Four Most Populous Countries Fail to Qualify for 2018 World Cup

The grand football spectacle, the World Cup 2018, is currently underway globally and is expected to be watched by over a billion pairs of eyes, more than half the world's population. However, four of the world's most populous nations failed to qualify for this championship, held every four years by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).

First, China, with an estimated population of 1.4 billion, failed to advance to the 21st World Cup. Second, India, with a population of 1.35 billion; third, the United States, with a population of 326.77 million; and fourth, Indonesia, with a population of 266.79 million, also did not compete in the World Cup held in Russia this year. For information, based on United Nations (UN) data, the combined population of these four countries reached 3.36 billion, or 44% of the world's total population of 7.63 billion in 2018.

In fact, out of the 10 most populous countries in the world, six failed to send their national teams to the 2018 World Cup. Besides the four countries mentioned above, Pakistan and Bangladesh, both with populations exceeding 160 million, also did not compete in Russia.