1966 FIFA World Cup qualification

1966 FIFA World Cup qualification

Tournament details
Dates	24 May 1964 – 29 December 1965
Teams	74 (from 5 confederations)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	127
Goals scored	393 (3.09 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Eusébio (9 goals)
← 1962 1970 →

The 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the five FIFA confederations. The 1966 FIFA World Cup featured 16 teams with one place reserved for the host nation, England, and one reserved for defending champions Brazil. The remaining 14 places were determined by a qualification process in which the other 72 entered teams, from the five FIFA confederations, competed. UEFA, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL qualification was determined within the confederations, whilst AFC and CAF teams (alongside Australia) competed for one place at the tournament.

Of these 72 teams, 51 competed, while Guatemala, Congo-Brazzaville and the Philippines had their entries rejected.

In the Africa/Asia/Oceania zone:

• South Africa were disqualified after being suspended by FIFA due to apartheid.
• All 15 African nations later boycotted in protest after FIFA, citing competitive and logistical issues, confirmed there would be no direct qualification for an African team, with Syria (who were grouped in Europe) withdrawing in support of the African teams.
• South Korea were forced to withdraw due to logistical issues after the Asia/Oceania tournament was moved from Japan to Cambodia.

The first qualification match, between Netherlands and Albania, was played on 24 May 1964 and the first goal in qualification was a penalty, scored by Dutch defender Daan Schrijvers. Qualification ended on 29 December 1965, when Bulgaria eliminated Belgium in a group tiebreaker to become the final qualifier for the World Cup.

There were 393 goals scored over 127 games, for an average of 3.09 goals per game and 51 teams played in qualification.^[1]

^[1]

Team	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Finals appearance	Streak	Previous best performance
England	Hosts	22 August 1960	5th	5	Quarter-finals (1954, 1962)
Brazil	Defending champions	17 June 1962	8th	8	Winners (1958, 1962)
Mexico	CONCACAF final round winners	16 May 1965	6th	5	Group stage (1930, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962)
Uruguay	CONMEBOL Group 1 winners	13 June 1965	5th	2	Winners (1930, 1950)
Argentina	CONMEBOL Group 3 winners	22 August 1965	5th	3	Runners-up (1930)
Hungary	UEFA Group 6 winners	9 October 1965	6th	4	Runners-up (1938, 1954)
Chile	CONMEBOL Group 2 winners[a]	12 October 1965	4th	2	Third place (1962)
Soviet Union	UEFA Group 7 winners	17 October 1965	3rd	3	Quarter-finals (1958, 1962)
Portugal	UEFA Group 4 winners	31 October 1965	1st	1	–
France	UEFA Group 3 winners	6 November 1965	6th	1	Third place (1958)
Spain	UEFA Group 9 winners[a]	10 November 1965	4th	2	Fourth place (1950)
West Germany	UEFA Group 2 winners	14 November 1965	6th	4	Winners (1954)
North Korea	Asia / Oceania first round winners [b]	24 November 1965	1st	1	–
Switzerland	UEFA Group 5 winners	24 November 1965	6th	2	Quarter-finals (1934, 1938, 1954)
Italy	UEFA Group 8 winners	7 December 1965	6th	2	Winners (1934, 1938)
Bulgaria	UEFA Group 1 winners[a]	29 December 1965	2nd	2	Group stage (1962)

The 16 spots available in the 1966 World Cup were distributed among the continental zones as follows:

• Europe (UEFA): 10 places, 1 of them went to automatic qualifier England, while the other 9 places were contested by 32 teams (including Israel and Syria).
• South America (CONMEBOL): 4 places, 1 of them went to automatic qualifier Brazil, while the other 3 places were contested by 9 teams.
• North, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF): 1 place, contested by 10 teams.
• Africa and Asia (CAF/AFC): 1 place, contested by 19 teams (including Australia from Oceania).

UEFA, CONMEBOL and CONCACAF had a guaranteed number of places, whereas the CAF and AFC had to contest a play-off to determine which confederation would be represented.

After the first round of 1966 FIFA World Cup finals, the percentage of teams from each confederation that passed through to the quarter-finals was as follows:^[2]

• AFC (Asia): 100% (1 of 1 places)
• CAF (Africa): No nations entered
• CONCACAF (North, Central American and Caribbean): 0% (0 of 1 places)
• CONMEBOL (South America): 50% (2 of 4 places)
• Oceania (No confederation): Only entrant, Australia, failed to qualify
• UEFA (Europe): 50% (5 of 10 places)

Confederation	Teams started	Teams that secured qualification	Teams that were eliminated	Total places in finals	Qualifying start date	Qualifying end date
AFC, CAF and Oceania	21	1	20	1	21 November 1965	24 November 1965
CONCACAF	10	1	9	1	16 January 1965	22 May 1965
CONMEBOL	9+1	3+1	6	3+1	16 May 1965	12 October 1965
UEFA[a]	32+1	9+1	23	9+1	24 May 1964	29 December 1965
Total	72+2	14+2	58	14+2	24 May 1964	29 December 1965

For FIFA World Cup qualifying stages using a league format, the method used for separating teams level on points was the same for all Confederations. If teams were even on points at the end of group play, the tied teams played a play-off at a neutral ground.

21 teams – Australia (who were not a member of a confederation at the time, as the OFC was not founded until 1966), South Africa (who had been expelled from CAF in 1958 due to the country's apartheid policies),^[3][1] three teams from AFC and 16 teams from CAF – applied to take part in qualification, but the entries of Congo-Brazzaville and the Philippines were rejected.

The qualification process began with four national teams split between two sections for qualification: Israel and Syria competed in European qualification for geographical reasons, whilst North Korea and South Korea were in a group with Australia and South Africa. The winner of this group would then go on to play the three group winners from the second round of CAF qualifiers.

However, South Africa was disqualified after being suspended by FIFA, and all 15 members of CAF withdrew in protest after FIFA, citing competitive and logistical issues, confirmed that there would be no direct qualification for an African team. Less than three weeks before the tournament, South Korea were forced to withdraw due to logistical difficulties after the tournament was moved from Japan to Cambodia.^[1][4]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	North Korea	2	2	0	0	9	2	+7	4
2	Australia	2	0	0	2	2	9	−7	0
—	South Africa (D)	0	–	–	–	–	–	—	0
—	South Korea (W)	0	–	–	–	–	–	—	0

Qualification for the 15 remaining African teams saw them sorted into six groups: three groups of two and three groups of three.

The winners of these groups were then to play a two-legged tie in the following combinations: Group 1 winners v Group 5 winners, Group 2 winners v Group 4 winners and Group 3 winners v Group 6 winners, with the winners advancing to play in the final group with each other and the winner of the Asia/Oceania group.^[3][1][4]

However, these African nations were aggrieved that their second-round winners would be required to enter a final round against the winners of the Asia/Oceania group in order to qualify for the final tournament. These nations demanded that Africa be represented in the tournament, and also objected to the readmission of South Africa to FIFA in 1963.

Due to pressure from the African nations and CAF, South Africa was suspended again on 21 September 1964, and were subsequently disqualified. However, after FIFA declined to change the qualifying format or the allocation of places, citing competitive and logistical issues, all fifteen African teams immediately boycotted the competition: subsequently, CAF informed FIFA that they would refuse to participate in qualifying for 1970 unless at least one African team had an automatic place in the World Cup.

In 1968, FIFA unanimously voted to grant an automatic place for CAF from the 1970 World Cup onwards.^[3]

10 teams initially entered, but the entry of Guatemala was rejected.^[1]

The remaining nine teams were placed in to three groups of three, with the winner of each group proceeding to a final group. The winner of this group would go on to the final tournament.^[5]

Final positions (final round)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Mexico	4	3	1	0	12	2	+10	7
Costa Rica	4	1	2	1	8	2	+6	4
Jamaica	4	0	1	3	3	19	−16	1

As Brazil had already qualified as reigning champions, the remaining nine CONMEBOL teams were split into three groups of 3, playing each other twice (home and away). The top team from each group qualified.^[6]

Group 1 Rank Team Pts Pld W D L 1  Uruguay 8 4 4 0 0 2  Peru 4 4 2 0 2 3  Venezuela 0 4 0 0 4

Group 2 Rank Team Pts Pld W D L 1=  Chile 5 4 2 1 1 1=  Ecuador 5 4 2 1 1 3  Colombia 2 4 1 0 3

Group 3 Rank Team Pts Pld W D L 1  Argentina 7 4 3 1 0 2  Paraguay 3 4 1 1 2 3  Bolivia 2 4 1 0 3

In Group B, Chile and Ecuador finished level on points, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would qualify. Chile won the match to win the group.

England qualified automatically as hosts and a further 30 European teams took part in qualification. They were joined by Israel and Syria, although Syria then withdrew in support of the African teams. The teams were divided into 9 groups - four groups of 3 and five groups of 4. Syria's withdrawal meant that group 9 only contained two teams.^[7]

Group 1 Rank Team Pts Pld W D L 1=  Belgium 6 4 3 0 1 1=  Bulgaria 6 4 3 0 1 3  Israel 0 4 0 0 4	Group 2 Rank Team Pts Pld W D L 1  West Germany 7 4 3 1 0 2  Sweden 5 4 2 1 1 3  Cyprus 0 4 0 0 4	Group 3 Rank Team Pts Pld W D L 1  France 10 6 5 0 1 2  Norway 7 6 3 1 2 3  Yugoslavia 7 6 3 1 2 4  Luxembourg 0 6 0 0 6
Group 4 Rank Team Pts Pld W D L 1  Portugal 9 6 4 1 1 2  Czechoslovakia 7 6 3 1 2 3  Romania 6 6 3 0 3 4  Turkey 2 6 1 0 5	Group 5 Rank Team Pts Pld W D L 1   Switzerland 9 6 4 1 1 2  Northern Ireland 8 6 3 2 1 3  Netherlands 6 6 2 2 2 4  Albania 1 6 0 1 5	Group 6 Rank Team Pts Pld W D L 1  Hungary 7 4 3 1 0 2  East Germany 4 4 1 2 1 3  Austria 1 4 0 1 3
Group 7 Rank Team Pts Pld W D L 1  Soviet Union 10 6 5 0 1 2  Wales 6 6 3 0 3 3  Greece 5 6 2 1 3 4  Denmark 3 6 1 1 4	Group 8 Rank Team Pts Pld W D L 1  Italy 9 6 4 1 1 2  Scotland 7 6 3 1 2 3  Poland 6 6 2 2 2 4  Finland 2 6 1 0 5	Group 9 Rank Team Pts Pld W D L 1=  Spain 2 2 1 0 1 1=  Republic of Ireland 2 2 1 0 1 — Syria withdrew

In Group 1, Belgium and Bulgaria finished level on points, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would qualify. Bulgaria won the match 2–1.

In Group 9, the Republic of Ireland and Spain finished level on points, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would qualify. Spain won the match 1–0.

7 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

• RSSSF - 1966 World Cup Qualification