Brazil at the FIFA World Cup

This article summarizes the results and overall performance of Brazil at the FIFA World Cup, including the qualification phase and the final phase, officially called the World Cup finals. The qualification phase, which currently takes place over the three years preceding the finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the finals. The current format of the finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Final is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated over 1 billion people watching the 2014 tournament final.
Brazil is the most successful national team in the history of the World Cup, having won five titles, earning second place, third place and fourth place finishes twice each. Brazil is one of the countries besides Argentina, Spain and Germany to win a FIFA World Cup away from its continent and the only one to do it in four different continents. (Sweden 1958, Chile 1962, Mexico 1970, United States 1994 and South Korea/Japan 2002). Until the 2026 qualifiers, Brazil was the only national team to have played in all FIFA World Cup editions without any absence or need for playoffs. In 22 World Cup tournaments, Brazil had 76 victories out of 114 matches. Brazil also has the best overall performance in World Cup history in both proportional and absolute terms with a record of 76 victories in 114 matches played, 129 goal difference, 247 points and only 19 losses; that means the brazilian national team overall has the highest winning percentage and the lowest losing percentage out of all countries that have participated in the tournament. The national team has the highest goals per match average in the history of the world cup and is one of the four countries with multiple appearances that have conceded on average less than one goal per context. Brazil holds the record for most consecutive wins in the world cup and most umbeaten runs, having finished the tournament without a defeat a record 7 times (including during their 5 title runs) and is the only national team to have won all its matches in a world cup since 1950, having achieved this feat twice in 1970 and 2002; they have finished in the top 10 of the tournament a record 20 out of 22 times and in the top 8 also a record 19 times. Brazil also holds the distinction of leading their group at the first stage of the tournament for the most times, having done so for 11 straight tournaments since 1982 and 16 times overall. They are the only team in the 21st century to appear in all quarter finals and have not been eliminated at the first stage of a world cup since 1966, thus being the only nation to appear at least in the second stage for the last 46 years, the next closest streak belonging to Argentina at 16 years.
Traditionally, Brazil's greatest rival is Argentina. The two countries have met each other four times in the history of the FIFA World Cup, with two wins for Brazil (West Germany 1974 and Spain 1982), one for Argentina (Italy 1990) and a draw (Argentina 1978). The country that played most against Brazil in the world cup is Sweden: 7 times, with five wins for Brazil and two draws. Three other historical rivals are Italy, which lost two World Cup finals against Brazil and eliminated the Brazilians in two tournaments (France 1938 and Spain 1982), France, which has defeated Brazil on three occasions (Mexico 1986, France 1998 and Germany 2006), and the Netherlands, which has eliminated Brazil at two of their five meetings (West Germany 1974 and South Africa 2010) and won the third place match in Brazil 2014.
Brazil won their first world cup final in 1958, 28 years after the first competition was held in 1930. The second longest streak before winning their fourth world cup title in 1994 came 24 years after winning their third title in 1970. Since earning their fifth world cup tournament in 2002, by 2026, it will have been 24 years since Brazil has last won the title, the same duration between the third and the fourth title.
*Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.
Brazil's record World Cup player, Cafu is also the only player ever to have appeared in three consecutive World Cup finals: 1994, 1998 and 2002.
Altogether eight players share the record of four participations. The goalkeeper Émerson Leão is the only one who has played four tournaments non-consecutively (not called at 1982).
Five Brazilians have won the World Cup Golden Boot Award over the years: Leônidas with 7 goals in 1938, Ademir with 9 goals in 1950, Garrincha and Vavá with 4 goals each in 1962 and Ronaldo with 8 goals in 2002.
Below is the list of clubs that have provided more than 5 players throughout the FIFA World Cup editions:
Brazilian coaches have appeared on the sidelines of other nations with some regularity. Three of them have won team awards with their nations: