Rahul Sharma (Editor)

1966 FIFA World Cup qualification

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Top scorer(s)
  
Eusébio (7 goals)

Teams
  
74

Matches played
  
127

Start date
  
1966

Goals scored
  
393

1966 FIFA World Cup qualification

Similar
  
1962 FIFA World Cup qualification, 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification, 1950 FIFA World Cup qualification, 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification, 1934 FIFA World Cup qualification

1966 fifa world cup qualification


A total of 74 teams entered the 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 16 spots in the final tournament. England, as the hosts, and Brazil, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition.

Contents

The 16 spots available in the 1966 World Cup would 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).

    • A total of 51 teams played at least one qualifying match. A total of 127 qualifying matches were played, and 393 goals were scored (an average of 3.09 per match).

    Listed below are the dates and results of the qualification rounds.

    North korea vs australia 1966 fifa world cup qualification caf afc and ofc


    Continental Zones

    To see the dates and results of the qualification rounds for each continental zone, click on the following articles:

  • Europe (UEFA)
    • Group 1 - Bulgaria qualified. Group 2 - West Germany qualified. Group 3 - France qualified. Group 4 - Portugal qualified. Group 5 - Switzerland qualified. Group 6 - Hungary qualified. Group 7 - Soviet Union qualified. Group 8 - Italy qualified. Group 9 - Spain qualified.
  • South America (CONMEBOL)
    • Group 1 - Uruguay qualified. Group 2 - Chile qualified. Group 3 - Argentina qualified.
  • North America (CONCACAF)
    • Mexico qualified.
  • Africa (AFC), Asia (AFC) and Oceania (OFC)
    • North Korea qualified.

    Qualified teams

    The following 16 teams qualified for the 1966 FIFA World Cup:

    (h) - qualified automatically as hosts

    (c) - qualified automatically as defending champions

    References

    1966 FIFA World Cup qualification Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA