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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 withdrew 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 later 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.[1]
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Country qualified for World Cup
Country failed to qualify
Country did not enter World Cup
Country not a FIFA member
| Team | Method of qualification |
Date of qualification |
Finals appearance |
Streak | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 England | Hosts | 22 August 1960 | 5th | 5 | Quarter-finals (1954, 1962) |
 Brazil | Defending champions | 17 June 1962 | 8th | 8 | Winners (1958, 1962) |
 Mexico | CONCACAF final round winners | 16 May 1965 | 6th | 5 | Group stage (1930, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962) |
 Uruguay | CONMEBOL Group 1 winners | 13 June 1965 | 5th | 2 | Winners (1930, 1950) |
 Argentina | CONMEBOL Group 3 winners | 22 August 1965 | 5th | 3 | Runners-up (1930) |
 Hungary | UEFA Group 6 winners | 9 October 1965 | 6th | 4 | Runners-up (1938, 1954) |
 Chile | CONMEBOL Group 2 winners[a] | 12 October 1965 | 4th | 2 | Third place (1962) |
 Soviet Union | UEFA Group 7 winners | 17 October 1965 | 3rd | 3 | Quarter-finals (1958, 1962) |
 Portugal | UEFA Group 4 winners | 31 October 1965 | 1st | 1 | – |
 France | UEFA Group 3 winners | 6 November 1965 | 6th | 1 | Third place (1958) |
 Spain | UEFA Group 9 winners[a] | 10 November 1965 | 4th | 2 | Fourth place (1950) |
 West Germany | UEFA Group 2 winners | 14 November 1965 | 6th | 4 | Winners (1954) |
 North Korea | Asia / Oceania first round winners [b] | 24 November 1965 | 1st | 1 | – |
 Switzerland | UEFA Group 5 winners | 24 November 1965 | 6th | 2 | Quarter-finals (1934, 1938, 1954) |
 Italy | UEFA Group 8 winners | 7 December 1965 | 6th | 2 | Winners (1934, 1938) |
 Bulgaria | UEFA Group 1 winners[a] | 29 December 1965 | 2nd | 2 | Group stage (1962) |
- Due to the withdrawal of all CAF nations, the final round was scratched and North Korea qualified.
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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:[2]
- 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
 | ||||||||
| Confederation | Teams started | Teams that secured qualification | Teams that were eliminated | Total places in finals | Qualifying start date | Qualifying end date | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AFC, CAF and Oceania | 21 | 1 | 20 | 1 | 21 November 1965 | 24 November 1965 | ||
| CONCACAF | 10 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 16 January 1965 | 22 May 1965 | ||
| CONMEBOL | 9+1 | 3+1 | 6 | 3+1 | 16 May 1965 | 12 October 1965 | ||
| UEFA[a] | 32+1 | 9+1 | 23 | 9+1 | 24 May 1964 | 29 December 1965 | ||
| Total | 72+2 | 14+2 | 58 | 14+2 | 24 May 1964 | 29 December 1965 | ||
- 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.
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AFC, CAF and Oceania
21 teams – Australia, three teams from AFC and 17 teams from CAF – applied to take part in qualification, but the entries of Congo-Brazzaville and the Philippines were rejected.
South Africa, who had been expelled from CAF in 1958 due to the country's apartheid policies,[3][1] were placed with the Asian and Oceanian teams.[1] Also, Australia were not a member of a confederation at the time (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 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 withdrew 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.[1][4]
| Pos | 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 (D) |
0 | – | – | – | – | – | — | 0 |
| — |  South Korea (W) |
0 | – | – | – | – | – | — | 0 |
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.[3][1][4]
However, these 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. These nations demanded that Africa be represented in the tournament, and also objected to the readmission of South Africa to FIFA.
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 fifteen African teams immediately withdrew in protest: 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.[3]
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 |
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mexico |
4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 2 | +10 | 7 |
 Costa Rica |
4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 4 |
 Jamaica |
4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 19 | −16 | 1 |
CONMEBOL
As Brazil has 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.[6]
| 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.[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
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Group 2
|
Group 3
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Group 4
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Group 5
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Group 6
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Group 7
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Group 8
|
Group 9
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.
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- 7 goals
- 6 goals
- 5 goals
- 4 goals
- 3 goals
Luis Artime
Johnny Thio
Alberto Fouilloux
Edgar Marín
Karol Jokl
Enrique Raymondi
Juhani Peltonen
Nestor Combin
Giorgos Sideris
Paolo Barison
Lascelles Dunkley
Louis Pilot
Pak Seung-Zin
Pedro Pablo León
Jerzy Sadek
Valentin Kozmich Ivanov
Chus Pereda
Siegfried Haltman
Köbi Kuhn
Ivor Allchurch
Rudolf Brunnenmeier
- 2 goals
Les Scheinflug
Antonio Rada
Ole Fritsen
Peter Ducke
János Farkas
José Luis González Dávila
Hennie van Nee
Virgilio Sille
George Best
Harald Berg
Nicolae Georgescu
John Greig
Lars Granström
Andy Aleong
Fevzi Zemzem
Ed Murphy
Dragan Džajić
- 1 goal
Mexhit Haxhiu
Erich Hof
Fortunato Castillo
Stoyan Kitov
Nicolás Martínez
José Ricardo Taylor
Andy McEvoy
Rahamim Talbi
Celino Mora
Mário Coluna
Danilo Menezes
Freddy Elie
- 1 own goal
Kostas Panayiotou (playing against West Germany)
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