At long last we know the identity of the 32 teams who will be involved in the 2014 World Cup. 

But what does the list of qualifiers tell us about the state of football globally?

If we take Asia for instance, there is little change. Regional giants South Korea and Japan qualified, the former in unusually shaky fashion, while Australia's switch to the Asian confederation has not harmed them over the last two qualifying campaigns.

And Iran continue a recent trend of qualifying for every second World Cup.

But it is noticeable that the countries from the Arab Gulf have failed to qualify again despite the fact that FIFA court them and have given Qatar a World Cup. Saudi Arabia, who qualified for every World Cup from 1994 to 2006, miss out again.

Meanwhile in Africa, the same teams that reached World Cup 2010 - bar South Africa who hosted the last tournament - have secured their places again. 

That flies in the face of the African Nations Cup which has become far more open over the past few tournaments.

But when it comes to World Cups, West Africa dominates again, particularly the countries which line the Gulf of Guinea.

And North Africa is entering a fallow period. Algeria sneaked through via the away goals rule and perhaps it is no coincidence that they have suffered less civil strife than fellow Maghreb nations like Egypt and Tunisia who failed miserably in the playoffs.

In Europe, Scandinavia failed to provide a single participant for the first time since the 1982 World Cup although an average Sweden did reach the playoffs, while all the countries between Germany and Russia, and North of the Balkans failed to qualify. 

Overall, the fact that just one nation - Bosnia - will make their World Cups debut in Brazil, may suggest that regional giants remain established, while major population centres like China and India continue to punch way below their waists.