We put together the statistics of the best-selling cars of each country participating in the Cup to see which vehicles are the champions
If the football World Cup were decided by car sales data, the situation would be very different from the one we know. We have already shown you which are the best sellers in each participating country in 2025, now let’s analyze the statistics and see which were the champions with four wheels.
The 2026 World Cup is the largest edition of the event, with 48 countries divided into 12 groups. Thanks to this increase in the number of participants, we have many newcomers, such as the small Caribbean island of Curaçao.
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The championship is still in the first phase, on the day this article is aired Brazil will participate in its third game. But we can already anticipate the results of the automotive World Cup.
The Toyota Hilux is sold in more than 190 countries and has become a global reference in pickup trucks thanks to its robustness. It was the best-selling car of eight of the 48 countries participating in the World Cup, with chances of being the leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but we did not find precise data to confirm.
The Japanese pickup dominated in countries on the African continent, in Jordan, Panama, Paraguay and Argentina. In most cases, they are places where vehicles are most demanded.
A surprise was the Škoda Octavia in second position, it was the best-selling car in four European countries. The Czech sedan is the brother of the Jetta and has a more conservative design, prices are usually more inviting than Volkswagen’s.
In third place was the Renault Clio, leader in Portugal, France and Turkey. The new generation arrived in 2025 with hybrid versions and a completely renewed design.
Tied for fourth place were Ford’s F Series, which dominates the US and Canada, the Brazilian Fiat Strada, which also sells well in Uruguay, and the Nissan Versa, which is also sold as Sunny. The cars that we do not mention here were leaders in only one country each.
Toyota was the brand that sold the most cars in the world in 2025 and this is reflected in the countries of the football World Cup. In total there were 12 with the Japanese brand leading.
In second position is, once again, Škoda. Apart from the four Octavia, the brand was also the leader in the Netherlands thanks to the Elroq.
In third place was Renault thanks to the new Clio and the Duster in Colombia. It tied with Kia, which by the way was the only Korean brand on the list, and with Ford.
Fiat and Nissan tied with three countries each. The Italian brand needs to thank the Strada pickup, which dominates the Brazilian market and took the lead in Uruguay.
Romania’s Dacia and Volkswagen were leaders in two countries each. The remaining brands had the best-selling cars in one country each.
Taking into account only the country of origin of each brand, Japan would be the champion in this World Cup. Toyota’s success along with Nissan’s good sales and some punctual leadership from Honda and Suzuki make the manufacturers of this country a leader in 17 nations.
In second place was the USA, which was represented here by Ford, Tesla and Chevrolet. In third place is the Czech Republic, thanks to Škoda.
France and South Korea tied with four countries each, the first thanks to Renault and the second because of Kia. Germany and Italy tied with three each, while Romania got two.
Iran made the list thanks to Iran Khodro, which produces the Peugeot 207i. England joined because of Vauxhall and Sweden went with Volvo.
The countries that are participating in the World Cup football like a pickup. This type of vehicle was the best seller in 14 nations in different sizes, from the small Fiat Strada to Ford’s big F Series.
In second place were the sedans, which are practical and have a large trunk. But here we will put an asterisk, as the Škoda is also sold as a station wagon and we have not been able to confirm which of the bodies was the most popular.
The third best-selling body type among the World Cup countries was the SUV, which once again had a large variation in format. It went from the luxurious Toyota Land Cruiser 300 jeep to the electric Tesla Model Y.
Hatches also had a considerable volume, thanks to the Renault Clio and other urban models. The only van present was the Fiat Doblo from Algeria and the only minivan was the Japanese kei car Honda N-Box.
The best-selling cars in 19 of the 48 countries at the World Cup are produced locally. Places such as Egypt, Algeria, Turkey, South Africa, Uzbekistan, Colombia, Tunisia, Morocco, Ecuador and Iran are some that have smaller factories.
In some of the countries, such as Austria, England, Belgium, Uruguay, Spain, France and Portugal, there are factories, but the best-selling cars come from other countries.
Electric cars only appeared at the top of the sales rankings of two countries. In the Netherlands the best seller was the Skoda Škoda Elroq, sister of the Volkswagen ID.4, while in Norway the best selling car was the Tesla Model Y.
Another good curiosity was to see cars designed in Brazil leading sales in three countries: the Fiat Strada in Brazil and Uruguay and the Chevrolet Cobalt in Uzbekistan.
We had a complete absence of China here. During the investigation of this series of articles, we noticed that BYD grew a lot in some of the countries listed, and could take the top of the overall ranking in 2026. Perhaps in the 2030 World Cup we will be able to see a very different scenario.
So that you don’t have to revisit the 12 articles we did on the subject, we list here the best-selling cars from the countries in each World Cup group.
