The Jamaica national football team have qualified only once for the World Cup, in France 1998. They lost their opening two group games, 3-1 to Croatia and 0-5 to Argentina, before winning their final game 2-1 against Japan, finishing 3rd in the group and ranked 22nd of the 32 teams.

2026 World Cup Play-Off Campaign

Jamaica came agonisingly close to a second World Cup appearance in qualifying for the 2026 tournament. Needing just a win over Curaçao in their final CONCACAF qualifier to secure automatic qualification, they could only manage a scoreless draw in front of a sell-out home crowd in Kingston, dropping them into the FIFA inter-confederation play-offs instead.

In the play-offs, held in Mexico in late March 2026, Jamaica beat New Caledonia 1-0 in the semi-final to reach the play-off final for the first time in the country's history. There, on 31 March 2026 in Guadalajara, they lost 1-0 after extra time to DR Congo, missing out on the final World Cup place and remaining a one-time finals participant.