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.
Qualified teams
Team Method ofqualification Date ofqualification Finalsappearance Streak Previous bestperformance Hosts22 August 19605th5Quarter-finals (1954, 1962) Defending champions17 June 19628th8 Winners (1958, 1962) CONCACAF final round winners16 May 19656th5Group stage (1930, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962) CONMEBOL Group 1 winners13 June 19655th2 Winners (1930, 1950) CONMEBOL Group 3 winners22 August 19655th3Runners-up (1930) UEFA Group 6 winners9 October 19656th4Runners-up (1938, 1954) CONMEBOL Group 2 winners12 October 19654th2 Third place (1962) UEFA Group 7 winners17 October 19653rd3Quarter-finals (1958, 1962) UEFA Group 4 winners31 October 19651st1– UEFA Group 3 winners6 November 19656th1 Third place (1958) UEFA Group 9 winners10 November 19654th2Fourth place (1950) UEFA Group 2 winners14 November 19656th4 Winners (1954) Asia/Oceania first round winners24 November 19651st1– UEFA Group 5 winners24 November 19656th2 Quarter-finals (1934, 1938, 1954) UEFA Group 8 winners7 December 19656th2 Winners (1934, 1938) UEFA Group 1 winners29 December 19652nd2Group stage (1962)
Qualification process
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: 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)
Summary of qualification ConfederationTeams startedTeams that secured qualificationTeams that were eliminatedTotal places in finalsQualifying start dateQualifying end dateAFC, CAF and Oceania21120121 November 196524 November 1965CONCACAF1019116 January 196522 May 1965CONMEBOL9+13+163+116 May 196512 October 1965UEFA32+19+1239+124 May 196429 December 1965Total72+214+25814+224 May 196429 December 1965
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 (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), 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 former for submitting their application after the deadline and the latter due to their entry fee not being paid in time.
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.
LegendCountry 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 (home and away). The top team from each group qualified.
LegendCountries that directly qualified for the 1966 World CupCountries that took part in a group play-off
Final positions (group stage) Group 1 TeamQualification144008Final Tournament242024340040Group 2 TeamQualification1=42115Final Tournament1=42115341032Group 3 TeamQualification143107Final Tournament241123341032
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.
LegendCountries that directly qualified for the 1966 World CupCountries that took part in a group play-off
Final positions (group stage) Group 1 TeamQualification1=430161=43016Final Tournament340040Group 2 TeamQualification143107Final Tournament242115340040Group 3 TeamQualification1650110Final Tournament263127363127460060Group 4 TeamQualification164119Final Tournament263127363036461052Group 5 TeamQualification164119Final Tournament263218362226460151Group 6 TeamQualification143107Final Tournament241214340131Group 7 TeamQualification1650110Final Tournament263036362135461143Group 8 TeamQualification164119Final Tournament263127362226461052Group 9 TeamQualification1=21012Final Tournament1=21012— SyriaWithdrew
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 7 goals Eusébio
6 goals Mimis Papaioannou
5 goals
Paul Van Himst Georgi Asparuhov Sandro Mazzola Isidoro Díaz Jobby Crossan Włodzimierz Lubański Anatoliy Banishevskiy Héctor Silva
4 goals
Nikola Kotkov Errol Daniels Leonel Hernández František Knebort Ernesto Cisneros Pedro Rocha Roy Vernon Milan Galić
3 goals
Luis Artime Ermindo Onega Johnny Thio Alberto Fouilloux Leonel Sánchez Edgar Marín William Quirós Karol Jokl Enrique Raymondi Juhani Peltonen Nestor Combin Philippe Gondet Giorgos Sideris Paolo Barison Lascelles Dunkley Louis Pilot Pak Seung-Zin Pedro Pablo León Jerzy Sadek Valentin Kozmich Ivanov Slava Metreveli Chus Pereda Siegfried Haltman Köbi Kuhn Ivor Allchurch Rudolf Brunnenmeier
2 goals
Raúl Bernao Les Scheinflug Carlos Campos Sánchez Rubén Marcos Eugenio Méndez Ignacio Prieto Antonio Rada Hermenegildo Segrera Ivan Mráz Ole Fritsen Ole Madsen Peter Ducke Jürgen Nöldner Alberto Spencer János Farkas Máté Fenyvesi Giacinto Facchetti Bruno Mora Gianni Rivera José Luis González Dávila Javier Fragoso Aarón Padilla Gutiérrez Salvador Reyes Monteón Hennie van Nee Virgilio Sille Han Bong-Zin Kim Seung-Il George Best Harald Berg Erik Johansen Luis Zavalla Ernest Pol Nicolae Georgescu Viorel Mateianu John Greig Denis Law Vladimir Barkaya Stanley Humbert Krenten Edmund Waterval Lars Granström Bo Larsson Agne Simonsson Torbjörn Jonsson René-Pierre Quentin Andy Aleong Fevzi Zemzem Ed Murphy Werner Krämer Wolfgang Overath Klaus-Dieter Sieloff Dragan Džajić
1 goal
Mexhit Haxhiu Robert Jashari Erich Hof Armand Jurion Wilfried Puis Jacques Stockman Fortunato Castillo Ramón Quevedo Rolando Vargas Stoyan Kitov Ivan Petkov Kolev Fernando Jiménez Tarcisio Rodríguez Viquez Juan González Soto Nicolás Martínez Ángel Piedra Antonio dos Santos Alexander Horváth Dušan Kabát Andrej Kvašňák Mogens Berg Kaj Poulsen Tommy Troelsen Eberhard Vogel Romulo Gómez Washington Muñoz Martti Hyvärinen Semi Nuoranen Marcel Artelesa André Guy Angel Rambert Andreas Papaemmanouil José Ricardo Taylor Ferenc Bene Kálmán Mészöly Dezső Novák