Portugal to Italy - Which footballing powerhouses have missed out on the World Cup in the past?

2016 Euro Champions Portugal and four-time World Cup winners Italy are in danger of missing out on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The two giants will have to go through the play-offs round to make it to the 2022 World Cup. Only one of the two sides will be able to book their berth in the finals of the competition

Italy had missed out on the World Cup in 2018 as well and they will hope not to repeat that this time around. Especially since they had won Euro 2020 last year.

Among the traditional powerhouses of football, Portugal have missed out on a World Cup spot the most number of times in history. The Seleccao have failed to progress to the final round on 13 occasions out of the last 20 editions of the World Cup (qualifiers started from 1934 World Cup).

Other than Portugal, Netherlands and France have missed a World Cup spot on eight and five occasions respectively.

Here, we take a look at the big teams who have missed a World Cup spot in the past.