How many times has Brazil won the World Cup?

How to get close to this number

Divide tournaments by winners. There have been around two dozen editions, won by eight or nine different countries, and the dominant one takes roughly a fifth of them. A fifth of two dozen gives five, and the explanation confirms the next tier at four apiece.

The participation record is the more unusual claim: the only country to have played in every edition since 1930. Qualifying for every tournament across ninety years, through wars, expansions and format changes, is arguably a harder achievement than winning five — consistency over that span is rarer than peaks.

The tight spread at the top is worth noticing: five for the leader and four for two others. Unlike the Champions League question on this site, where the record holder has double the next club, international football distributes its titles narrowly — because national teams cannot buy players, so dominance cannot compound the way it does at club level.