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

center|thumb|700x700px| <!---

To allow 'Previous best appearance' to be sorted, the following nominal values have been ascribed to performances in the tournament;

Winners=1, Runners-up=2, Third place=3, Fourth place=4, Quarter-finals=5, Round of 16=6, Group stage=7, First appearance=8. To sort, please input the following before the text: 'data-sort-value="x"|'.-->

  • 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

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

|-

|colspan=9 bgcolor=white|450x450px

|-

!width=150|Confederation

!width=100|Teams started

!width=140|Teams that secured qualification

!width=100|Teams that were eliminated

!width=100|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||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

|}

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),

<onlyinclude></onlyinclude>

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.

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!Legend

|- bgcolor=#ccffcc

|Country 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.

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!Legend

|- bgcolor=#ccffcc

|Countries that directly qualified for the 1966 World Cup

|- bgcolor=#BBF3FF

|Countries that took part in a group play-off

|}

Final positions (group stage)

{| style="text-align:center;"

|-valign=top

|Group 1<br />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! width="30" |Rank

! width="165" style="text-align:left;" |Team

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

|- style="background:#ccffcc;"

|1

| style="text-align:left;" |

|8

|4

|4

|0

|0

|-

|2

| style="text-align:left;" |

|4

|4

|2

|0

|2

|-

|3

| style="text-align:left;" |

|0

|4

|0

|0

|4

|}

|Group 2<br />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! width="30" |Rank

! width="165" style="text-align:left;" |Team

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

|- style="background:#BBF3FF;"

|1=

| style="text-align:left;" |

|5

|4

|2

|1

|1

|- style="background:#BBF3FF;"

|1=

| style="text-align:left;" |

|5

|4

|2

|1

|1

|-

|3

| style="text-align:left;" |

|2

|4

|1

|0

|3

|}

|Group 3<br />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! width="30" |Rank

! width="165" style="text-align:left;" |Team

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

|- style="background:#ccffcc;"

|1

| style="text-align:left;" |

|7

|4

|3

|1

|0

|-

|2

| style="text-align:left;" |

|3

|4

|1

|1

|2

|-

|3

| style="text-align:left;" |

|2

|4

|1

|0

|3

|}

|}

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.

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!Legend

|- bgcolor=#ccffcc

|Countries that directly qualified for the 1966 World Cup

|- bgcolor=#BBF3FF

|Countries that took part in a group play-off

|}

Final positions (group stage)

{| style="text-align:center;"

|-valign=top

|Group 1<br />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! width="30" |Rank

! width="165" style="text-align:left;" |Team

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

|- style="background:#BBF3FF;"

|1=

| style="text-align:left;" |

|6

|4

|3

|0

|1

|- style="background:#BBF3FF;"

|1=

| style="text-align:left;" |

|6

|4

|3

|0

|1

|-

|3

| style="text-align:left;" |

|0

|4

|0

|0

|4

|}

|Group 2<br />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! width="30" |Rank

! width="165" style="text-align:left;" |Team

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

|- style="background:#ccffcc;"

|1

| style="text-align:left;" |

|7

|4

|3

|1

|0

|-

|2

| style="text-align:left;" |

|5

|4

|2

|1

|1

|-

|3

| style="text-align:left;" |

|0

|4

|0

|0

|4

|}

|Group 3<br />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! width="30" |Rank

! width="165" style="text-align:left;" |Team

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

|- style="background:#ccffcc;"

|1

| style="text-align:left;" |

|10

|6

|5

|0

|1

|-

|2

| style="text-align:left;" |

|7

|6

|3

|1

|2

|-

|3

| style="text-align:left;" |

|7

|6

|3

|1

|2

|-

|4

| style="text-align:left;" |

|0

|6

|0

|0

|6

|}

|-valign=top

|Group 4<br />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! width="30" |Rank

! width="165" style="text-align:left;" |Team

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

|- style="background:#ccffcc;"

|1

| style="text-align:left;" |

|9

|6

|4

|1

|1

|-

|2

| style="text-align:left;" |

|7

|6

|3

|1

|2

|-

|3

| style="text-align:left;" |

|6

|6

|3

|0

|3

|-

|4

| style="text-align:left;" |

|2

|6

|1

|0

|5

|}

|Group 5<br />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! width="30" |Rank

! width="165" style="text-align:left;" |Team

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

|- style="background:#ccffcc;"

|1

| style="text-align:left;" |

|9

|6

|4

|1

|1

|-

|2

| style="text-align:left;" |

|8

|6

|3

|2

|1

|-

|3

| style="text-align:left;" |

|6

|6

|2

|2

|2

|-

|4

| style="text-align:left;" |

|1

|6

|0

|1

|5

|}

|Group 6<br />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! width="30" |Rank

! width="165" style="text-align:left;" |Team

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

|- style="background:#ccffcc;"

|1

| style="text-align:left;" |

|7

|4

|3

|1

|0

|-

|2

| style="text-align:left;" |

|4

|4

|1

|2

|1

|-

|3

| style="text-align:left;" |

|1

|4

|0

|1

|3

|}

|-valign=top

|Group 7<br />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! width="30" |Rank

! width="165" style="text-align:left;" |Team

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

|- style="background:#ccffcc;"

|1

| style="text-align:left;" |

|10

|6

|5

|0

|1

|-

|2

| style="text-align:left;" |

|6

|6

|3

|0

|3

|-

|3

| style="text-align:left;" |

|5

|6

|2

|1

|3

|-

|4

| style="text-align:left;" |

|3

|6

|1

|1

|4

|}

|Group 8<br />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! width="30" |Rank

! width="165" style="text-align:left;" |Team

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

|- style="background:#ccffcc;"

|1

| style="text-align:left;" |

|9

|6

|4

|1

|1

|-

|2

| style="text-align:left;" |

|7

|6

|3

|1

|2

|-

|3

| style="text-align:left;" |

|6

|6

|2

|2

|2

|-

|4

| style="text-align:left;" |

|2

|6

|1

|0

|5

|}

|Group 9<br />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! width="30" |Rank

! width="165" style="text-align:left;" |Team

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

! width="20" |

|- style="background:#BBF3FF;"

|1=

| style="text-align:left;" |

|2

|2

|1

|0

|1

|- style="background:#BBF3FF;"

|1=

| style="text-align:left;" |

|2

|2

|1

|0

|1

|-

|&mdash;

| style="text-align:left;" | Syria

| colspan="5" align="left" |withdrew

|}

|}

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 Virgilio 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 Pedro 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
  • Gyula Rákosi
  • Andy McEvoy
  • Rahamim Talbi
  • Giacomo Bulgarelli
  • Ezio Pascutti
  • Syd Bartlett
  • Oscar Black
  • Patrick Blair
  • Art Welch
  • Asher Welch
  • Ernest Brenner
  • Edy Dublin
  • Ady Schmit
  • José Luis Aussin
  • Ignacio Jáuregui
  • Ramiro Navarro
  • Frans Geurtsen
  • Theo Laseroms
  • Bennie Muller
  • Daan Schrijvers
  • Im Seung-Hwi
  • Pak Doo-Ik
  • Willie Irvine
  • Terry Neill
  • Per Kristoffersen
  • Olav Nilsen
  • Arne Pedersen
  • Finn Seemann
  • Kai Sjøberg
  • Ole Stavrum
  • Celino Mora
  • Vicente Rodríguez
  • Juan Carlos Rojas
  • Nemesio Mosquera
  • Jesús Peláez Miranda
  • Víctor Zegarra
  • Roman Lentner
  • Mário Coluna
  • Jaime Graça
  • Sorin Avram
  • Alexandru Badea
  • Dan Coe
  • Carol Creiniceanu
  • Ion Pârcălab
  • Stevie Chalmers
  • Dave Gibson
  • Billy McNeill
  • Davie Wilson
  • Boris Kazakov
  • Galimzyan Khusainov
  • Mikheil Meskhi
  • Yozhef Sabo
  • Valery Voronin
  • Carlos Lapetra
  • José Ufarte
  • Kenneth Kluivert
  • Kurt Hamrin
  • Ove Kindvall
  • Anton Allemann
  • Robert Hosp
  • Alvin Corneal
  • Jeff Gellineau
  • Bobby Sookram
  • Ayhan Elmastaşoğlu
  • Nedim Doğan
  • Helmut Bicek
  • Walt Schmotolocha
  • Danilo Menezes
  • José Urruzmendi
  • Freddy Elie
  • Rafael Santana
  • Humberto Francisco Scovino
  • Argenis Tortolero
  • Ron Davies
  • Wyn Davies
  • Mike England
  • Ronnie Rees
  • Alfred Heiß
  • Uwe Seeler
  • Heinz Strehl
  • Horst Szymaniak
  • Dražan Jerković
  • Vladica Kovačević
  • Džemaludin Mušović
  • Velibor Vasović

;1 own goal

  • José Ramos Delgado (playing against Bolivia)
  • Ivan Vutsov (playing against Belgium)
  • Kostas Panayiotou (playing against West Germany)
  • Stig Holmqvist (playing against Italy)
  • Ricardo González (playing against Argentina)
  • José Ángel Iribar (playing against Ireland)
  • Graham Williams (playing against the Soviet Union)

References

  • RSSSF - 1966 World Cup Qualification