FIFA World Cup 2018: From defending champs Germany to debutants Panama, list of 32 nation qualified for showpiece event

All the 32 spots for the next year's FIFA World Cup to be held in Russia have been finalised on Thursday. The 2018 FIFA World Cup shall be witnessing a mix of the traditional powerhouses and debutants like Panama and Iceland.

While Panama and Iceland made history by qualifying for their maiden World Cup, four time World Cup winners Italy and European powerhouse Netherlands missed out on securing a spot in the Russia World Cup for the first time in 60 years.

Here are the 32 teams that have qualified for the 2018 Russia World Cup:

From Europe –

RUSSIA: Russia automatically qualified for the tourney being the host country. 

BELGIUM: Belgium became the first nation to qualify for the World Cup after they defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina and Greece in the qualifying stage.

ENGLAND: The Brits booked their spot in the World Cup following 1-0 win over Slovenia at Wembley

GERMANY: Germany topped their group in the UEFA qualification campaign after Joachim Löw’s side beat Northern Ireland 3-1 in Belfast in early October.

ICELAND: Iceland became the smallest nation ever to qualify for a World Cup finals.

POLAND: Poland secured its spot in next year’s World Cup in Russia with a 4-2 win over Montenegro in European qualifying on October 8.

SPAIN: Spain booked their place in next year’s World Cup with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Albania on October 6.

SERBIA: Aleksandar Prijovic scored after coming on as a second-half substitute to cement Serbia’s place in Russia with a 1-0 win over Georgia.

PORTUGAL: Portugal qualified for next year’s World Cup with a convincing 2-0 win over Switzerland.

FRANCE: France qualified for next year’s World Cup finals in Russia by finishing  top of Group A.

SWITZERLAND: Switzerland secured a berth in their 11th World Cup and their fourth consecutive world finals

CROATIA: Croatia are in the World Cup finals after a 0-0 away draw on Sunday night put them through with a 4-1 aggregate across the two legs of their qualifying play-off with Greece.

SWEDEN: Sweden battled their way to the 2018 World Cup at the expense of Italy after hammering out a 0-0 draw in the second leg of their playoff.

DENMARK: Christian Eriksen hat-trick helped Denmark secure Europe’s final qualification spot for the Russia World Cup with a 5-1 victory away to Republic of Ireland on Tuesday.

From South America –

BRAZIL: The 2014 World Cup semifinalists booked their place in the next World Cup back in March. They finished their qualfying campaign at the top of the table

URUGUAY: Uruguay finished second in the 10-team South American qualifying campaign behind five-time World Cup winners Brazil.

ARGENTINA: Lionel Messi hat-trick helped two time champions Argentina book their World Cup spot.

COLOMBIA: Colombia, who produced their best ever performance at a World Cup in Brazil in 2014, booked a spot in next year’s tournament.

PERU: Peru beat New Zealand 2-0 in intercontinental playoff to book their place in the  World Cup 2018. 

From North, Central America and Caribbean –

MEXICO: Mexico remained unbeaten in their qualifying round and booked their spot for the World Cup by beating Panama 1-0.

COSTA RICA: Costa Rica qualified for the 2018 World Cup finals after drawing 1-1 against Honduras in early October.

PANAMA: Panama defeated already qualified Costa Rica 2-1 to secure a place at the 2018 World Cup in Russia for the first time in the country’s history. 

From Africa –

NIGERIA: Nigeria beat  Zambia 1-0 to become the first African side to seal a place at next year’s World Cup in Russia.

EGYPT:  Mohammad Salah's brilliant goals against Comgo helped his side qualify for World Cup.

SENEGAL: Senegal qualify for next year’s World Cup with a 2-0 away win over South Africa

MOROCCO: Morocco stunned Ivory Coast 2-0 to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. 

TUNISIA: For Tunisia, a draw against Libya was enough to get them another World Cup ticket.

From Asia –

IRAN: Iran, who drew against Syria 2-2 last night, made it to their fifth yet second consecutive World Cup. They have, however, only managed one win in the tournament so far.

SOUTH KOREA: This is going to be South Korea’s ninth successive appearance at the World Cup, having qualified after winning four out of ten games.

JAPAN: Japan qualified for the World Cup for the sixth consecutive time.

SAUDI ARABIA:  Soudi Arabia will be making an appearance at the World Cup for the first time since 2006.

AUSTRALIA: Australia qualified for their fourth successive World Cup by beating Honduras 3-1 in the playoff games.