Thirty-eight teams have finished a World Cup unbeaten. Seventeen of the 22 triumphant teams went undefeated. The only ones that didn’t were West Germany in 1954 (lost 8-3 to Hungary), West Germany in 1974 (lost 1-0 to East Germany), Argentina in 1978 (lost 1-0 to Italy), Spain in 2010 (lost 1-0 to Switzerland) and Argentina in 2022 (lost 2-1 to Saudi Arabia).
Four sides suffered group-stage elimination despite avoiding defeat: Scotland in 1974, Cameroon in 1982, Belgium in 1998 and New Zealand in 2010. The Scots were the only ones to fall despite winning a game.
Germany 2006 was the World Cup with the most unbeaten teams: Argentina, England, France, Italy and Switzerland. The Swiss incredibly became the first country in the competition’s to finish an edition without conceding.
Unbeaten teams that suffered group-stage elimination
Perfect Pascal suffers penalty pain
