1970 FIFA World Cup qualification

1970 FIFA World Cup Qualification
Tournament details
Teams 75 (from 6 confederations)
Tournament statistics
Matches played 172
Goals scored 542 (3.15 per match)
← 1966
1974 →

A total of 75 teams entered the 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 16 spots in the final tournament. Hosts Mexico and defending champions England qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition.

For the first time, the winners of both the African zone and the Asian and Oceanian zone were guaranteed a direct place in the final tournament. The 16 spots available in the 1970 World Cup would be distributed among the continental zones as follows:

A total of 68 teams played in at least one qualifying match. A total of 172 qualifying matches were played, and 542 goals were scored (an average of 3.15 per match).

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

Key:

Contents

Europe (UEFA)

FIFA rejected the entry of Albania. The remaining 29 teams were divided into 8 groups of 3 or 4 teams each (three groups with 3 teams and five groups with 4 teams). The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.

Group 1

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Romania 8 6 3 2 1 7 6 +1
2  Greece 7 6 2 3 1 13 9 +4
3  Switzerland 5 6 2 1 3 5 8 −3
4  Portugal 4 6 1 2 3 8 10 −2

Romania qualified.

Group 2

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1=  Hungary 9 6 4 1 1 16 7 +9
1=  Czechoslovakia 9 6 4 1 1 12 6 +6
3  Denmark 5 6 2 1 3 6 10 −4
4  Republic of Ireland 1 6 0 1 5 3 14 −11

Czechoslovakia and Hungary finished level on points, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would qualify.

Czechoslovakia qualified.

Group 3

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Italy 7 4 3 1 0 10 3 +7
2  East Germany 5 4 2 1 1 7 7 0
3  Wales 0 4 0 0 4 3 10 −7

Italy qualified.

Group 4

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Soviet Union 7 4 3 1 0 8 1 +7
2  Northern Ireland 5 4 2 1 1 7 3 +4
3  Turkey 0 4 0 0 4 2 13 −11

Soviet Union qualified.

Group 5

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Sweden 6 4 3 0 1 12 5 +7
2  France 4 4 2 0 2 6 4 +2
3  Norway 2 4 1 0 3 4 13 −9

Sweden qualified.

Group 6

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Belgium 9 6 4 1 1 14 8 +6
2  Yugoslavia 7 6 3 1 2 19 7 +12
3  Spain 6 6 2 2 2 10 6 +4
4  Finland 2 6 1 0 5 6 28 −22

Belgium qualified.

Group 7

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  West Germany 11 6 5 1 0 20 3 +17
2  Scotland 7 6 3 1 2 18 7 +11
3  Austria 6 6 3 0 3 12 7 +5
4  Cyprus 0 6 0 0 6 2 35 −32

West Germany qualified.

Group 8

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Bulgaria 9 6 4 1 1 12 7 +5
2  Poland 8 6 4 0 2 19 8 +11
3  Netherlands 7 6 3 1 2 9 5 +4
4  Luxembourg 0 6 0 0 6 4 24 −20

Bulgaria qualified.

South America (CONMEBOL)

The 10 teams were divided into 3 groups; two groups with 3 teams and one group with 4 teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.

Group 1

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Peru 5 4 2 1 1 7 4 +3
2  Bolivia 4 4 2 0 2 5 6 −1
3  Argentina 3 4 1 1 2 4 6 −2

Peru qualified.

Group 2

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Brazil 12 6 6 0 0 23 2 +21
2  Paraguay 8 6 4 0 2 6 5 +1
3  Colombia 3 6 1 1 4 7 12 −5
4  Venezuela 1 6 0 1 5 1 18 −17

Brazil qualified.

Group 3

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Uruguay 7 4 3 1 0 5 0 +5
2  Chile 4 4 1 2 1 5 4 +1
3  Ecuador 1 4 0 1 3 2 8 −6

Uruguay qualified.

North, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF)

FIFA rejected the entry of Cuba. There would be three rounds of play:

First Round

Group 1

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  United States 6 4 3 0 1 11 6 +5
2  Canada 5 4 2 1 1 8 3 +5
3  Bermuda 1 4 0 1 3 2 12 −10

United States advanced to the Semifinal Round.

Group 2

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Haiti 5 4 2 1 1 9 5 +4
2  Guatemala 4 4 1 2 1 5 3 +2
3  Trinidad and Tobago 3 4 1 1 2 4 10 −6

Haiti advanced to the Semifinal Round.

Group 3

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Honduras 7 4 3 1 0 7 2 +5
2  Costa Rica 5 4 2 1 1 7 3 +4
3  Jamaica 0 4 0 0 4 2 11 −9

Honduras advanced to the Semifinal Round.

Group 4

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  El Salvador 6 4 3 0 1 10 5 +5
2  Dutch Guiana 4 4 2 0 2 10 9 +1
3  Netherlands Antilles 2 4 1 0 3 3 9 −6

El Salvador advanced to the Semifinal Round.

Semifinal Round

Group 1

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Haiti 4 2 2 0 0 3 0 +3
2  United States 0 2 0 0 2 0 3 −3

Haiti advanced to the Final Round.

Group 2

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1=  El Salvador 2 2 1 0 1 3 1 +2
1=  Honduras 2 2 1 0 1 1 3 −2

El Salvador and Honduras finished level on points, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would advance to the Final Round.

El Salvador advanced to the Final Round. Additionally, these matches featured prominently in the Football War.

Final Round

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1=  Haiti 2 2 1 0 1 4 2 +2
1=  El Salvador 2 2 1 0 1 2 4 −2

El Salvador and Haiti finished level on points, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would qualify.

El Salvador qualified.

Africa (CAF)

FIFA rejected the entries of Guinea and Zaire. There would be three rounds of play:

First Round

The aggregate score was tied 6–6, but Sudan advanced to the Second Round as they scored more goals in the second match.

The aggregate score was tied 2–2, and since extra time was not played in the second match, a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would advance to the Second Round.

Morocco advanced to the Second Round, via the play-off.

Tunisia advanced to the Second Round.

Nigeria advanced to the Second Round.

Ethiopia advanced to the Second Round.

Second Round

The aggregate score was tied 0–0, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would advance to the Final Round.

Morocco advanced to the Final Round, by winning a coin toss.

Sudan advanced to the Final Round.

Nigeria advanced to the Final Round.

Final Round

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Morocco 5 4 2 1 1 5 3 +2
2  Nigeria 4 4 1 2 1 8 7 +1
3  Sudan 3 4 0 3 1 5 8 −3

Morocco qualified.

Asia and Oceania (AFC/OFC)

North Korea withdrew before the matches were played as they refused to play Israel. There would be three rounds of play:

First Round

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Australia 6 4 2 2 0 7 4 +3
2  South Korea 4 4 1 2 1 6 5 +1
3  Japan 2 4 0 2 2 4 8 −4

Australia advanced to the Second Round.

Second Round

Group 1

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1=  Australia 2 2 0 2 0 1 1 0
1=  Rhodesia 2 2 0 2 0 1 1 0

Australia and Rhodesia finished level on points, and a play-off was played to decide who would advance to the Final Round.

Australia advanced to the Final Round.

Group 2

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Israel 4 2 2 0 0 6 0 +6
2  New Zealand 0 2 0 0 2 0 6 −6
—  North Korea withdrew

Israel advanced to the Final Round. North Korea, despite their good performance in the previous tournament staged in England in 1966, refused to play in Israel.[5]

Final Round

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Israel 3 2 1 1 0 2 1 +1
2  Australia 1 2 0 1 1 1 2 −1

Israel qualified.

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the 1970 FIFA World Cup:

Team Finals Appearance Streak Last Appearance
 Belgium 5th 1 1954
 Brazil 9th 9 1966
 Bulgaria 3rd 3 1966
 Czechoslovakia 6th 1 1962
 El Salvador 1st 1 –
 England (c) 6th 6 1966
 Israel 1st 1 –
 Italy 7th 3 1966
 Mexico (h) 7th 6 1966
 Morocco 1st 1 –
 Peru 2nd 1 1930
 Romania 4th 1 1938
 Sweden 5th 1 1958
 Uruguay 6th 3 1966
 Soviet Union 4th 4 1966
 West Germany 7th 5 1966

(h) – qualified automatically as hosts

(c) – qualified automatically as defending champions

Notes

References

  1. ^ The match was abandoned in the 50th minute due to fog, and was replayed on 15 October 1969.
  2. ^ This match was held in the Netherlands, instead of in Luxembourg as originally planned.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and New Zealand played all of their matches away. Rhodesia and Australia played their matches at a neutral venue.
  4. ^ Netherlands Antilles played its "home" game away in El Salvador.
  5. ^ Fifa.com: preliminaries 1970

External links

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Other articles
1Decisive match of a final group stage. 2No qualification took place as places were given by invitation only.