1970 FIFA World Cup qualification

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:
* Europe (UEFA): "9 places", 1 of them went to automatic qualifier England, while the other 8 places were contested by 30 teams.
* South America (CONMEBOL): "3 places", contested by 10 teams.
* North, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF): "2 places", 1 of them went to automatic qualifier Mexico, while the other 1 place was contested by 13 teams.
* Africa (CAF): "1 place", contested by 13 teams.
* Asia and Oceania (AFC/OFC): "1 place", contested by 7 teams (including Rhodesia).

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.

Europe (UEFA)

FIFA rejected the entry of fb|ALB|1946. 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.

UEFA Key:
*Teams highlighted in green qualified for the finals.
*Teams highlighted in red in the same table finished level on points and advanced to a play-off on neutral ground.----

Group 1

Table

Results

October 23, 1968, Cardiff, Wales - fb|WAL 0 - 1 fb|ITA

March 29, 1969, East Berlin, Germany - fb|GDR 2 - 2 fb|ITA

April 16, 1969, Dresden, Germany - fb|GDR 2 - 1 fb|WAL

October 22, 1969, Cardiff, Wales - fb|WAL 1 - 3 fb|GDR

November 4, 1969, Rome, Italy - fb|ITA 4 - 1 fb|WAL

November 22, 1969, Naples, Italy - fb|ITA 3 - 0 fb|GDR

----

Group 4

Table

Results

June 19, 1968, Helsinki, Finland - fb|FIN 1 - 2 fb|BEL

September 25, 1968, Belgrade, Yugoslavia - fb|YUG 9 - 1 fb|FIN

October 9, 1968, Waregem, Belgium - fb|BEL 6 - 1 fb|FIN

October 16, 1968, Brussels, Belgium - fb|BEL 3 - 0 fb|YUG

October 27, 1968, Belgrade, Yugoslavia - fb|YUG 0 - 0 fb|ESP|1939

December 11, 1968, Madrid, Spain - fb|ESP|1939 1 - 1 fb|BEL

February 23, 1969, Liège, Belgium - fb|BEL 2 - 1 fb|ESP|1939

April 30, 1969, Barcelona, Spain - fb|ESP|1939 2 - 1 fb|YUG

June 4, 1969, Helsinki, Finland - fb|FIN 1 - 5 fb|YUG

June 25, 1969, Helsinki, Finland - fb|FIN 2 - 0 fb|ESP|1939

October 15, 1969, Cádiz, Spain - fb|ESP|1939 6 - 0 fb|FIN

October 19, 1969, Skopje, Yugoslavia - fb|YUG 4 - 0 fb|BEL

----

Group 7

Table

Peru qualified.

CONMEBOL Group 2

July 27, 1969, Bogotá, Colombia - fb|COL 3 - 0 fb|VEN|1930

August 2, 1969, Caracas, Venezuela - fb|VEN|1930 1 - 1 fb|COL

August 6, 1969, Caracas, Venezuela - fb|VEN|1930 0 - 2 fb|PAR

August 6, 1969, Bogotá, Colombia - fb|COL 0 - 2 fb|BRA|1968

August 10, 1969, Caracas, Venezuela - fb|VEN|1930 0 - 5 fb|BRA|1968

August 10, 1969, Bogotá, Colombia - fb|COL 0 - 1 fb|PAR

August 17, 1969, Asunción, Paraguay - fb|PAR 0 - 3 fb|BRA|1968

August 21, 1969, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - fb|BRA|1968 6 - 2 fb|COL

August 21, 1969, Asunción, Paraguay - fb|PAR 1 - 0 fb|VEN|1930

August 24, 1969, Asunción, Paraguay - fb|PAR 2 - 1 fb|COL

August 24, 1969, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - fb|BRA|1968 6 - 0 fb|VEN|1930

August 31, 1969, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - fb|BRA|1968 1 - 0 fb|PAR

"USA" advanced to the Semifinal Round.

Group 2

All home matches of Trinidad and Tobago were played away instead.

November 17, 1968, Guatemala City, Guatemala - fb|GUA 4 - 0 fb|TRI

November 20, 1968, Guatemala City, Guatemala - fb|TRI 0 - 0 fb|GUA

November 23, 1968, Port au Prince, Haiti - fb|TRI 0 - 4 fb|HAI|1964

November 25, 1968, Port au Prince, Haiti - fb|HAI|1964 2 - 4 fb|TRI

December 8, 1968, Port au Prince, Haiti - fb|HAI|1964 2 - 0 fb|GUA

February 23, 1969, Guatemala City, Guatemala - fb|GUA 1 - 1 fb|HAI|1964

"El Salvador" advanced to the Semifinal Round.

CONCACAF Semifinal Round

Group 1

April 20, 1969, Port au Prince, Haiti - fb|HAI|1964 2 - 0 fb|USA

May 11, 1969, San Diego, USA - fb|USA 0 - 1 fb|HAI|1964

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

October 8, 1969, Kingston, Jamaica - fb|SLV 1 - 0 (aet) fb|HAI|1964

El Salvador qualified.

Africa

FIFA rejected the entries of fb|GUI and fb|ZAI. There would be three rounds of play:
* First Round: Ghana received a bye and advanced to the Second Round directly. The remaining 10 teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis. The winners (determined by aggregate score) would advance to the Second Round.
* Second Round: The 6 teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis. The 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.

CAF First Round

November 17, 1968, Algiers, Algeria - fb|ALG 1 - 2 fb|TUN

December 29, 1968, Tunis, Tunisia - fb|TUN 0 - 0 fb|ALG

"Tunisia" advanced to the Second Round by the aggregate score of 2-1.

November 3, 1968, Casablanca, Morocco - fb|MAR 1 - 0 fb|SEN

January 5, 1969, Dakar, Senegal - fb|SEN 2 - 1 fb|MAR

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.

February 13, 1969, Las Palmas, Spain - fb|MAR 2 - 0 fb|SEN

"Morocco" advanced to the Second Round.

January 26, 1969, Tripoli, Libya - fb|LBY|1951 2 - 0 fb-rt|ETH|1897

February 9, 1969, Adis Abeba, Ethiopia - fb-rt|ETH|1897 5 - 1 fb|LBY|1951

"Ethiopia" advanced to the Second Round by the aggregate score of 5-3.

October 27, 1968, Ndola, Zambia - fb|ZAM 4 - 2 fb|SUD|1956

November 8, 1968, Khartoum, Sudan - fb|SUD|1956 4 - 2 (aet) fb|ZAM

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

December 7, 1968, Lagos, Nigeria - fb|NGA 1 - 1 fb|CMR

December 22, 1968, Douala, Cameroon - fb|CMR 2 - 3 fb|NGA

"Nigeria" advanced to the Second Round by the aggregate score of 4-3.

CAF Second Round

April 27, 1969, Tunis, Tunisia - fb|TUN 0 - 0 fb|MAR

May 18, 1969, Casablanca, Morocco - fb|MAR 0 - 0 (aet) fb|TUN

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.

June 13, 1969, Marseille, France - fb|MAR 2 - 2 (aet) fb|TUN

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

May 4, 1969, Adis Abeba, Ethiopia - fb-rt|ETH|1897 1 - 1 fb|SUD|1956

May 11, 1969, Khartoum, Sudan - fb|SUD|1956 3 - 1 fb-rt|ETH|1897

"Sudan" advanced to the Final Round by the aggregate score of 4-2.

May 10, 1969, Ibadan, Nigeria - fb|NGA 2 - 1 fb|GHA

May 18, 1969, Accra, Ghana - fb|GHA 1 - 1 fb|NGA

"Nigeria" advanced to the Final Round by the aggregate score of 3-2.

CAF Final Round

September 13, 1969, Lagos, Nigeria - fb|NGA 2 - 2 fb|SUD|1956

September 21, 1969, Casablanca, Morocco - fb|MAR 2 - 1 fb|NGA

October 3, 1969, Khartoum, Sudan - fb|SUD|1956 3 - 3 fb|NGA

October 10, 1969, Khartoum, Sudan - fb|SUD|1956 0 - 0 fb|MAR

October 26, 1969, Casablanca, Morocco - fb|MAR 3 - 0 fb|SUD|1956

November 8, 1969, Ibadan, Nigeria - fb|NGA 2 - 0 fb|MAR

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

November 29, 1969, Lourenço Marques, Mozambique - fb|AUS 3 - 1 fb|Rhodesia

"Australia" advanced to the Final Round.

Group 2

Both matches were played in Israel.

September 28, 1969, Ramat Gan, Israel - fb|ISR 4 - 0 fb|NZL

October 1, 1969, Ramat Gan, Israel - fb|NZL 0 - 2 fb|ISR

(h) - qualified automatically as hosts

(c) - qualified automatically as defending champions

Notes

* In the African zone, aggregate score was used to determine the winners of two-legged ties. However, different tie-breakers were used in the matches when the aggregate score was tied.
* Morocco was the first African team to qualify since Egypt in the 1934 World Cup.
* As a result of the hostile relationship between El Salvador and Honduras, and rioting during the qualification matches between them, the shortlived Football War broke out between the two countries.
* Israel qualified for their only World Cup to date as an Asian team. However, soon after this, they left the Asian Football Confederation, and nowadays compete in the European zone as they are now a member of UEFA.

External links

* [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/p/pwc/q/1970.html FIFA World Cup Official Site - 1970 World Cup Qualification]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tables/70q.html RSSSF - 1970 World Cup Qualification]