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) Portugal Eusébio (7 goals)

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 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 the 72 teams, 51 competed, as Guatemala, Congo-Brazzaville and Philippines had their applications rejected. South Africa was disqualified after being suspended by FIFA due to apartheid, while 15 African nations boycotted the tournament, with Syria withdrawing to support the African teams. South Korea withdrew due to logistical issues after the Asia/Oceania tournament was moved.

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]

Qualified teams

  Country qualified for World Cup
  Country failed to qualify
  Country did not enter World Cup
  Country not a FIFA member

[1]

Team Method of
qualification		 Date of
qualification		 Finals
appearance		 Consecutive
appearances		 Previous best
performance
 EnglandHosts22 August 1960 5th5Quarter-finals (1954, 1962)
 BrazilDefending champions17 June 1962 8th8Winners (1958, 1962)
 MexicoCONCACAF Final Group Winners 16 May 1965 6th5Group stage (1930, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962)
 UruguayCONMEBOL Group 1 Winners 13 June 1965 5th2Winners (1930, 1950)
 ArgentinaCONMEBOL Group 3 Winners 22 August 1965 5th3Runners-up (1930)
 HungaryUEFA Group 6 Winners 9 October 1965 6th4Runners-up (1938, 1954)
 ChileCONMEBOL Group 2 Winners[lower-alpha 1] 12 October 1965 4th2Third place (1962)
 Soviet UnionUEFA Group 7 Winners 17 October 1965 3rd3Quarter-finals (1958, 1962)
 PortugalUEFA Group 4 Winners 31 October 1965 1st1–
 FranceUEFA Group 3 Winners 6 November 1965 6th1 (Last: 1958)Third place (1958)
 SpainUEFA Group 9 Winners[lower-alpha 1]10 November 19654th2Fourth place (1950)
 West GermanyUEFA Group 2 Winners 14 November 1965 6th4Winners (1954)
 North KoreaAsia / Oceania First Round Winners[lower-alpha 2]24 November 1965 1st1–
  SwitzerlandUEFA Group 5 Winners 24 November 1965 6th2Quarter-finals (1934, 1938, 1954)
 ItalyUEFA Group 8 Winners 7 December 1965 6th2Winners (1934, 1938)
 BulgariaUEFA Group 1 Winners[lower-alpha 1]29 December 1965 2nd2Group stage (1962)
  1. 1 2 3 Group ended with two teams tied on points, so a play-off was required
  2. ↑ Due to the withdrawal of all CAF nations, the final round was not played and North Korea progressed to the final tournament

Qualification process

The 16 spots available in the 1966 World Cup were be 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 18 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): n/a (0 of 0 places)
  • CONCACAF (North, Central American and Caribbean): 0% (0 of 1 places)
  • CONMEBOL (South America): 50% (2 of 4 places)
  • Oceania (No confederation): n/a (0 of 0 places)
  • UEFA (Europe): 50% (5 of 10 places)

Summary of qualification

Confederation Teams started Teams that secured qualification Teams that were eliminated Total places in finals Qualifying start date Qualifying end date
AFC, CAF and Oceania21120121 November 1965 24 November 1965
CONCACAF1019116 January 196522 May 1965
CONMEBOL9+13+163+116 May 1965 12 October 1965
UEFA[lower-alpha 1]32+19+1239+124 May 196429 December 1965
Total72+214+25814+224 May 196429 December 1965
  1. ↑ Syria and Israel, although members of AFC, competed in European qualification.

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 and Oceania

Five teams from AFC applied to take part in qualification, but the Philippines entry was rejected.[1] Australia took part in this section of qualification, although they were not a member of a confederation, as the OFC was not founded until 1966.

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 to take part in a group alongside Australia and South Africa. The winner of this group would then go on to play three group winners from the second round of CAF qualifiers.

Problems arose, however, as all members of CAF withdrew to protest against the allocation of places, South Africa was disqualified after being suspended by FIFA, and South Korea withdrew due to logistical difficulties following the tournament's move from Japan to Cambodia.[1][3]

Legend
Country that directly qualified for the 1966 World Cup
Final positions (Asia/Oceania First Round)
Rank 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 disqualified
—  South Korea withdrew

CAF

17 teams from Africa entered the qualification, but Congo-Brazzaville had their application rejected, and South Africa, who were not a member of CAF due to the country's apartheid regime,[4][1] were placed with the Asian and Oceanian teams.

Qualification for the 15 remaining teams saw them sorted in to 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 and the victor of the Asia/Oceania group.[3]

African boycott

The African nations were aggrieved their second-round winners needing to enter a final round against the winners of the Asian and Oceanian zone in order to qualify for the final tournament: they felt their zone should be represented in the tournament. They also protested against the readmission of South Africa to FIFA, as they had been expelled from CAF in 1958 due to the apartheid regime.

South Africa was subsequently disqualified after being suspended again due to pressure from African nations in 1964, but after FIFA refused to change the qualifying format, citing logistical and competitive issues, the African teams withdrew in protest, and refused to participate in future until at least one African team had an automatic place in the World Cup. This was agreed to for the 1970 World Cup.[4]

CONCACAF

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]

Legend
Country that directly qualified for the 1966 World Cup
Final positions (Final Round)
Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Mexico 7 4 3 1 0 12 2 +10
2  Costa Rica 4 4 1 2 1 8 2 +6
3  Jamaica 1 4 0 1 3 3 19 −16

CONMEBOL

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

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

Final positions (Group Stage)

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

Group B play-off

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.[7]

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

Final positions (Group Stage)

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 Syria withdrew

Group play-offs

The group play-offs were contested for groups 1 and 9, as the top two teams in both groups were level on points.

Goalscorers

7 goals
6 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 own goal

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "History of the FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition (by year)" (PDF). FIFA.com. 27 July 2007. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  2. ↑ "1966 FIFA World Cup England". FIFA.com. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Miscellaneous Qualifiers for the World Cup 1966". Score Shelf. Archived from the original on 12 July 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  4. 1 2 "How Africa boycotted the 1966 World Cup". BBC News. 11 July 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  5. ↑ "CONCACAF Qualifiers for the World Cup 1966". Score Shelf. Archived from the original on 13 July 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  6. ↑ "CONMEBOL Qualifiers for the World Cup 1966". Score Shelf. Archived from the original on 12 July 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  7. ↑ "UEFA Qualifiers for the World Cup 1966". Score Shelf. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
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