Four debuting teams at the World Cup

Four nations will make their debuts at the upcoming World Cup, which takes place from June 11 to July 19 in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The tiny Caribbean island of Curacao has become the smallest nation by population to qualify for the World Cup. According to figures from last January, the island has a population of 156.115.

Curaçao, which only became a state within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2010, will play in Group E with Germany, Ivory Coast and Ecuador.

Cape Verde are the third smallest nation, after Curaçao and Iceland, to qualify for the World Cup. The team finished first in their qualifying group ahead of Cameroon.

Cape Verde, an archipelago of 10 islands in the Atlantic Ocean with a population of less than 525.000, gained independence from Portugal in 1975.

This national team will play in Group H with Spain, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay.

There are also two debutants from Asia, Uzbekistan and Jordan.

The Uzbekistan national team, who were semi-finalists at the 2011 Asian Cup, ended their long wait to qualify for the World Cup under the leadership of Fabio Cannavaro, former Italy captain and 2006 World Cup winner.

This team boasts players such as Manchester City defender Abdukodir Khusanov and former Roma striker Eldor Shomurodov and will hope to make a good impression in Group K which includes Portugal, Colombia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Jordan finished the third round of Asian qualifiers behind South Korea, with four wins and four draws from 10 matches. Currently ranked 64th in the world, they reached the final of the 2023 Asian Cup, where they lost to hosts Qatar.

Argentina, Algeria and Austria will be Jordan's opponents in Group J.