1966 FIFA World Cup qualification

Qualified teams

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"|'.--

Qualification process

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:

• 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

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

Main article: 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification (Africa, Asia 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), three teams from AFC and 16 teams from CAF – applied to take part in qualification, but the entries of Congo-Brazzaville and the Philippines were rejected.

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 boycotted 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.

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.

However, the 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: they demanded that Africa be represented in the tournament, and also objected to the readmission of South Africa to FIFA in 1963.

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 15 African teams immediately boycotted the competition: 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.

CONCACAF

Main article: 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)

10 teams initially entered, but the entry of Guatemala was rejected.

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.

CONMEBOL

Main article: 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification (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.

Final positions (group stage)

|Group 2

|Group 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

Main article: 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification (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.

Final positions (group stage)

|Group 2

|Group 3

|-valign=top |Group 4

|Group 5

|Group 6

|-valign=top |Group 7

|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.

Goalscorers

;7 goals

• POR Eusébio

;6 goals

• GRE Mimis Papaioannou

;5 goals

• BEL Paul Van Himst
• BUL Georgi Asparuhov
• ITA Sandro Mazzola
• MEX Isidoro Díaz
• NIR Jobby Crossan
• POL Włodzimierz Lubański
• URS Anatoliy Banishevskiy
• URU Héctor Silva

;4 goals

• BUL Nikola Kotkov
• CRC Errol Daniels
• CRC Leonel Hernández
• TCH František Knebort
• MEX Ernesto Cisneros
• URU Pedro Virgilio Rocha
• WAL Roy Vernon
• YUG Milan Galić

;3 goals

• ARG Luis Artime
• ARG Ermindo Onega
• BEL Johnny Thio
• CHI Alberto Fouilloux
• CHI Leonel Sánchez
• CRC Edgar Marín
• CRC William Quirós
• TCH Karol Jokl
• ECU Enrique Raymondi
• FIN Juhani Peltonen
• FRA Nestor Combin
• FRA Philippe Gondet
• GRE Giorgos Sideris
• ITA Paolo Barison
• JAM Lascelles Dunkley
• LUX Louis Pilot
• PRK Pak Seung-Zin
• PER Pedro Pablo León
• POL Jerzy Sadek
• URS Valentin Kozmich Ivanov
• URS Slava Metreveli
• ESP Chus Pereda
• NGY Siegfried Haltman
• SUI Köbi Kuhn
• WAL Ivor Allchurch
• FRG Rudolf Brunnenmeier

;2 goals

• ARG Raúl Bernao
• AUS Les Scheinflug
• CHI Carlos Campos Sánchez
• CHI Rubén Marcos
• CHI Eugenio Méndez
• CHI Ignacio Prieto
• COL Antonio Rada
• COL Hermenegildo Segrera
• TCH Ivan Mráz
• DEN Ole Fritsen
• DEN Ole Madsen
• GDR Peter Ducke
• GDR Jürgen Nöldner
• ECU Alberto Pedro Spencer
• HUN János Farkas
• HUN Máté Fenyvesi
• ITA Giacinto Facchetti
• ITA Bruno Mora
• ITA Gianni Rivera
• MEX José Luis González Dávila
• MEX Javier Fragoso
• MEX Aarón Padilla Gutiérrez
• MEX Salvador Reyes Monteón
• NED Hennie van Nee
• ANT Virgilio Sille
• PRK Han Bong-Zin
• PRK Kim Seung-Il
• NIR George Best
• NOR Harald Berg
• NOR Erik Johansen
• PER Luis Zavalla
• POL Ernest Pol
• ROU Nicolae Georgescu
• ROU Viorel Mateianu
• SCO John Greig
• SCO Denis Law
• URS Vladimir Barkaya
• NGY Stanley Humbert Krenten
• NGY Edmund Waterval
• SWE Lars Granström
• SWE Bo Larsson
• SWE Agne Simonsson
• SWE Torbjörn Jonsson
• SUI René-Pierre Quentin
• TRI Andy Aleong
• TUR Fevzi Zemzem
• USA Ed Murphy
• FRG Werner Krämer
• FRG Wolfgang Overath
• FRG Klaus-Dieter Sieloff
• YUG Dragan Džajić

;1 goal

• ALB Mexhit Haxhiu
• ALB Robert Jashari
• AUT Erich Hof
• BEL Armand Jurion
• BEL Wilfried Puis
• BEL Jacques Stockman
• BOL Fortunato Castillo
• BOL Ramón Quevedo
• BOL Rolando Vargas
• BUL Stoyan Kitov
• BUL Ivan Petkov Kolev
• CRC Fernando Jiménez
• CRC Tarcisio Rodríguez Viquez
• CRC Juan González Soto
• CUB Nicolás Martínez
• CUB Ángel Piedra
• CUB Antonio dos Santos
• TCH Alexander Horváth
• TCH Dušan Kabát
• TCH Andrej Kvašňák
• DEN Mogens Berg
• DEN Kaj Poulsen
• DEN Tommy Troelsen
• GDR Eberhard Vogel
• ECU Romulo Gómez
• ECU Washington Muñoz
• FIN Martti Hyvärinen
• FIN Semi Nuoranen
• FRA Marcel Artelesa
• FRA André Guy
• FRA Angel Rambert
• GRE Andreas Papaemmanouil
• HON José Ricardo Taylor
• HUN Ferenc Bene
• HUN Kálmán Mészöly
• HUN Dezső Novák
• HUN Gyula Rákosi
• IRL Andy McEvoy
• ISR Rahamim Talbi
• ITA Giacomo Bulgarelli
• ITA Ezio Pascutti
• JAM Syd Bartlett
• JAM Oscar Black
• JAM Patrick Blair
• JAM Art Welch
• JAM Asher Welch
• LUX Ernest Brenner
• LUX Edy Dublin
• LUX Ady Schmit
• MEX José Luis Aussin
• MEX Ignacio Jáuregui
• MEX Ramiro Navarro
• NED Frans Geurtsen
• NED Theo Laseroms
• NED Bennie Muller
• NED Daan Schrijvers
• PRK Im Seung-Hwi
• PRK Pak Doo-Ik
• NIR Willie Irvine
• NIR Terry Neill
• NOR Per Kristoffersen
• NOR Olav Nilsen
• NOR Arne Pedersen
• NOR Finn Seemann
• NOR Kai Sjøberg
• NOR Ole Stavrum
• PAR Celino Mora
• PAR Vicente Rodríguez
• PAR Juan Carlos Rojas
• PER Nemesio Mosquera
• PER Jesús Peláez Miranda
• PER Víctor Zegarra
• POL Roman Lentner
• POR Mário Coluna
• POR Jaime Graça
• ROU Sorin Avram
• ROU Alexandru Badea
• ROU Dan Coe
• ROU Carol Creiniceanu
• ROU Ion Pârcălab
• SCO Stevie Chalmers
• SCO Dave Gibson
• SCO Billy McNeill
• SCO Davie Wilson
• URS Boris Kazakov
• URS Galimzyan Khusainov
• URS Mikheil Meskhi
• URS Yozhef Sabo
• URS Valery Voronin
• ESP Carlos Lapetra
• ESP José Ufarte
• NGY Kenneth Kluivert
• SWE Kurt Hamrin
• SWE Ove Kindvall
• SUI Anton Allemann
• SUI Robert Hosp
• TRI Alvin Corneal
• TRI Jeff Gellineau
• TRI Bobby Sookram
• TUR Ayhan Elmastaşoğlu
• TUR Nedim Doğan
• USA Helmut Bicek
• USA Walt Schmotolocha
• URU Danilo Menezes
• URU José Urruzmendi
• VEN Freddy Elie
• VEN Rafael Santana
• VEN Humberto Francisco Scovino
• VEN Argenis Tortolero
• WAL Ron Davies
• WAL Wyn Davies
• WAL Mike England
• WAL Ronnie Rees
• FRG Alfred Heiß
• FRG Uwe Seeler
• FRG Heinz Strehl
• FRG Horst Szymaniak
• YUG Dražan Jerković
• YUG Vladica Kovačević
• YUG Džemaludin Mušović
• YUG Velibor Vasović

;1 own goal

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

References

References

1. (27 July 2007). "History of the FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition (by year)".
2. "1966 FIFA World Cup England".
3. (11 July 2016). "How Africa boycotted the 1966 World Cup". BBC News.
4. "Miscellaneous Qualifiers for the World Cup 1966".
5. "CONCACAF Qualifiers for the World Cup 1966".
6. "CONMEBOL Qualifiers for the World Cup 1966".
7. "UEFA Qualifiers for the World Cup 1966".