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.

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.

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

Final qualification status

  Country qualified for World Cup

  Country failed to qualify

  Country did not enter World Cup

  Country not a FIFA member

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

Team	Finals Appearance	Streak	Last Appearance
Argentina	5th	3	1962
Brazil (c)	8th	8	1962
Bulgaria	2nd	2	1962
Chile	4th	2	1962
England (h)	5th	5	1962
France	6th	1	1958
Hungary	6th	4	1962
Italy	6th	2	1962
North Korea	1st	1	–
Mexico	6th	5	1962
Portugal	1st	1	–
Spain	4th	2	1962
Switzerland	6th	2	1962
Uruguay	5th	2	1962
Soviet Union	3rd	3	1962
West Germany	6th	4	1962

(h) - qualified automatically as hosts

(c) - qualified automatically as defending champions

Notes

• After having no teams from Africa or Asia qualifying for the previous two World Cups, FIFA decided to allocate a single spot to the winner of a four-way play-off between the winners of three African groups and the winner of the Asian zone. However, the African teams believed that winning their zone should have been enough to go straight through to the final tournament, and all of them withdrew in protest.
• Innovations in the run-up to the 1966 World Cup included the introduction of doping controls, and a prohibition on the naturalisation of footballers, two issues that had had negative repercussions during the last tournament of 1962.^[1]
• Several weak nations withdrew from the competition, but the stronger nations were still very much in the game. The squad of the Spanish national team was given a boost by a rejuvenated Real Madrid, and the Germans reaped the rewards of the Bundesliga national league, as well as the introduction of full-time professional football.^[1]

References

External links

• FIFA World Cup Official Site - 1966 World Cup Qualification
• RSSSF - 1966 World Cup Qualification