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. fb|ENG, as the hosts, and fb|BRA|1960, 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.

Europe

The 32 teams were divided into 9 groups of 3 or 4 teams each (four 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.

UEFA Group 1

May 9, 1965, Brussels, Belgium - fb|BEL 1 - 0 fb|ISR

June 13, 1965, Sofia, Bulgaria - fb|BUL|1946 4 - 0 fb|ISR

September 26, 1965, Sofia, Bulgaria - fb|BUL|1946 3 - 0 fb|BEL

October 27, 1965, Brussels, Belgium - fb|BEL 5 - 0 fb|BUL|1946

November 10, 1965, Ramat Gan, Israel - fb|ISR 0 - 5 fb|BEL

November 21, 1965, Ramat Gan, Israel - fb|ISR 1 - 2 fb|BUL|1946

France qualified.

UEFA Group 4

January 24, 1965, Lisbon, Portugal - fb|POR 5 - 1 fb|TUR

April 19, 1965, Ankara, Turkey - fb|TUR 0 - 1 fb|POR

April 25, 1965, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia - fb|TCH 0 - 1 fb|POR

May 2, 1965, Bucharest, Romania - fb|ROU|1965 3 - 0 fb|TUR

May 30, 1965, Bucharest, Romania - fb|ROU|1965 1 - 0 fb|TCH

June 13, 1965, Lisbon, Portugal - fb|POR 2 - 1 fb|ROU|1965

September 19, 1965, Prague, Czechoslovakia - fb|TCH 3 - 1 fb|ROU|1965

October 9, 1965, Istanbul, Turkey - fb|TUR 0 - 6 fb|TCH

October 23, 1965, Ankara, Turkey - fb|TUR 2 - 1 fb|ROU|1965

October 31, 1965, Porto, Portugal - fb|POR 0 - 0 fb|TCH

November 21, 1965, Brno, Czechoslovakia - fb|TCH 3 - 1 fb|TUR

November 21, 1965, Bucharest, Romania - fb|ROU|1965 2 - 0 fb|POR

Hungary qualified.

UEFA Group 7

October 21, 1964, Copenhagen, Denmark - fb|DEN 1 - 0 fb|WAL

November 29, 1964, Athens, Greece - fb|GRE|old 4 - 2 fb|DEN

December 9, 1964, Athens, Greece - fb|GRE|old 2 - 0 fb|WAL

March 17, 1965, Cardiff, Wales - fb|WAL 4 - 1 fb|GRE|old

May 23, 1965, Moscow, USSR - fb|URS|1955 3 - 1 fb|GRE|old

May 30, 1965, Moscow, USSR - fb|URS|1955 2 - 1 fb|WAL

June 27, 1965, Moscow, USSR - fb|URS|1955 6 - 0 fb|DEN

October 3, 1965, Athens, Greece - fb|GRE|old 1 - 4 fb|URS|1955

October 17, 1965, Copenhagen, Denmark - fb|DEN 1 - 3 fb|URS|1955

October 27, 1965, Cardiff, Wales - fb|WAL 2 - 1 fb|URS|1955

October 27, 1965, Copenhagen, Denmark - fb|DEN 1 - 1 fb|GRE|old

December 1, 1965, Wrexham, Wales - fb|WAL 4 - 2 fb|DEN

Republic of Ireland and Spain finished level on points, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would qualify. This match was initially to be played in London, which would have been ideal for the Irish given the large Irish immigrant population there, but the Spanish and Irish football associations later came to an agreement and moved the match to Paris.Fact|date=January 2008 The agreement was seenWho|date=January 2008 as a buyout as it turned a possible Irish victory into a much more unlikely proposition as the Stade Colombes was instead mainly made up of Spanish supporters.Fact|date=January 2008

November 10, 1965, Paris, France - fb|ESP|1939 1 - 0 fb|IRL

Spain qualified.

outh America

The 9 teams were divided into 3 groups of 3 teams each. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.

CONMEBOL Group 1

May 16, 1965, Lima, Peru - fb|PER 1 - 0 fb|VEN|1930

May 23, 1965, Montevideo, Uruguay - fb|URU 5 - 0 fb|VEN|1930

May 30, 1965, Caracas, Venezuela - fb|VEN|1930 1 - 3 fb|URU

June 2, 1965, Caracas, Venezuela - fb|VEN|1930 3 - 6 fb|PER

June 6, 1965, Lima, Peru - fb|PER 0 - 1 fb|URU

June 13, 1965, Montevideo, Uruguay - fb|URU 2 - 1 fb|PER

Argentina qualified.

North, Central America and Caribbean

FIFA rejected the entry of fb|GUA. There would be two rounds of play:
* First Round: The remaining 9 teams were divided into 3 groups of 3 teams each. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would advance to the Final Round.
* Final Round: The 3 teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winner would qualify.

CONCACAF First Round

Group 1

February 28, 1965, San Pedro Sula, Honduras - fb|HON 0 - 1 fb|MEX|1934

March 4, 1965, Mexico City, Mexico - fb|MEX|1934 3 - 0 fb|HON

March 7, 1965, Los Angeles, USA - fb|USA 2 - 2 fb|MEX|1934

March 12, 1965, Mexico City, Mexico - fb|MEX|1934 2 - 0 fb|USA

March 17, 1965, San Pedro Sula, Honduras - fb|HON 0 - 1 fb|USA

March 21, 1965, Tegucigalpa, Honduras - fb|USA 1 - 1 fb|HON: This match was played in Honduras instead of in USA.

"Costa Rica" advanced to the Final Round.

CONCACAF Final Round

April 24, 1965, San José, Costa Rica - fb|CRC 0 - 0 fb|MEX|1934

May 3, 1965, Kingston, Jamaica - fb|JAM 2 - 3 fb|MEX|1934

May 7, 1965, Mexico City, Mexico - fb|MEX|1934 8 - 0 fb|JAM

May 12, 1965, San José, Costa Rica - fb|CRC 7 - 0 fb|JAM

May 16, 1965, Mexico City, Mexico - fb|MEX|1934 1 - 0 fb|CRC

May 22, 1965, Kingston, Jamaica - fb|JAM 1 - 1 fb|CRC

(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 play-off between the winners of the African and Asian zones. 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 as a 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.Fact|date=January 2008

*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.Fact|date=January 2008

External links

* [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/p/pwc/q/1966.html FIFA World Cup Official Site - 1966 World Cup Qualification]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tables/66q.html RSSSF - 1966 World Cup Qualification]