The winner of the World Cup final will be crowned on Monday morning Australian time.

Even though only one team will raise the trophy, how might other sides still consider their tournament a success?

Historic overachievers

FIFA rankings have existed since 1992 and surprisingly, the number one team has never won the World Cup during this time.

So previous number one-ranked teams can be considered to have under-performed.

But which sides have over-performed?

The lowest ranked team to win the World Cup was France (ranked 18th) in 1998.

It is important to acknowledge France hosted that tournament and hosts often perform better than usual thanks to home ground advantages.

Italy (13th) was the lowest ranked team to win the World Cup away from home (in Germany) in 2006.

Several other teams have also exceeded expectations over the years, despite not lifting the trophy.

Although their 2026 campaigns were less successful, countries such as Croatia and Uruguay are considered consistent overachievers at World Cups.

Despite populations of less than 4 million, both these teams have finished in the top ten in almost half of their World Cup appearances. This is well above average for the 130th and 134th most populous countries in the world.

Croatia’s third-place in 1998 was the equal best ever finish for a country in their first World Cup. They repeated this result in 2022 and........

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