Nigeria is among eight of the world’s 10 most populous countries currently missing from the 2026 FIFA World Cup, a trend that has forced football-mad supporters in several of the affected nations to throw their support behind other countries at the ongoing tournament in North America.
According to a BBC World Service report, of the ten most populous nations globally, only the United States and Brazil have teams at the current World Cup, while Russia and Nigeria, despite having appeared at previous editions, are absent this time around.
China and Indonesia have each featured at the tournament only once in history, while India, the world’s most populous nation, along with Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Pakistan, are yet to make an appearance, though India technically qualified for the 1950 finals in Brazil before withdrawing weeks before the tournament.
The absence of these football-mad nations has led to unusual scenes at watch parties across South Asia, with supporters in cities such as Dhaka, in Bangladesh, as well as parts of India and Indonesia, adopting other countries, most notably Argentina, as their own during the competition.
Bangladeshi actor and football enthusiast, Audite Karim, said it was difficult to accept that countries with such large fan bases continue to lag behind in the sport.
