The World Cup in Qatar has kicked off, and fans from around the world are cheering on their national teams fervently! However, many countries are full of soccer fans even though their national team did not even make it to the World Cup.
Some of these fans will be tuning out completely, while others will be watching from the sidelines, choosing to root against a bitter rival, or for the underdog. Either way, here is a tribute to the soccer fans without a team in the World Cup and who they might be rooting for anyway!
World Cup overview
The first game of the Qatar World Cup was on Sunday November, 20. This year is full of exciting stories, such as witnessing the first World Cup in the Middle East. While there are many players we are keeping an eye on in the tournament, Lionel Messi is attracting quite a bit of attention.
Some consider the Argentine to be the best player of all time. Without a doubt, he is among them, joining other legends such as Pelé y Maradona. However, Lionel Messi has yet to win a World Cup, and many believe this to be his last chance, as his performance will likely begin to deteriorate within the next four years before the following World Cup.
Messi is also loved for his humility and personality. Many people are rooting for Argentina to win this tournament, so that Messi can finally have his trophy. This is especially true for the following list of teams who have lots of soccer fans orphaned without their national team in the World Cup. Many are likely rooting for Messi, and, by extension, Argentina.
Beloved teams that did not qualify
Unfortunately not every team can be invited to participate in the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament. There is a stringent selection process by which some teams simply get excluded. This is the unfortunate side of the tournament: it can be fierce in its competition! You can normally count on certain teams making it to the tournament, while others are more on the margin; however, there are always surprises, upsets, and underdogs who break through!
Thailand
Thailand has a lot of soccer fans, and a very successful team regionally. Thailand has won six AFF Championships, making them the most successful team in Southeast Asia. However, their team has never qualified for the World Cup, leaving Thai soccer fans enjoying the World Cup in other ways. You can really tell how much they love soccer in Thailand because of all the ways they engage in the sport, from winning championships, to watching it on television and betting online.
For example, take a look at all these sports betting sites, known in Thai as พนันกีฬาออนไลน์. This guide in Thai organizes the sportsbooks by top sports to bet on, with soccer right up near the top. These Thai sports betting sites are reviewed
Ukraine
Ukraine is a sweetheart of many European spectators at the moment, as evidenced by them winning the popular vote in the Eurovision contest. Many people inside and outside of Ukraine wanted them to have a successful go at the World Cup this year, but they also failed to qualify.
They lost to Wales in the final playoff of World Cup Qualifiers, which allowed the Welsh national team to advance to the big tournament for the first time since 1958. While Ukraine could not go, many Welsh fans are happy to finally be able to watch their team play in the FIFA World Cup!
Italy
Italy has won the World Cup four times, the last one in 2006. Italy is considered one of the strongest teams in Europe. They dominated the game from the late ’60s until the early ’90s. Since then, Italy hasn’t had much success at international level. The Italian National Soccer Team even won the most recent Euros!
However, they failed to even qualify for the World Cup this year when they lost to North Macedonia. Italy is full of soccer fans, who are enviously watching their big rivals, such as France, Spain, and Germany battle it out in Qatar.