Ninety-six years separate the Estadio Centenario from the continental sprawl of 2026 — twenty-three tournaments, every four years a verdict. Below, the whole argument in two ledgers: who met whom, and who leads the duel, cell by cell — and where the world ranked every nation once the dust settled, point by point. Hover the grid to magnify; click a duel for every meeting it ever produced; click a chart point to pin a campaign; brush the timeline and the grid recounts itself inside your era. Podium finishes wear their medals.
The draw, rated and remembered
Each card is a 2026 group: the four nations by pre-tournament world rank, debutants flagged, and how much World Cup past the group already shares. Click a card and the page narrows to it — the grid to its duels, the chart to its four trajectories.
Nation against nation — every duel the cup ever staged
Rows and columns are the same nations; a cell is a rivalry, read from the row. Forest means the row nation leads, terracotta the column, olive a level score — and the deeper the ink, the more often they have met. The diagonal counts each nation's cups; empty paper means the World Cup never staged the meeting. Sweep for the lens, click a duel for its complete history — and when you brush an era below, every record is recounted inside it.
Where the world ranked them, every four years
One point per nation per tournament played: the world ranking just after the final — FIFA’s ledger since 1994, the Elo ledger before it, and the pre-tournament ranking for the live 2026 edition (hollow points). Gold, silver and bronze badges mark the podium. Dotted joins bridge missed tournaments. Hover for the campaign preview; click a point to pin the full campaign sheet; click a line to pin a nation; drag the strip below to choose an era.