The 32 teams were drawn into nine groups of three or four teams each; however, after the withdrawal of Syria, one group had just two teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.
Groups
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Group 6
Group 7
Group 8
Group 9
Goalscorers
7 goals Eusébio
6 goals Mimis Papaioannou
5 goals Paul Van Himst Georgi Asparuhov Sandro Mazzola Johnny Crossan Włodzimierz Lubański Anatoliy Banishevskiy
4 goals Nikola Kotkov František Knebort Roy Vernon Milan Galić
3 goals
Johnny Thio Karol Jokl Juhani Peltonen Nestor Combin Philippe Gondet Giorgos Sideris Paolo Barison Louis Pilot Jerzy Sadek Valentin Kozmich Ivanov Slava Metreveli Chus Pereda Köbi Kuhn Ivor Allchurch Rudolf Brunnenmeier
2 goals
Ivan Mráz Ole Fritsen Ole Madsen Peter Ducke Jürgen Nöldner János Farkas Máté Fenyvesi Giacinto Facchetti Bruno Mora Gianni Rivera Hennie van Nee George Best Harald Berg Erik Johansen Ernest Pol Nicolae Georgescu Viorel Mateianu John Greig Denis Law Vladimir Barkaya Lars Granström Bo Larsson Agne Simonsson Torbjörn Jonsson René-Pierre Quentin Fevzi Zemzem Werner Krämer Wolfgang Overath Klaus-Dieter Sieloff Dragan Džajić
1 goal
Mexhit Haxhiu Robert Jashari Erich Hof Armand Jurion Wilfried Puis Jacques Stockman Stoyan Kitov Ivan Petkov Kolev Alexander Horváth Dušan Kabát Andrej Kvašňák Mogens Berg Kaj Poulsen Tommy Troelsen Eberhard Vogel Martti Hyvärinen Semi Nuoranen Marcel Artelesa André Guy Angel Rambert Andreas Papaemmanouil Ferenc Bene Kálmán Mészöly Dezső Novák Gyula Rákosi Andy McEvoy Rahamim Talbi Giacomo Bulgarelli Ezio Pascutti Ernest Brenner Edy Dublin Ady Schmit Frans Geurtsen Theo Laseroms Bennie Muller Daan Schrijvers Willie Irvine Terry Neill Per Kristoffersen Olav Nilsen Arne Pedersen Finn Seemann Kai Sjøberg Ole Stavrum Roman Lentner Mário Coluna Jaime Graça Sorin Avram Alexandru Badea Dan Coe Carol Creiniceanu Ion Pârcălab Stevie Chalmers Dave Gibson Billy McNeill Davie Wilson Boris Kazakov Galimzyan Khusainov Mikheil Meskhi Yozhef Sabo Valery Voronin Carlos Lapetra José Ufarte Kurt Hamrin Ove Kindvall Anton Allemann Robert Hosp Ayhan Elmastaşoğlu Nedim Doğan Ron Davies Wyn Davies Mike England Ronnie Rees Alfred Heiß Uwe Seeler Heinz Strehl Horst Szymaniak Dražan Jerković Vladica Kovačević Džemaludin Mušović Velibor Vasović
1 own goal Ivan Vutsov (playing against Belgium) Kostas Panayiotou (playing against West Germany) Stig Holmqvist (playing against Italy) José Ángel Iribar (playing against Ireland) Graham Williams (playing against the Soviet Union)
Qualified teams The following 9 countries qualified for the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Team Qualified as Qualified onPrevious appearances in FIFA World Cup1 1 (1962) 4 (19342, 19382, 1954, 1958) 5 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1958) 0 (debut) 5 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962) 5 (1934, 1938, 1954, 1958, 1962) 2 (1958, 1962) 5 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962) 3 (1934, 1950, 1962) 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year. 2Competed as Germany
References