🏆 Which renamed countries will be at the 2026 World Cup? | OneFootball

The 2026 World Cup will, for the first time, bring together 48 national teams, from June 11 to July 19, in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

Amid so many new developments, it’s worth taking a look back at history: some nations arrive at the tournament with names that have not always been the same, for political, cultural, or simply national identity reasons.

Check out five of them below!

Czechia — practicality over formalism 🇨🇿

In broadcast scripts and everyday news coverage, it is still common to find the name “Czech Republic.”

But since 2016, the country’s government has officially approved the short name Czechia for international use, a more practical form for passports, trade, and, of course, sports.

FIFA and UEFA accepted the request years later and already use the new name in official competitions.

The formal political name remains Czech Republic, but it is Czechia that appears on the national team’s boots. The World Cup spot came through the European playoffs in March 2026.

Netherlands — goodbye, Holland 🇳🇱

The change may seem merely semantic, but it has a concrete geographic basis.

In 2020, the government launched a global campaign for the world to finally abandon the nickname “Holland” and adopt Netherlands exclusively.

The reason is simple: “Holland” refers only to two of the country’s twelve provinces — North Holland and South Holland.

In short, it would be like calling Brazil Rio de Janeiro, or another state! 😅

Using the term to name the whole nation was considered incorrect and unfair to the rest of the country.

The football federation went further: it changed the crest and all official branding.

In the European qualifiers, the Oranje secured qualification comfortably through the direct spots.

Türkiye — the end of “Turkey” 🇹🇷

At the end of 2021, the Turkish president determined that the country would be internationally called Türkiye — exactly as it is pronounced in the local language.

The UN and FIFA made the change official in 2022. The motivation was both cultural and practical: to finally do away with the English word Turkey, which, besides naming the bird, is also established slang for “failure” or “fiasco.”

The government wanted to reinforce national identity and disassociate the country from those connotations. The national team reached the 2026 World Cup through the European playoffs.

Democratic Republic of the Congo — the return after Zaire 🇨🇩

This is perhaps the story with the strongest geopolitical context on the list.

Between 1971 and 1997, during the dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko, the country was renamed Zaire — and it was under that very name that the national team played its only previous World Cup before this one, in 1974.

In that edition, Zaire became known worldwide for the unusual moment involving Ilunga Mwepu, who kicked the ball away during a Brazil free kick. With the fall of the regime in 1997, the country returned to the name Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Fifty years after 1974, DR Congo returns to the World Cup after eliminating Nigeria in the intercontinental playoffs.

Iran — the Persia the world forgot 🇮🇷

The oldest change on this list, but no less relevant.

Until 1935, the country was known in the West and internationally as Persia.

That year, the government formally requested that the international community adopt the native name, Iran — which can be translated as “Land of the Free” or “Land of the Aryans.”

As the Iranian Football Federation was founded in 1920, the national team itself went through this period of identity transition.

In 2026, Iran will play in its seventh World Cup and its fourth in a row, having qualified directly through the Asian qualifiers, although it has never managed to get past the group stage.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.

📸 YASIN AKGUL - AFP or licensors