1966 FIFA World Cup qualification


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 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 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.

Qualified teams

TeamMethod of
qualification		Date of
qualification		Finals
appearance		StreakPrevious best
performance
Hosts22 August 19605th5Quarter-finals
Defending champions17 June 19628th8Winners
CONCACAF final round winners16 May 19656th5Group stage
CONMEBOL Group 1 winners13 June 19655th2Winners
CONMEBOL Group 3 winners22 August 19655th3Runners-up
UEFA Group 6 winners9 October 19656th4Runners-up
CONMEBOL Group 2 winners12 October 19654th2Third place
UEFA Group 7 winners17 October 19653rd3Quarter-finals
UEFA Group 4 winners31 October 19651st1–
UEFA Group 3 winners6 November 19656th1Third place
UEFA Group 9 winners10 November 19654th2Fourth place
UEFA Group 2 winners14 November 19656th4Winners
Asia/Oceania first round winners24 November 19651st1–
UEFA Group 5 winners24 November 19656th2Quarter-finals
UEFA Group 8 winners7 December 19656th2Winners
UEFA Group 1 winners29 December 19652nd2Group stage

Qualification process

The 16 spots available in the 1966 World Cup were distributed among the continental zones as follows:
  • Europe : 10 places, 1 of them went to automatic qualifier England, while the other 9 places were contested by 32 teams.
  • South America : 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 : 1 place, contested by 10 teams.
  • Africa and Asia : 1 place, contested by 19 teams.
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:

Tiebreakers

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.

Confederation qualification

AFC, CAF and Oceania

21 teams – Australia, South Africa, 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 boycotted 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.

African boycott

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.
However, the 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: they 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 15 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.

CONCACAF

10 teams initially entered, but the entry of Guatemala was rejected.
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.
Legend
Country that directly qualified for the 1966 World Cup

CONMEBOL

As Brazil had already qualified as reigning champions, the remaining nine CONMEBOL teams were split into three groups of 3, playing each other twice. The top team from each group qualified.
Legend
Countries that directly qualified for the 1966 World Cup
Countries that took part in a group play-off

Final positions (group stage)

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.

UEFA

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.
Legend
Countries that directly qualified for the 1966 World Cup
Countries that took part in a group play-off

Final positions (group stage)

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.

Goalscorers

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;1 own goal