In Africa, you are nothing without a coast

[Gibraldo]

There are 14 countries out ouf roughly 50 which have no access to the atlantic ocean or the indian ocean.

From these 14 countries, not a single one has ever reached a world cup! One can argue, that this comes with the fact, that countries at the coasts of the continent are higher developed - however 5 of them reached phase 3 of the WCQ for 2010, which is 25%.

I am curious, if it will happen this time - for the first time!

[Team Melli forever]

Good observation. There are also those countries that have the largest coast/mass but are not even close to world cup qualification material (eg. Madagascar)

[spoonman]

Are they also underperforming in the Africa Cup?

[Gibraldo]

maybe a bit off-topic, but the same rule applies to inner asia with Uzbekistan quite near this time to overcome the curse!

From UEFA, you have Austria, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Liechtenstein, Andorra, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Hungary, Czechia, FYR Macedonia, Belarus, Kazachztan without a coast and even there only a handful have reached a WC.

[Bread Bin]

Quite an interesting point, if the trend ends the likely team would be one of west african eg Burkina Faso (have a few others in my head but not definate if it has a coast).

Is this the same for Asia? No land locked team qualifyed?

[MountainHawk]

For the most part; coast = a chance at a successful economy = enough money to develop sporting teams.

[Football Not Soccer]

Having a port is a major, major, major factor of development/globalisation/investment in the economy/trade... yada yada yada, I could go on! Fascinating link with football though, being a bit of a geography buff, I do like these connections!

[nutbar]

Outside of Europe, the only two landlocked countries that I can think of that have been in the WC are Bolivia and Paraguay.

[EstebanLugo]

We can project this to the world stage. After all, no landlocked country has ever won the World Cup.

[leg_breaker]

From UEFA, you have Austria, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Liechtenstein, Andorra, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Hungary, Czechia, FYR Macedonia, Belarus, Kazachztan without a coast and even there only a handful have reached a WC.

Europe's geography means that only the smallest countries are landlocked and so probably won't have much of a playerbase to pull from.

[shinzui]

If not for the airplane crash that killed all of their coaching staff and most of the core of their team Zambia likely would have qualified for the 1994 World Cup. They only missed out by 1 point and the rescheduled draw they got in Senegal months after the crash might have been a win with their pre-crash squad. That was one of the best teams in Africa in the early 90's. They beat Italy 4-0 in the 88 Olympics. The airplane crash deprived the continent of a team that might have been dominant for the entire decade.

[zizouForlife]

If not for the airplane crash that killed all of their coaching staff and most of the core of their team Zambia likely would have qualified for the 1994 World Cup. They only missed out by 1 point and the rescheduled draw they got in Senegal months after the crash might have been a win with their pre-crash squad. That was one of the best teams in Africa in the early 90's. They beat Italy 4-0 in the 88 Olympics. The airplane crash deprived the continent of a team that might have been dominant for the entire decade.

true, that was a team, best team in southern part of africa, only kalusha bwalya is remaining survivor of that team.

and not all countries that have a coast are successful, south africa despite being economical powerhouse has poor football history compared to big 4. another country is kenya, very stable country yet not been to africa cup of nations. then there are other minor countries like Ethiopia, Morocco, Algeria, sudan. even those that are successful in africa, have not had world cup success until recently like cote d'ivoire and ghana. then other power houses that haven't been in WC for long time like DRC (1970) egypt ( 1930 and 1990). and one hit wonders like senegal and togo

its all about generation in the late 1990's early 2000, it was cameroon and nigeria. now that their players are getting old, the power is shifting to the likes of ghana, egypt, and ivory coast.

[EstebanLugo]

Paraguay: best landlocked team in the world.

[leg_breaker]

Paraguay: best landlocked team in the world.

The Czech Republic are arguably better. Or at least were.

[EstebanLugo]

d'oh!!! for some reason I imagined the Czechs got sea.

In any case, I'd say there's not too much of a difference between both teams nowadays. Paraguay is, in fact, the best team in South America currently both results and footballing-wise. Nobody who has been seriously following the SA WCQ's could say anything different.

[Bread Bin]

d'oh!!! for some reason I imagined the Czechs got sea.

In any case, I'd say there's not too much of a difference between both teams nowadays. Paraguay is, in fact, the best team in South America currently both results and footballing-wise. Nobody who has been seriously following the SA WCQ's could say anything different.

Indeed

[BocaFan]

Europe's geography means that only the smallest countries are landlocked and so probably won't have much of a playerbase to pull from.

True, which begs the question: Are land-locked countries really at a disadvantage football-wise or is it merely a consequence of a tiny population?

You mention Europe. South America's two landlocked countries also have very small populations, yet one has been doing well for a while now. Many of Asia's LL countries certainly hold their own against nearby coast-lying countries.

So I'm not sure I see any cause and effect here, but I also don't know enough about Africa's demography.

[EstebanLugo]

Well they're at a disadvantage at least in terms of signing Brazilian party animals. Coastal cities tend to be more active in the nightlife department.

[nutbar]

d'oh!!! for some reason I imagined the Czechs got sea.

In any case, I'd say there's not too much of a difference between both teams nowadays. Paraguay is, in fact, the best team in South America currently both results and footballing-wise. Nobody who has been seriously following the SA WCQ's could say anything different.

Yeah, they'd be more highly regarded if they hadn't lost 6-0 to Mexico at last years Copa America though.

[nutbar]

If not for the airplane crash that killed all of their coaching staff and most of the core of their team Zambia likely would have qualified for the 1994 World Cup. They only missed out by 1 point and the rescheduled draw they got in Senegal months after the crash might have been a win with their pre-crash squad. That was one of the best teams in Africa in the early 90's. They beat Italy 4-0 in the 88 Olympics. The airplane crash deprived the continent of a team that might have been dominant for the entire decade.

Another landlocked African country that came close to qualifying for the 1994 WC was Zimbabwe. They needed a win in their last match, which unfortunately was in Cameroon, where no visitor ever wins. Cameroon won 3-1.