2026 World Cup: Asian teams and the curse of the opening match

17.06.26 FT World Cup

Austria

3

:

Jordan

1

In their first-ever match at the World Cup, Jordan fell 3-1 to Austria, reaffirming a troubling trend for Asian national teams on football's biggest stage.

Indeed, no team from the Asian confederation has ever managed to win their World Cup debut. Before Jordan, 11 other nations were defeated in their opening matches at the tournament.

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The only country to have avoided defeat—without actually winning—was Kuwait, who managed a 1-1 draw against Czechoslovakia in 1982.

The first Asian team to appear at a World Cup was Indonesia, who were crushed 6-0 by Hungary. Sixteen years later, South Korea suffered a similar fate, also falling to Hungary.

Here are all the results of Asian teams in their opening matches at the World Cup:

1938: Hungary 6–0 Indonesia

1954: Hungary 9–0 South Korea

1974: East Germany 2–0 Australia

1978: Netherlands 3–0 Iran

1982: Czechoslovakia 1–1 Kuwait

1986: Paraguay 1–0 Iraq

1990: Colombia 2–0 United Arab Emirates

1994: Netherlands 2–1 Saudi Arabia

1998: Argentina 1–0 Japan

2002: Poland 0–2 South Korea

2002: Costa Rica 2–0 China

2022: Ecuador 2–0 Qatar

2026: Jordan – Austria 0-2

Imed Ben Amara |

Editorar, fr

Imed Ben Amara - bilingual sports writer and web editor with experience in football content creation. Since 2021, he has contributed to Foot Africa, providing news coverage and analysis.

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