There is a team that will miss the World Cup every three consecutive times - but in 2026, this tradition may collapse

When it comes to the sustainability of participation in the World Cup, no one can compare with Brazil. After all, in the nearly century-old history of the World Cup, Brazil has only had one perfect attendance award. This data is no less brilliant than their five World Cup titles. In this South American World Cup preliminaries, although Brazil encountered occasional setbacks in its journey, it was finally shortlisted. In fact, given the convenience of the current 6.5 quotas in South America, as long as there are no big surprises, Brazil's World Cup perfect attendance award will continue until the death of football as a sport.

For teams with different backgrounds and strengths, the sustainability of participating in the World Cup will definitely be different. Like Italy, although it has a glorious past, it has been absent for two consecutive years in recent years, and it is not ruled out that it may also be absent in 2026. Asian teams, on the other hand, started late and had big ups and downs, so it was only in the last 30 or 40 years that they started to improve. For example, South Korea has continued to participate in the World Cup since 1986, but before 1986, it was intermittently. In fact, looking at the persistence of some teams participating in the World Cup, some rules can be summarized. For example, there is a team that has been absent from the World Cup for every three consecutive World Cups since their first appearance in the World Cup, which is like a comma, causing their peak period to enter a short trough. But then, he started again and started his second peak of being shortlisted three times in a row. However, in 2026, their tradition will come to an end. This team is the African Eagles Nigeria. Although Egypt was the first African team to participate in the World Cup, Tunisia was the first African team to win in the World Cup, and Morocco was the first African team to reach the knockout rounds of the World Cup, for most fans, it was the African Lions and African Eagles that impressed people at the World Cup for the first time, namely Cameroon and Nigeria. Relatively speaking, Cameroon's glory was almost entirely concentrated in the 1990 World Cup, while Nigeria's output was relatively stable. In 1994, they entered the competition for the first time and reached the top 16. They replicated this achievement in 1998. Although they were eliminated from the group in 2002, they were in the death group, what more could they ask for? In 2006, there was a point where Nigeria failed to make the cut.

But in 2010, they made a comeback, but failed to advance in the group. In 2014, they reached the top 16 again after 16 years. In 2018, they failed in the group stage again. But participating in the competition three times in a row matched the three consecutive glory days in the 1990s and early 21st century. But 2022 is another node. Nigeria is once again blocked from the World Cup. According to tradition, Nigeria should have continued its three-game winning streak in 2026 and reached the World Cup. But at present, the situation is not optimistic. Against the background that Africa's quota has been significantly increased from 5 to 9.5, Nigeria has been swallowed up by the new world preliminaries. The top spot in each group advances directly, and the second place goes into the play-offs. Unfortunately, Nigeria is currently in third place. There are still two rounds of the game. In theory, Nigeria can catch up with Benin and South Africa, but they no longer have the initiative. It would be a huge pity if Osimhen, Lookman and other famous players cannot appear in the World Cup. And more importantly, it is a shame that a tradition that should have been revived again in Nigeria has been broken. Originally, the number of places in Africa has increased significantly, and strong African teams should have an extra layer of insurance. But Nigeria is like the African version of Italy, which was counterattacked by the new format of the World Cup preliminaries. Compared to Benin and South Africa, I believe most fans are more familiar with Nigeria and would rather see the African Eagle in the World Cup. Next, see what happens.