A total of 75 teams entered the 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 16 spots in the final tournament. Hosts Mexico and defending champions England qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition.
For the first time, the winners of both the African zone and the Asian and Oceanian zone were guaranteed a direct place in the final tournament. The 16 spots available in the 1970 World Cup would be distributed among the continental zones as follows: Europe (UEFA): 9 places, 1 of them went to automatic qualifier England, while the other 8 places were contested by 29 teams. South America (CONMEBOL): 3 places, contested by 10 teams. North, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF): 2 places, 1 of them went to automatic qualifier Mexico, while the other 1 place was contested by 13 teams. Africa (CAF): 1 place, contested by 13 teams. (13 teams applied, but FIFA rejected the entries of Guinea and Zaire, leaving 11 teams. A 14th team from Africa, Rhodesia, entered through a non-CAF qualifying system.) Asia and Oceania (AFC/OFC): 1 place, contested by 7 teams (including Rhodesia).
A total of 68 teams played in at least one qualifying match. A total of 172 qualifying matches were played, and 542 goals were scored (an average of 3.15 per match).
Listed below are the dates and results of the qualification rounds.
Key: Teams highlighted in green qualified for the finals. Teams highlighted in red in the same table finished level on points and advanced to a play-off on neutral ground.
Qualified teams
TeamMethod of qualificationDate of qualificationFinals appearanceStreakPrevious best performances008 October 1964 Defending Champions0130 July 1966 0230 April 1969 (Last: 1954) 0310 August 1969 0424 August 1969 0531 August 1969 (Last: 1930) 068 October 1969—0715 October 1969 (Last: 1958) 0822 October 1969 0926 October 1969— 104 November 1969 1116 November 1969 (Last: 1938) 1222 November 1969 133 December 1969 (Last: 1962)147 December 1969 1514 December 1969—
Confederation qualification
AFC and OFC
First Round: Australia, Japan, South Korea and Rhodesia were included in group A, but the other three countries involved refused to play against Rhodesia due to political concerns regarding apartheid.Australian Soccer 1965 to 1977 and beyond - World Cup drama Australia, Japan and South Korea played against each other twice in South Korea and after the matches in Seoul were completed, FIFA determined that the winner would still have to meet Rhodesia in what resulted to be the second round of Group A. North Korea was included in Group B but withdrew for political reasons and the group was contested by only two teams. The group winners would advance to the Final Round. Final Round: The 2 teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner would qualify.
Group 1 First round
RankTeam16422074324412165132402248−4
Second round
RankTeam1=220201101=22020110
Play-off
RankTeam12110031+220100113−2
Group 2 RankTeam14220060+620200206−6— withdrew
Final round RankTeamQualification13211021+1Final Tournament21201112−1
CAF
FIFA rejected the entries of Guinea and Zaire. There would be three rounds of play: First Round: Ghana received a bye and advanced to the Second Round directly. The remaining 10 teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis. The winners (determined by aggregate score) would advance to the Second Round. Second Round: The 6 teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis. The winners would advance to the Final Round. Final Round: The 3 teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winner would qualify.
First round
Second round
Final round RankTeamQualification15421153+2Final Tournament24412187+133403158−3
CONCACAF
FIFA rejected the entry of Cuba. There would be three rounds of play: First Round: The remaining 12 teams were divided into 4 groups of 3 teams each. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would advance to the Semifinal Round. Semifinal Round: The 4 teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis. The winners would advance to the Final Round. Final Round: The 2 teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner would qualify.
First round
Group 1 RankTeam164301116+525421183+5314013212−10
Group 2 RankTeam15421195+424412153+2334112410−6
Group 3 RankTeam17431072+525421173+4304004211−9
Group 4 RankTeam164301105+5244202109+132410339−6
Second round
Group 1 RankTeam14220030+320200203−3
Group 2 RankTeam1=2210131+21=2210113−2
Play-off RankTeam12110032+120100123–1
Third round RankTeam1=2210142+21=2210124−2
Play-off RankTeamQualification12110010+1Final Tournament20100101–1
CONMEBOL
The 10 teams were divided into 3 groups; two groups with 3 teams and one group with 4 teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.
Group 1 RankTeamQualification15421174+3Final Tournament24420256−133411246−2
Group 2 RankTeamQualification1126600232+21Final Tournament28640265+1336114712−5416015118−17
Group 3 RankTeamQualification17431050+5Final Tournament24412154+131401328−6
UEFA
(30 teams competing for 8 berths)
FIFA rejected the entry of Albania. The remaining 29 teams were divided into 8 groups, 3 groups with 3 teams and 5 groups with 4 teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.
Group 1 TeamQualification68Final Tournament676564Group 2 TeamQualification69Final Tournament696561Group 3 TeamQualification47Final Tournament4540Group 4 TeamQualification47Final Tournament4540Group 5 TeamQualification46Final Tournament4442Group 6 TeamQualification69Final Tournament676662Group 7 TeamQualification611Final Tournament676660Group 8 TeamQualification69Final Tournament686760
Goalscorers 10 goals
Tostão
9 goals
Gerd Müller
7 goals
Juan Ramón Martínez Gigi Riva Włodzimierz Lubański
6 goals
Johan Devrindt Pelé Ferenc Bene Kazimierz Deyna Colin Stein Ove Kindvall
5 goals
Erich Hof Odilon Polleunis Jozef Adamec
4 goals
Tom McColl Helmut Redl Georgi Asparuhov Hristo Bonev Guy Saint-Vil Garba Okoye Andrzej Jarosik Dragan Džajić
3 goals
Jairzinho Karol Jokl Ole Sørensen Arto Tolsa Hervé Revelli Vasilis Botinos Giorgos Sideris Guy François Joseph Obas Antal Dunai Mordechai Spiegler Houmane Jarir Ola Dybwad-Olsen Eusébio Florea Dumitrache Alan Gilzean José Eulogio Gárate Peter Millar Willy Roy Wolfgang Overath Warren Archibald Vahidin Musemić Slaven Zambata Emment Kapengwe
2 goals
Rafael Albrecht Ray Baartz Johnny Watkiss Wilfried Puis Raúl Alvarez Eduardo Antunes Coimbra Dinko Dermendzhiev Ralph McPate Nick Papadakis Tibor Vigh Adolfo Olivares Francisco Valdéz Jaime González Hermenegildo Segrera Eduardo Chavarría Vladimír Hagara Ladislav Kuna Andrej Kvašňák Wolfram Löwe Eberhard Vogel Elmer Acevedo Víctor Azúcar Juan Francisco Barraza Joel Estrada José Quintanilla Zerga Geremew Asmeron Germa Tommy Lindholm Jean-Claude Bras Giorgos Dedes Hugues Guillaume Rigoberto Gómez Donaldo Rosales Lajos Kocsis Don Givens Yehoshua Feigenbaum Giora Spiegel Sandro Mazzola Teruki Miyamoto Johny Léonard Mohammed El Filali Theo Pahlplatz Mohammed Lawal Olumuyiwa Oshode Terry Harkin Saturnino Arrúa Oswaldo Ramírez Jacinto Santos Bobby Chalmers Bobby Murdoch Jeong Kang-ji Park Soo-il Kakhi Asatiani Volodymyr Muntyan Givi Nodia Amancio Amaro Nasr El-Din Abbas Aboubakar Bakheit Ali Gagarin Abubakr Osman Paul Ruben Corte Jules Lagadeau Ruud Schoonhoven Roy Vanenburg Bo Larsson Fritz Künzli Georges Vuilleumier Ezzedine Chakroun Gerry Baker Helmut Haller Josip Bukal Metodije Spasovski
1 goal
Boualem Amirouche Alberto Rendo Aníbal Tarabini Willie Rutherford Johnny Warren Wilhelm Kreuz Helmut Siber August Starek Léon Semmeling Clyde Best Winston Trott Ramiro Blacut Juan Américo Díaz Rivellino Dimitar Penev Dimitar Yakimov David Ayo Dieudonné Bassanguen Norbert Owona Norman Patterson Sergio Zanatta Jorge Ramírez Gallego Orlando Mesa Javier Tamayo Leonel Hernández Edgar Núñez Roy Sáenz Walford Vaughns Mario Vega Panicos Efthimiadis Nicos Kantzilieris Dušan Kabát František Veselý Bent Jensen Ulrik Le Fevre Ole Madsen Henning Frenzel Hans-Jürgen Kreische Peter Rock Félix Lasso Tom Rodríguez Mauricio Ernesto González Mauricio Alonso Rodríguez Kebede Asfaw Emmanuel Feseha Mengistu Worku Turo Flink Jean Djorkaeff Abeka Ankrah Emmanuel Ola Mimis Domazos Kostas Elefterakis Giorgos Koudas Mimis Papaioannou Édgar González Nelson Melgar David Stokes Claude Barthélemy Jean-Claude Désir Reynold Saint Surin Philippe Vorbe José Cardona Rafael Dick Reynaldo Mejia Marco Antonio Mendoza Jorge Urquía Leonard Wells Flórián Albert János Farkas László Fazekas Zoltán Halmosi Lajos Puskás Lajos Szűcs Eamonn Rogers Angelo Domenghini Lascelles Dunkley Evan Welsh Yasuyuki Kuwahara Masashi Watanabe Mahmoud Al-Jahani Ahmed Ben Soed Mohamed Koussa Josy Kirchens Paul Philipp Hassan Akesbi Driss Bamous Boujemaa Benkhrif Ahmed Faras Cherkaoui Hafnaoui Moulay Khanousi Johan Cruyff Dick van Dijk Willem van Hanegem Wim Jansen Sjaak Roggeveen Wietse Veenstra Henk Wery Wouter Brokke Antonio Martina Elcio Martina Joseph Aghoghovbia Peter Anieke Sam Garba Sebastian Broderick Imasuen Sunday Ineh Augustine Ofuokwu Samuel Opone George Best William Campbell Derek Dougan Eric McMordie Jimmy Nicholson Odd Iversen Lorenzo Gimenez Aurelio Martínez Pablo Rojas Alcides Sosa Roberto Chale Luis Cruzado Teófilo Cubillas Alberto Gallardo Pedro Pablo León Bronisław Bula Jerzy Wilim José Augusto de Almeida Jacinto João Fernando Peres Emerich Dembrovschi Nicolae Dobrin Flavius Domide Billy Bremner Tommy Gemmell Eddie Gray Willie Henderson Jimmy Johnstone Denis Law Billy McNeill Emile Pierre Diéme Abdoulaye Makhtar Diop Kim Ki-bok Lee Yi-woo Anatoliy Byshovets Vitaliy Khmelnytskyi Juan Manuel Asensi Miguel Ángel Bustillo Pirri Joaquín Sierra Manuel Velázquez Gadalla Kheir El-Sayed Ali Osman El-Fadil Omar Ali Hasab El-Rasoul Abdel Kafi El-Sheikh Abdel-Wahab Abdel-Fadil Jadallah Awad Nasr Musa Ahmed Bushara Wahba Stuart Oosthuizen Edwin Schal Leif Eriksson Ove Grahn Roland Grip Örjan Persson René-Pierre Quentin Everald Cummings Tahar Chaïbi Abdesselem Cheman Ender Konca Ogün Altıparmak Dietrich Albrecht Siegfried Stritzl Atilio Ancheta Rúben Bareño Julio César Cortés Pedro Rocha Oscar Zubía Luis Mendoza Benedetto Mike England David Powell John Toshack Klaus Fichtel Sigfried Held Horst-Dieter Höttges Reinhard Libuda Max Lorenz Rudolf Belin Ivica Osim Miroslav Pavlović Denijal Pirić Edin Sprečo Godfrey Chitalu Sandy Kaposa Dickson Makwaza
1 own goal
David Zeman (playing against Israel) Johann Eigenstiller (playing against West Germany) Rudolph Smith (playing against the United States) Ramiro Tobar (playing against Chile) Aritatsu Ogi (playing against Australia) Valentín Mendoza (playing against Brazil) Héctor Chumpitaz (playing against Bolivia) José Torres (playing against Greece) Phillemon Tegire (playing against Australia) Bruno Michaud (playing against Romania) Tyrone de la Bastide (playing against Guatemala) Selwyn Murren (playing against Guatemala)
Notes
In the African zone, aggregate score was used to determine the winners of two-legged ties. However, different tie-breakers were used in the matches when the aggregate score was tied. Morocco was the first African team to qualify since Egypt in the 1934 World Cup. As a result of the hostile relationship between El Salvador and Honduras, and rioting during the qualification matches between them, the short-lived Football War broke out between the two countries.