Scotland’s victory over Haiti means they’re highly likely to qualify for the knockout stage of World Cup 2026 — a long-awaited first progression past the group stage for a nation who have previously participated at eight tournaments.But to imply that would automatically be Scotland’s best World Cup performance would also be a little misleading and disrespectful to previous generations. This is the first 48-team World Cup. Scotland had previously competed at a 16-team tournament. Only progression to the round of 16, technically, would match their previous best achievement.There are many similar stories across the other 47 sides. Here, therefore, is a guide to every side’s previous best performance…Winners: Brazil, Germany, Argentina, France, Uruguay, England and SpainThese seven sides — and Italy, who did not qualify this time — have previously won the World Cup.But there’s still an opportunity to break new ground. England have never won the tournament away from home, while Uruguay and France haven’t won it outside their own continent. Argentina have won it three times, but will be aiming to retain the competition for the first time, something only Italy and Brazil have done previously.Runners-up: Croatia, Czech Republic, Netherlands, SwedenThese sides have finished runners-up — the Czech Republic in their days as Czechoslovakia, and the Dutch on three separate occasions.Third place: Austria, Belgium, Portugal, TurkeyThe third-placed play-off has minimal importance in the World Cup, but these sides have all ended their tournament on a high after a gutting semi-final defeat.Third or joint-third: United StatesMake your own mind up…The United States began their 2026 tournament with a 4-1 win over Paraguay (Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)Fourth place: South Korea, MoroccoFourth place in 2002 and 2022, respectively, represents the best finish for sides from Asia and Africa (although it probably sounds better if they just call themselves ‘semi-finalists’ and ignore the third-place playoff entirely).Quarter-finals: Colombia, Ghana, Mexico, Paraguay, Senegal, SwitzerlandMexico have twice reached the last eight in the two previous editions of the tournament they’ve hosted (1970 and 1986). The other four sides’ best achievements all came this century.Up until this point, everything is quite simple. Every tournament — with the sole exception of 1950, which ended with a group stage — has featured quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final. From here, things are more complex…Last 16: Algeria, Australia, DR Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, TunisiaThere’s a variety of stories here.Famously conned out of a place in the round of 16 at the 1982 World Cup thanks to Austria and West Germany agreeing a mutually convenient draw, Algeria did squeeze through in the 2014 World Cup, losing to eventual winners Germany. To match that achievement, they’ll have to get through the group and the first knockout round. Australia have twice previously progressed beyond the group stage of a 32-team tournament and then lost in the first knockout round.But the majority of these sides have previously qualified for a 16-team tournament — so while they’re looking to progress to the knockout stage for the first time, that wouldn’t actually match their previous best achievement.Some of these ‘achievements’, though, are somewhat flimsy. Egypt qualified for the 1934 World Cup, a 16-team tournament — although they only needed to overcome one side in qualification to get there, and were promptly eliminated by Hungary in their only game, back when the World Cup was contested as a straight knockout competition.Scotland are a good example of the confusion caused by the expansion: they’ve now qualified for tournaments consisting of 16, 24, 32 and 48 teams. In the 16-team World Cup in 1974, for example, they were in a group alongside Brazil and Yugoslavia, and were unlucky to be eliminated on goal difference after all three sides finished on four points. The other side in their group, incidentally, was Zaire — now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo, and making their second appearance at a World Cup this year.Haiti were also at that 1974 tournament, losing all three games to Italy, Poland and Argentina. A first victory at the World Cup would be a huge achievement, but ultimately, these days, they’ll be up against gentler opposition.Tunisia have been at the World Cup six times before. They’re trying to qualify for the knockout stage for the first time — but five of their previous World Cups have been at a 32-team tournament. And back at the 1978 World Cup, they qualified for a 16-team tournament. This was particularly impressive given Africa was only awarded one place.Last 24: New Zealand and CanadaTwo niche cases here, as New Zealand qualified for the 1982 World Cup during a period when it was a 24-team tournament. They finished above Australia in their initial qualification group, largely thanks to a memorable 2-0 win away in Sydney, then beat Saudi Arabia in a play-off in Singapore. There’s no such thing as a ‘last 24’ these days, of course, so New Zealand will technically have to reach the last 16 to better their previous best performance — although, at the same time, they’re simply looking for their first win at a World Cup.Something similar applies for Canada. They had lost all six World Cup games at their previous two appearances, in 1986 and 2022. Therefore, their opening draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina was a big achievement. But being the only CONCACAF qualifiers for a 24-team tournament in 1986 is — for now — technically a bigger achievement than qualifying automatically as hosts and then collecting a draw in a 48-team tournament.Cyle Larin equalised for Canada against Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the co-hosts are still searching for a first men’s World Cup win (Maja Hitij/FIFA via Getty Images)Last 32: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ivory Coast, Panama, Qatar, South Africa.Five sides who have made appearances at 32-team tournaments, and therefore are looking to reach the knockout stage for the first time — but that will only match their previous bests. The surprise name here is Ivory Coast, who were probably good enough for a quarter-final appearance with their golden generation, but kept being thwarted by tough draws when they qualified in 2006, 2010 and 2014. That’s not an issue this time around, with the expansion of the tournament meaning they are facing Curacao in the group.Qatar’s only previous appearance came as hosts in 2022. This is the first time they’ve qualified, and their 1-1 draw against Switzerland brought their first World Cup point.Debutants for 2026: Cape Verde, Curacao, Jordan and UzbekistanGiven the major expansion which has benefited those from traditionally less successful confederations, it’s a little surprising that there are only four debutants at this tournament.But even this doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve progressed further than ever before. For example, this is Uzbekistan’s World Cup debut. But in qualification for the 2018 World Cup, they finished fourth in one of the two six-team groups that constituted the third round of the process. In other words, they finished in the top eight in Asia and, therefore, had the tournament been expanded to 48 sides for 2018, they would have debuted in Russia.They’re therefore a good example of a side who aren’t actually better than ever — the tournament has simply admitted more nations.