The overwhelming consensus around a winless team at the 2026 FIFA World Cup stems from the expanded 48-team format, with 12 groups of four that historically produce multiple sides exiting without a victory due to disparities in squad depth and the frequency of draws or narrow losses. Previous tournaments, such as 2022, routinely featured nations finishing group play with zero points despite competitive efforts, a pattern reinforced by ongoing qualification results showing wide gaps between top and emerging confederation teams. While an unusually even distribution of results across all groups could theoretically eliminate any winless side, the scale of the field and typical variance in match outcomes make that outcome highly unlikely before the June kickoff.