European nations at the FIFA World Cup
Association football is the most popular sport in nearly every European country, and UEFA is one of the six confederations of world football's governing body FIFA. UEFA contains 55 national association members, some of which partially or entirely located in Asia. A total of 33 of the current members of UEFA have competed at the men's FIFA World Cup, while the defunct East Germany qualified once. The team ranking in each tournament is according to FIFA. The rankings, apart from the top four positions (top two in 1930), are not a  result of direct competition between the teams; instead, teams eliminated in the same round are ranked by their full results in the tournament. In recent tournaments, FIFA has used the rankings for seedings for the final tournament draw. Results. Team results by tournament. For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown. Overall team records. As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws. 3 points per win, 1 point per draw and 0 points  per loss. "Results through 2018 FIFA World Cup" Appearances. Not qualified. 22 of the 55 active FIFA and UEFA members have never qualified for the final tournament.