You turn on a World Cup match and the graphic in the corner of your screen says “CUW” and “CIV” are tied at 1-1.
And your first thought is, “Who?”
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FIFA and its worldwide broadcasters use three-letter abbreviations for all countries. Most are exactly what you’d expect even if you snoozed through geography class. While it doesn’t get easier than USA, most countries’ abbreviations come from the first three letters of their name: ARG for Argentina, MEX for Mexico.
But that isn’t always the case. Some abbreviations bear little resemblance to their common English names.
CUW is shorthand for Curacao, which is making its tournament debut and is the smallest country to ever qualify for the tournament. CIV is the Ivory Coast, its abbreviation derived from its official name, Côte d’Ivoire.
And there’s the sticky situation of Australia and Austria. Australia is AUS and Austria AUT.
Here are the 48 countries that have qualified for the World Cup with their official abbreviation, group assignment, world ranking (as of June 5) and number of previous Cup appearances (excluding the 2026 tournament).
FIFA’s official abbreviations for each World Cup qualifying team
Team Group Ranking App.
ALG Algeria J 28 4
ARG Argentina J 1 18
AUS Australia D 27 6
AUT Austria J 23 7
BEL Belgium G 9 13
BIH Bosnia/Herzeg. B 64 1
BRA Brazil C 6 22
CAN Canada B 30 2
CPV Cape Verde H 68 0
COL Colombia K 13 6
COD Congo K 45 1
CIV Ivory Coast E 33 3
CRO Croatia L 11 6
CUW Curacao E 83 0
CZE Czechia A 39 9
ECU Ecuador E 24 4
EGY Egypt G 29 3
ENG England L 4 16
FRA France I 3 16
GER Germany E 10 20
GHA Ghana L 73 4
HAI Haiti C 81 1
IRN Iran G 20 6
IRQ Iraq I 56 1
JPN Japan F 18 7
JOR Jordan J 63 0
KOR South Korea A 25 10
MEX Mexico A 14 17
MAR Morocco C 7 6
NED Netherlands F 7 10
NZL New Zealand G 85 2
NOR Norway I 31 3
PAN Panama L 34 1
PAR Paraguay D 40 8
POR Portugal K 5 8
QAT Qatar B 55 1
KSA Saudi Arabia H 61 6
SCO Scotland C 43 7
SEN Senegal I 15 3
RSA South Africa A 60 3
ESP Spain H 2 16
SWE Sweden F 38 12
SUI Switzerland B 19 12
TUN Tunisia F 46 6
TUR Turkey D 22 2
URU Uruguay H 17 14
USA United States D 16 11
UZB Uzbekistan K 50 0
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: World Cup 2026: CUW vs. CIV? What those team abbreviations mean
Reporting by Hal Habib, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Hal Habib, Palm Beach Post | USA TODAY Network
