What counts as a trophy, where the data comes from, and how the site stays accurate.
TrophyDrought tracks how long it has been since every national football team last won a major international trophy — counted live, to the second — and covers all 211 FIFA member associations, split into two groups: 51 nations who have won a major trophy, and 160 still waiting for their first.
To keep the comparison fair across confederations, we count exactly two tiers of competition:
We deliberately don't count the FIFA Confederations Cup, UEFA Nations League, Olympic football, or regional sub-tournaments (like the AFF Championship or Gulf Cup) — not because they don't matter, but because including them would make the comparison across confederations inconsistent. A few Waiting Room entries mention these competitions for context, but they don't count as the tracked "last trophy."
Every date is based on the official result of the final match. For finals decided in extra time or penalties, we use the approximate final-whistle time rather than kickoff. For older tournaments decided by round-robin final groups or final league standings rather than a single match (common before the 1980s), we use the best available date for that stage of the competition — these are flagged in the country's "story" section where relevant.
CAF awarded Morocco the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title by forfeit after Senegal left the pitch in protest during the final. Senegal has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and the case remains unresolved. Until it's settled, we continue tracking Morocco's uncontested 1976 title rather than the disputed 2025 result.
The 51 trophy-winning nations each have a full page with their trophy history, major finals, and FAQ. For the 160 teams in the Waiting Room, we show their best-ever tournament result where one exists, rather than inventing detail that isn't there — some countries have a rich near-miss story, others are still building their program, and we'd rather be accurate than pad the page.
If you spot an error — a wrong date, an outdated "last trophy," or a broken flag — we want to fix it. This site is built from a structured dataset, so corrections are usually quick to make.