Mayra Madrigal
Being among the National teams with the most World Cups titles in history is not an easy task. The World Cup is the highest international men’s soccer tournament that exists at the national team level, and has been held every four years since 1930. Despite being planned, the only two editions that did not take place were in 1942 and 1946, due to the Second World War.
If we exclude these two World Cups, a total of 21 have been played and there have been eight different champions. Of those teams that have been crowned at this World Cup, only three have been able to achieve more than three victories. These are the most winning teams in the World Cup.
Brazil
The Brazilian national team is the only one to have won five editions of the World Cup. The first came in Sweden 1958, the second in Chile 1962, the third in Mexico 1970, the fourth in the United States 1994 and the fifth and last in Korea-Japan 2002. This national team is characterized by the “beautiful game” and by always having world-class players, such as Pelé and Ronaldo in the past, and now Neymar. Brazil was runner-up in the 1950 edition, being hosts of that edition, and in France 1998.
Germany
The German national team is the second most successful, but the only one with the most finals played in this tournament, with eight participations. Its first world championship was in Switzerland 1954, the second in 1974, being the host country, the third in Italy 1990 and the fourth in Brazil 2014.
The third title was shrouded in controversy as the final was played against Diego Armando Maradona‘s Argentina, which was looking for a second championship after winning in Mexico 1986, but in the final moments of the match, referee Edgardo Codesal called a penalty in favor of the Teutonic team for an apparent foul by Roberto Sensini on Rudi Völler, which ended up being a goal after Andreas Brehme’s penalty kick and with that, Germany became world champions. To date, it is one of the most controversial penalties in World Cups.
Germany’s runner-up finishes came at England 1966, Spain 1982, Mexico 1986 and Korea-Japan 2002.
Italy
The Italian National Team is also part of this select group of the most winning teams, since like Germany, it also has four World Cups in its trophy cabinet. Italy was the second champion in the history of the World Cup, having been crowned for the first time in 1934, the edition in which it was the host country. Four years later, the Italians became the first two-time World Cup champion by winning in France in 1938. It took 44 years for Italy to win its third title at Spain 1982, while the fourth came at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. This team was runner-up on two occasions, Mexico 1970 and the United States 1994.
In addition to these most winning teams, the list of world champions includes Uruguay, Argentina and France with two titles each, and Spain and England with one.
