Only 3 European sides in top 10 

©TM/IMAGO

If we’re honest, lots of football fans felt the same sense of frustration when they realised another international break had struck on the calendar. The second of the season already, just seven games into the new Premier League campaign. There will be Nations League fixtures, with England facing Greece and Finland. There will of course be many interesting angles and some entertaining games no doubt, but it’s hard to recreate the excitement that comes with top level club football. But which nations have been making the most of these international breaks?

All countries will play over this next week, and here at Transfermarkt, we have calculated the nations with the most wins in the 2020s so far. Some recent trophy winners feature near the top, whilst some historically top nations have had a tough decade to date. Nations with the same amount of wins have been ranked by the teams to have played less games going higher.

The nations with the most wins in the 2020s 

Leading the way is unsurprisingly the most successful nation in terms of trophies in the 2020s in Argentina with 48 wins from 58 games. After going 18 years without winning a major international trophy, they have been faultless so far this decade, winning the 2021 Copa América, the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 Copa América. The talk of Lionel Messi not doing it with his nation had been muted, as the great magician has now won it all in his twilight years. No other nation can match their wins in the 2020s to date.

In second place is Morocco with 45 wins from 64 matches. The northern African side became the first from their continent to get to a World Cup semi-final in 2022, where they were eventually beaten by France. In third is Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal with 41 wins from 60 matches in the 2020s. Although they haven’t been past the quarter-finals in any of the three major tournaments in the decade so far. Fourth place goes to our first Asian side in Japan with 40 wins in 56 games, although they were surprisingly knocked out of the 2023 Asian Cup by Iran in the quarter-finals.

In fifth come Algeria with 40 wins from 61 games. They are followed by Euro 2024 champions Spain in sixth with 40 wins from 62 matches, and Euro 2024 runners-up England in seventh with 40 wins from 63 matches. Eighth goes to USA with 40 wins from as many as 70 matches in the 2020’s, whilst ninth sees Mexico claim the position with 40 wins in a crazy 79 games played this decade already. Completing the top 10 is Iran with 39 wins from 49 games.