List of undefeated national association football teams
This page lists all association football national teams which managed to remain undefeated in either a FIFA World Cup main tournament, the qualifying process for that tournament, or both. Fixtures decided by a penalty shoot-out are counted as draws and not as defeats. The tables only include teams which played at least one match in the particular final or qualifying tournament. They do not include teams which qualified automatically or by walkover, or teams which withdrew or were disqualified without playing any matches. All but four World Cup winning teams were unbeaten  in the finals. The four teams that won the World Cup despite losing a game in the finals were: West Germany in 1954 and again in 1974; Argentina in 1978; and Spain in 2010. Another part of the teams listed below were eliminated despite not losing any games in the finals, or failed to qualify despite not losing any qualifying games. They exited the competition by various means: withdrawal; inferior points total or goal difference within a group; drawing of lots, away goals, or penalty shoot-out. General statistics. Brazil have remained unbeaten in a total of seven World Cup  final tournaments, more than any other team, including all five tournaments where they triumphed as world champions. Italy are a close second with six, and England and France are third with three each. No other nation has achieved this more than twice. Germany (including West Germany) have had a record twelve unbeaten World Cup qualifying campaigns. In fact the German national team has lost only three World Cup qualifying games in its history: against Portugal in 1985, against England in 2001 and against North Macedonia in 2021. A number of teams have managed not to record any losses during an  entire FIFA World Cup cycle (qualifying and final tournaments):