The teams are decided for the highly-anticipated FIFA World Cup 2018 edition in Russia, after plenty of drama, last-minute winners as emotions ran high.
With the qualifiers now done and dusted, we bring you a team-by-team guide of all the nations participating in the World Cup, along with their coaches, stars players and their best attempts in the competition so far.
Fasten your seatbelts. Here we go!
ARGENTINA
Coach: Jorge Sampaoli
AUSTRALIA
Coach: Ange Postecoglou Star player: Aaron Mooy World Cup best: Second round 2006 Completing a quintet of qualifiers from the Asian groups, Australia conquered Honduras over two play-off legs. Were pointless at Brazil 2014 and long-serving talisman Tim Cahill is on the wane.
BELGIUM
Coach: Roberto Martinez Star player: Eden Hazard World Cup best: Fourth place 1986 Unbeaten in qualifying, Belgium’s hugely talented squad will be hoping to build on their quarter-final appearance four years ago having reached the same stage at Euro 2016.
BRAZIL
Coach: Adenor Leonardo Bacchi (Tite) Star player: Neymar World Cup best: Winners 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002 The five-time champions were the first team other than hosts Russia to qualify for the tournament after a very impressive campaign. Brazil have not made a World Cup final since their last title in 2002.
COLOMBIA
Coach: Jose Pekerman Star player: Radamel Falcao World Cup best: Quarter-finals 2014 Colombia’s star has waned a little since their brilliant showing in 2014, when they reached the last eight and were narrowly and controversially beaten by Brazil. Finished fourth in South American qualifying.
COSTA RICA
Coach: Oscar Ramirez Star player: Keylor Navas World Cup best: Quarter-finals 2014 Finished second in CONCACAF qualifying, with the highlight being a 4-0 victory over the United States. Will be hard pushed to match their 2014 performance, when they beat Italy, Uruguay and Greece before losing to Holland on penalties.
CROATIA
Coach: Zlatko Dalic
Star player: Ivan Rakitic
World Cup best: Third place 1998
Rakitic, Luka Modric and Ivan Perisic make for one of the best creative midfields in the tournament but they have failed to make it out of their group on their last three appearances since reaching the semi-finals at France 98.
DENMARK
Coach: Age Hareide Star player: Christian Eriksen World Cup best: Quarter-finals 1998 After missing out in 2014, Eriksen propelled Denmark back to the World Cup finals with a hat-trick in their play-off victory over the Republic of Ireland. The Danes failed to get out of their group on their last appearance in 2010.
EGYPT
Coach: Hector Cuper Star player: Mohamed Salah World Cup best: First round 1934, 1990 Egypt will make only their third appearance at a World Cup finals and their first since 1990 after booking their place in Russia with victory over Congo. Runners-up to Cameroon in this year’s African Nations Cup.
ENGLAND
Coach: Gareth Southgate Star player: Harry Kane World Cup best: Winners 1966 A comfortable qualification campaign did nothing to boost optimism for England’s chances in Russia. A first major tournament in charge for Southgate, with the Three Lions having failed to reach the quarter-finals at the last two World Cups.
FRANCE
Coach: Didier Deschamps Star player: Antoine Griezmann World Cup best: Winners 1998 Knocked out in the quarter-finals in 2014, France have built a hugely impressive squad and will hope to make up for their near miss on home soil in Euro 2016, when they lost in the final to Portugal.
GERMANY
Coach: Joachim Low Star player: Toni Kroos World Cup best: Winners 2014 (West Germany were champions in 1954, 1974 and 1990) The reigning champions qualified in style, winning all 10 of their games, scoring 43 goals and conceding only four. Their golden generation is ageing but remains a force and has been enhanced by young blood.
ICELAND
Coach: Heimir Hallgrimsson Star player: Gylfi Sigurdsson World Cup best: Debut The smallest nation by population ever to qualify for the World Cup finals, Iceland followed up their Euro 2016 heroics by topping a group featuring Croatia, Ukraine and Turkey.
IRAN
Coach: Carlos Queiroz Star player: Sardar Azmoun World Cup best: First round 1978, 1998, 2006, 2014 This will be Iran’s fourth appearance from the last six World Cup finals, but their only victory came against the USA in 1998. Won their final qualifying group ahead of South Korea.
JAPAN
Coach: Vahid Halilhodzic Star player: Shinji Kagawa World Cup best: Second round 2002, 2010 Will be appearing at their sixth consecutive World Cup finals after winning their qualification group. Did not win any of their three group games at the 2014 tournament.
MEXICO
Coach: Juan Carlos Osorio Star player: Javier Hernandez World Cup best: Quarter-finals 1970, 1986 Mexico are traditionally the strongest team in the CONCACAF region and again qualified comfortably. They have reached the second round at the last six tournaments without once going further.
MOROCCO
Coach: Herve Renard Star player: Medhi Benatia World Cup best: Second round 1986 Well-travelled coach Renard will have relished beating his former employers Ivory Coast to top spot in a tough qualifying group. The North Africans are back at the finals for the first time since 1998.
NIGERIA
Coach: Salisu Yusuf Star player: Victor Moses World Cup best: Second round 1994, 1998, 2014 A very impressive qualifying campaign booked Nigeria’s place in Russia. The Super Eagles have only missed one of the last seven tournaments but 2014’s victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina was their first since 1998.
PANAMA
Coach: Hernan Dario Gomez Star player: Gabriel Torres World Cup best: Debut Panama have been edging closer to reaching the World Cup finals for the first time in recent tournaments and crossed the line this time thanks to a last-gasp 2-1 victory over Costa Rica in their final qualifier.
PERU
Coach: Ricardo Gareca Star player: Paolo Guerrero World Cup best: Quarter-finals 1970 Peru had not qualified for the World Cup since 1982, but finally booked the last spot in Russia with a 2-0 victory over New Zealand in the second leg of their playoff.
POLAND
Coach: Adam Nawalka Star player: Robert Lewandowski World Cup best: Third place 1974, 1982 Poland are back at the World Cup finals for the first time since 2006 after comfortably topping their qualifying group. The last time they progressed beyond the group stages was 1986.
PORTUGAL
Coach: Fernando Santos Star player: Cristiano Ronaldo World Cup best: Third place 1966 Portugal enjoyed a real battle with Switzerland for automatic qualification but came out on top. Looking to continue their unbeaten run at tournaments after winning their first major title at Euro 2016.
RUSSIA
Coach: Stanislav Cherchesov Star player: Fyodor Smolov World Cup best: First round 1994, 2002, 2014 (Soviet Union finished fourth in 1966) Russia qualified automatically as hosts and will be desperate to improve their poor recent record at major tournaments. They have not won a match since Euro 2012 and, since the break up of the Soviet Union, have not progressed from the World Cup group stage.
SAUDI ARABIA
Coach: Edgardo Bauza Star player: Mohammad Al-Sahlawi World Cup best: Second round 1994 After qualifying for four consecutive tournaments between 1994 and 2006, Saudi Arabia missed out in 2010 and 2014 but are back after finishing ahead of Australia in their qualifying group.
SENEGAL
Coach: Aliou Cisse Star player: Sadio Mane World Cup best: Quarter-final 2002 The surprise package at the 2002 World Cup – they memorably beat hosts France – Senegal missed three editions of the tournament before securing their return by beating South Africa in a replayed group match. The original result was annulled after referee Joseph Lamptey was expelled by FIFA.
SERBIA
Coach: Mladen Krstajic (caretaker) Star player: Nemanja Matic World Cup best: First round 2010 (Yugoslavia finished fourth in 1930 and 1962, Serbia and Montenegro reached the second round in 1998) Qualifying for a first major tournament since the 2010 World Cup was not enough to save manager Slavoljub Muslin from the sack. Finished top of a group featuring the Republic of Ireland and Wales.
SOUTH KOREA
Coach: Shin Tae-yong Star player: Son Heung-min World Cup best: Fourth place 2002 South Korea qualified for their ninth consecutive World Cup finals despite an indifferent campaign. They have only won two matches since finishing fourth as co-hosts in 2002.
SPAIN
Coach: Julen Lopetegui Star player: Isco World Cup best: Winners 2010 The previously all-conquering Spanish suffered the ignominy of group stage exits at the 2014 World Cup and 2016 European Championship. The squad has seen evolution rather than revolution.
SWEDEN
Coach: Janne Andersson Star player: Andreas Granqvist World Cup best: Runners-up 1958 They may be missing Zlatan Ibrahimovic but Sweden qualified for their first World Cup since 2006 with a play-off win over four-time champions Italy. They also finished above Holland in a tough qualifying group which was headed by France.
SWITZERLAND
Coach: Vladimir Petkovic Star player: Xherdan Shaqiri World Cup best: Quarter-finals 1934, 1938, 1954 Qualified for their fourth straight World Cup by beating Northern Ireland in a play-off via a controversial penalty. They have made it out of their group in two of the previous three tournaments and that will be the minimum aim this time around.
TUNISIA
Coach: Nabil Maaloul Star player: Wahbi Khazri World Cup best: Group stage 1978, 1998, 2002, 2006. After appearing at three consecutive finals without winning a single group game, Tunisia missed the last two editions. Unbeaten in qualifying, they defeated DR Congo to Russia by a point, with a last-round draw against Libya proving enough for a squad compromised largely of Tunisia-based players.
URUGUAY
Coach: Oscar Tabarez Star player: Luis Suarez World Cup best: Winners 1930, 1950 Uruguay’s last World Cup campaign was overshadowed by Suarez’s bite on Giorgio Chiellini and expulsion from the tournament but they qualified impressively for Russia and possess undoubted firepower.
Provided by Press Association Sport
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