Bulgaria participated in the World Cup in all qualifications since 1934, missing only the one in Brazil (1950) when only finals were played. The final in 1998 in France will be the seventh reached by the Bulgarian national team. Its first five participations were unprecedented failures - at none of them did the Bulgarians have even one win. Five times in the period between 1962 and 1986 the national team was seen off with "Hosanna!" and met with "Crucify!" With a total of 10 losses, 6 draws and a negative score of 11:35 they earned their unenviable reputation of the most harmless outsiders.   

The spell of these failures was only broken on the World Cup Finals '94 in the U.S.A., where the greatest surprise was the fourth place and the bronze medals of the Bulgarians.