Brazil

Brazil is the only nation to have participated in every single FIFA World Cup since 1930, all 23 editions without a single absence or qualification playoff.

Neymar's inclusion makes this his fourth World Cup — Brazil's all-time top scorer with 79 goals, he missed the 2022 tournament for long stretches through injury and returns after 2.5 years out of international football.

Carlo Ancelotti is Brazil's first-ever foreign coach at a World Cup, and at €9.2m per year he is the highest-paid manager at the 2026 tournament.

Igor Thiago (Brentford) finished the 2025-26 Premier League season with 22 goals — the highest tally by any Brazilian in a single Premier League season, smashing the previous record of 15 shared by Firmino, Martinelli and Matheus Cunha.

Brazil's squad value exceeds €1 billion (Transfermarkt), making them the most expensive non-European squad at the 2026 World Cup — behind only the likes of France and England — led by Vinícius Júnior at €150m.

Brazil's iconic yellow shirt was born from trauma: after the 1950 Maracanazo defeat the 'cursed' white kit was scrapped, and a newspaper contest to design a new one was won by 19-year-old Aldyr García Schlee — who lived on the Uruguayan border and actually supported Uruguay.

Brazil never lost a single match in which Pelé and Garrincha played together — across roughly 40 games with both legends on the pitch, the Seleção were unbeaten.