50 1.50 2006 3 1 2 0 5 4 1.66 1.33 3.00 __________________________________________ TOTAL 7 3 3 1 11 8 1.57 1.14 2.71 And for those of you still reading and curious as to how the federations match up against the rest of the world, here are the cumulated stats. South America vs World SA v W P W D L F A GF/M GA/M G/M TOTAL 247 118 53 76 405 304 1.64 1.23 2.87 T82 123 57 28 38 179 129 1.45 1.04 2.49 Europe vs World E v W P W D L F A GF/M GA/M G/M TOTAL 384 182 90 112 657 443 1.71 1.15 2.86 T82 227 113 58 56 355 225 1.56 0.99 2.55 Africa vs World A v W P W D L F A GF/M GA/M G/M TOTAL 90 19 25 46 84 150 0.93 1.66 2.60 T82 80 18 23 39 77 124 0.96 1.55 2.51 CONCACAF vs World C v W P W D L F A GF/M GA/M G/M TOTAL 101 20 20 61 92 224 0.91 2.21 3.12 T82 62 14 15 33 58 105 0.93 1.69 2.62 Asia/Oceania vs World AO v W P W D L F A GF/M GA/M G/M TOTAL 84 10 20 54 59 176 0.70 2.09 2.79 T82 68 9 14 45 51 137 0.75 2.01 2.76
South America 20 10 4 6 32-22 34 1,700 North and Central America 10 4 3 3 14-15 15 1,500 Europe 44 18 10 16 57-43 64 1,455 Africa 17 4 6 7 16-22 18 1,059 Asia 17 5 3 9 13-30 18 1,059 Head to head results Europe - Africa 12 5 4 3 14-10 Europe - Asia 12 6 2 4 22-10 Europe - North and Central America 6 2 2 2 8- 7 Europe - South America 14 5 2 7 13-16 South America - Africa 3 1 2 0 6- 5 South America - Asia 1 1 0 0 4- 0 South America - North and Central America 2 1 0 1 6- 4 North and Central America - Asia 2 1 1 0 3- 1 Asia - Africa 2 1 0 1 2- 1 Matches between countries in the same confederation are excluded.
Europe 34 22 7 5 50-25 73 2,147 South America 17 10 2 5 28-11 32 1,882 Africa 16 3 3 10 14-26 12 0,750 Asia 14 1 5 8 10-26 8 0,571 North and Central America 13 1 3 9 10-24 6 0,462 Head to head results Europe - Africa 9 7 0 2 15- 7 Europe - Asia 8 5 3 0 13- 3 Europe - North and Central America 7 5 2 0 14- 5 Europe - South America 10 5 2 3 8-10 South America - Africa 2 2 0 0 5- 1 South America - Asia 2 2 0 0 6- 1 South America - North and Central America 3 3 0 0 7- 1 North and Central America - Asia 1 1 0 0 3- 1 North and Central America - Africa 2 0 1 1 1- 2 Asia - Africa 3 1 2 0 5- 4 Matches between countries in the same confederation are excluded. Australia is included in Asia.
posting in rec.sport.soccer on Mar 25, 1998
updated to include 1998-2006 results by Roberto Di Maggio
2002 and 2006 overviews thanks to Sondre Zachariassen (sondrez@yahoo.com)
Prepared and maintained by Stephen Halchuk for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Stephen Halchuk
(halchuk@seismo.nrcan.gc.ca)
Last updated: 23 Jul 2006
(C) Copyright Stephen Halchuk and RSSSF 1998/2006
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.