Football World Cup 1966 / qualification

The 1966 World Cup qualification was used to determine the participants in the final round in England .

Overview

Participant in the qualification for the 1966 World Cup

A total of 71 teams had registered for the 1966 World Cup in England , including

• 31 teams from Europe,
• 16 teams from Africa,
• 4 teams from Asia (2 from the Middle East and 2 from the Far East),
• 1 teams from Oceania,
• 10 teams from South America and
• 9 teams from North and Central America.

In addition to the 71 teams registered, three other teams had expressed their interest. But the Philippines were not allowed to participate because they had not paid the registration fee, Guatemala exceeded the registration deadline and the Democratic Republic of the Congo did not submit its announced written registration . The number of entries of 71 teams meant another record number of participants. As defending champions Brazil and organizers England were directly qualified and the World Cup finals were played with 16 teams, 14 free places were available for the remaining 69 teams.

These were distributed to the various continental associations as follows:

Defending champion:	Brazil		Host:	England
9 to Europe	Bulgaria	BR Germany	France	Portugal	Switzerland
	Hungary	Soviet Union	Italy	Spain
3 to South America	Uruguay	Chile	Argentina
1 to North and Central America	Mexico
1 to Asia and Africa	North Korea

Due to the fact that FIFA only allowed one place in the finals for 19 African, Asian and Oceanic countries, 15 African teams and one from Asia withdrew their entries in protest in the run-up to the qualifying matches. There was also another Asian team that withdrew for other reasons. In addition, South Africa was suspended by FIFA under pressure from other African nations because of its apartheid policy . In the end, a total of 53 teams took part in the qualifying games. There were no cross - confederation qualifiers this time, as in the last World Cup qualification . However, for geographical reasons , Syria and Israel were included in the Europe qualification.

Europe

Since England had already qualified as hosts, there were 30 European national teams left. They played together with two Asian teams that had been assigned to the European qualification for nine free World Cup places. The 32 teams were divided into nine groups. Five groups played with four and four groups with three teams each. The respective group winners were directly qualified for the World Cup. If there was a tie on first rank, the goals weren't decisive, but a deciding game on neutral ground.

With Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia , the two best European teams from the last World Cup failed to qualify for the finals.

Group 1

In Europe group 1, the last of the 16 finalists was determined. It was not until December 29, 1965 that Bulgaria was the sixteenth participant in the World Cup. The dramaturgy of the qualifying matches in this group was very reminiscent of that of Europe group 3 in the 1962 qualification . Because even then there was a playoff with Bulgarian participation, even then the game took place in Italy, even then Bulgaria was the outsider and even then Bulgaria was the smiling winner in the end. Before the game, most experts had guessed Belgium . The Belgians lost their first encounter against the Bulgarians in Sofia 3-0, but a month later the Belgians took their revenge with a very impressive 5-0. It was the great Bulgarian star striker Georgi Asparuchow , who was 23 years old at the time , who ended the Belgians' dreams with two goals in just 53 seconds in the 19th and 20th minutes of the game. In the end it was 2-1 for Bulgaria, which was the second time they took part in a World Cup.

Closing table
Pl.	country	Gates	Pt.
1	Bulgaria	09: 06	6: 2
2	Belgium	11: 03	6: 2
3	Israel	01:12	0: 8

Game results:

05/09/1965	Brussels	Belgium	-	Israel	1: 0 (1: 0)
06/13/1965	Sofia	Bulgaria	-	Israel	4: 0 (2: 0)
09/26/1965	Sofia	Bulgaria	-	Belgium	3: 0 (2: 0)
10/27/1965	Brussels	Belgium	-	Bulgaria	5: 0 (1: 0)
11/10/1965	Tel Aviv	Israel	-	Belgium	0: 5 (0: 3)
11/21/1965	Tel Aviv	Israel	-	Bulgaria	1: 2 (0: 1)
Playoff:
December 29, 1965	Florence	Bulgaria	-	Belgium	2: 1 (2: 0)

Group 2

The Federal Republic of Germany struggled to qualify against Sweden and Cyprus . After the German team had only played 1-1 in their first game at home against Sweden, the qualification seemed to be in danger. Rudolf Brunnenmeier from TSV 1860 Munich had brought the German team into the lead, but Italian professional Kurt Hamrin (still known from the 1958 World Cup in Sweden) managed to equalize Sweden shortly before the end. So the decision had to fall in the second leg on September 26, 1965 in Stockholm. In this game, Franz Beckenbauer made his first international game from Bundesliga promoted Bayern Munich . The Swedes took the lead through Jonsson in the 44th minute, but Werner Krämer was able to equalize in return. Uwe Seeler scored the 2-1 winning goal for the German team in the 54th minute and thus made the preliminary decision in the qualification.

Closing table
Pl.	country	Gates	Pt.
1	BR Germany	14: 02	7: 1
2	Sweden	10: 03	5: 3
3	Cyprus	00:19	0: 8

Game results:

04/11/1964	Berlin	BR Germany	-	Sweden	1: 1 (1: 0)
04/24/1965	Karlsruhe	BR Germany	-	Cyprus	5: 0 (3: 0)
05/05/1965	Norrkoping	Sweden	-	Cyprus	3: 0 (1: 0)
09/26/1965	Stockholm	Sweden	-	BR Germany	1: 2 (1: 1)
11/07/1965	Famagusta	Cyprus	-	Sweden	0: 5 (0: 4)
11/14/1965	Nicosia	Cyprus	-	BR Germany	0: 6 (0: 2)

Group 3

For France the draw of the qualifying groups was a shock, because Yugoslavia was the declared fear opponent of the French. France faced the Yugoslavs four times at World and European Championships and four times they were the losers. And this time too, the French seemed to repeat their unsuccessful situation - after all, they lost the first duel against the “feared opponent” in Belgrade with 0: 1. But then the tide turned: Yugoslavia experienced a downright debacle at the blatant outsider Norway 3-0, while France remained victorious 1-0 three months later in the same place. And three more weeks later, the French were finally able to break the spell in their home game against Yugoslavia with a 1-0 win. For the second most successful European team in the previous World Cup , this meant the final knockout. In the end, they only ended up in third place behind the surprisingly strong Norwegians.

Closing table
Pl.	country	Gates	Pt.
1	France	09: 02	10: 02
2	Norway	10: 05	07: 05
3	Yugoslavia	10: 08	07: 05
4th	Luxembourg	06:20	00:12

Game results:

09/20/1964	Belgrade	Yugoslavia	-	Luxembourg	3: 1 (2: 0)
04.10.1964	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	-	France	0: 2 (0: 1)
11/08/1964	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	-	Norway	0: 2 (0: 1)
11/11/1964	Paris	France	-	Norway	1: 0 (1: 0)
04/18/1965	Belgrade	Yugoslavia	-	France	1: 0 (0: 0)
May 27, 1965	Trondheim	Norway	-	Luxembourg	4: 2 (1: 2)
06/16/1965	Oslo	Norway	-	Yugoslavia	3: 0 (1: 0)
09/15/1965	Oslo	Norway	-	France	0: 1 (0: 1)
09/19/1965	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	-	Yugoslavia	2: 5 (1: 4)
10/09/1965	Paris	France	-	Yugoslavia	1: 0 (0: 0)
11/06/1965	Marseille	France	-	Luxembourg	4: 1 (4: 0)
11/07/1965	Belgrade	Yugoslavia	-	Norway	1: 1 (1: 1)

Group 4

The reigning vice world champion Czechoslovakia was the declared favorite of this qualification group. Portugal and Romania were only expected to play an outsider role , although Benfica Lisbon won the European Cup in 1961 and 1962 and reached the final again in May 1965 . But exactly one of these two underdogs, namely Portugal, which up to this point had never qualified for a World Cup and only had two wins in World Cup qualifiers until the beginning of the qualification, should determine the events in this group. At the latest after two victories against Turkey and the 1-0 success in Prague against Czechoslovakia, you had to reckon with the Portuguese, who finally took part in the finals with a 2-1 home win against Romania and a 0-0 in the second leg against the Czechoslovaks secured. The Portuguese's 2-0 defeat in their last game against the Romanians was meaningless. Portugal's success was guaranteed by striker Eusébio , who alone scored six of the nine qualifying goals. With Czechoslovakia, the best European team was eliminated from the 1962 World Cup.

Closing table
Pl.	country	Gates	Pt.
1	Portugal	09: 04	9: 03
2	Czechoslovakia	12: 04	7: 05
3	Romania	09: 07	6: 06
4th	Turkey	04:19	2:10

Game results:

01/24/1965	Lisbon	Portugal	-	Turkey	5: 1 (2: 1)
04/19/1965	Ankara	Turkey	-	Portugal	0: 1 (0: 0)
04/25/1965	Bratislava	Czechoslovakia	-	Portugal	0: 1 (0: 1)
05/02/1965	Bucharest	Romania	-	Turkey	3: 0 (1: 0)
05/30/1965	Bucharest	Romania	-	Czechoslovakia	1: 0 (1: 0)
06/13/1965	Lisbon	Portugal	-	Romania	2: 1 (2: 0)
09/19/1965	Bratislava	Czechoslovakia	-	Romania	3: 1 (1: 1)
10/09/1965	Istanbul	Turkey	-	Czechoslovakia	0: 6 (0: 3)
10/23/1965	Ankara	Turkey	-	Romania	2: 1 (1: 0)
10/31/1965	postage	Portugal	-	Czechoslovakia	0-0
11/21/1965	Brno	Czechoslovakia	-	Turkey	3: 1 (2: 1)
11/21/1965	Bucharest	Romania	-	Portugal	2: 0 (2: 0)

Group 5

Europe group 5 was considered the most balanced among experts. The Switzerland , Northern Ireland and the Netherlands were strongly considered approximately the same, while the fourth member of the group, qualifying newcomer Albania , allocated the role of the points suppliers. In fact, the expected three-way battle was reduced to a duel between Switzerland and Northern Ireland, as the Dutch could not win their home games with the exception of the game against Albania and could not compensate for this by gaining points with their competitors. Before the last game in this qualifying group, everything spoke in favor of a play-off between the Swiss and the Northern Irish. But then it was the blatant outsider Albania who made the decision. The 1: 1 of the Northern Irish in Tirana let Switzerland go to England. The first game of this qualification group was also the opening game of the World Cup qualification.

Closing table
Pl.	country	Gates	Pt.
1	Switzerland	7: 03	9: 03
2	Northern Ireland	9: 05	8: 04
3	Netherlands	6: 04	6: 06
4th	Albania	2:12	1:11

Game results:

May 24, 1964	Rotterdam	Netherlands	-	Albania	2: 0 (0: 0)
10/14/1964	Belfast	Northern Ireland	-	Switzerland	1: 0 (0: 0)
10/25/1964	Tirana	Albania	-	Netherlands	0: 2 (0: 1)
11/14/1964	Lausanne	Switzerland	-	Northern Ireland	2: 1 (2: 1)
03/17/1965	Belfast	Northern Ireland	-	Netherlands	2: 1 (1: 1)
04/07/1965	Rotterdam	Netherlands	-	Northern Ireland	0-0
04/11/1965	Tirana	Albania	-	Switzerland	0: 2 (0: 1)
05/02/1965	Geneva	Switzerland	-	Albania	1: 0 (1: 0)
05/07/1965	Belfast	Northern Ireland	-	Albania	4: 1 (2: 0)
10/17/1965	Amsterdam	Netherlands	-	Switzerland	0-0
11/14/1965	Bern	Switzerland	-	Netherlands	2: 1 (1: 0)
11/24/1965	Tirana	Albania	-	Northern Ireland	1: 1 (0: 0)

Group 6

In Group 6, Hungary lived up to its role as favorites. The team remained unbeaten in its four games and was therefore allowed to go to England . The decisive game was won 3-2 by the Hungarians against the GDR thanks to questionable referee performance. The game had started well for the GDR, as the Germans had taken a 1-0 lead through Peter Ducke in the 31st minute. But in the 41st minute of the game the Hungarians were able to equalize through Gyula Rakosi. Eight minutes after the start of the second half (53rd), the hosts took a 2-1 lead thanks to a penalty from Dezső Nowak. It was again Peter Ducke, who scored the equalizer with his second goal of the day and brought the GDR back into the game. But nine minutes before the final whistle (81st) Janos Farkas scored the winning goal for the Hungarians. The victory of the Magyars also gave FIFA a sigh of relief; because a GDR eleven who were victorious in the qualification would not have received an entry visa to England in 1966 in view of the political situation at the time ( Hallstein doctrine , sole representation of the Federal Republic of Germany).

Closing table
Pl.	country	Gates	Pt.
1	Hungary	8: 3	7: 1
2	GDR	5: 5	4: 4
3	Austria	1: 6	1: 7

Game results:

04/25/1965	Vienna	Austria	-	GDR	1: 1 (0: 0)
May 23, 1965	Leipzig	GDR	-	Hungary	1: 1 (1: 1)
06/13/1965	Vienna	Austria	-	Hungary	0: 1 (0: 1)
09/05/1965	Budapest	Hungary	-	Austria	3: 0 (1: 1)
10/09/1965	Budapest	Hungary	-	GDR	3: 2 (1: 1)
10/31/1965	Leipzig	GDR	-	Austria	1: 0 (1: 0)

Group 7

Qualifying for the World Cup finals was not difficult for the USSR with their legendary goalkeeper idol Lev Yashin . As a declared favorite, the reigning vice European champion only intervened very late in the qualification process. At this point the competition had already won each other's points. What followed was a series of five sovereign Soviet victories in a row that ensured qualification. The final defeat in Wales was easy to get over in the USSR selection.

Closing table
Pl.	country	Gates	Pt.
1	USSR	19: 06	10: 2
2	Wales	11: 09	06: 6
3	Greece	10:14	05: 7
4th	Denmark	07:18	03: 9

Game results:

10/21/1964	Copenhagen	Denmark	-	Wales	1: 0 (0: 0)
11/29/1964	Athens	Greece	-	Denmark	4: 2 (1: 0)
December 09, 1964	Athens	Greece	-	Wales	2: 0 (1: 0)
03/17/1965	Cardiff	Wales	-	Greece	4: 1 (1: 1)
May 23, 1965	Moscow	USSR	-	Greece	3: 1 (1: 0)
05/30/1965	Moscow	USSR	-	Wales	2: 1 (1: 0)
06/27/1965	Moscow	USSR	-	Denmark	6: 0 (1: 0)
10/03/1965	Piraeus	Greece	-	USSR	1: 4 (1: 2)
10/17/1965	Copenhagen	Denmark	-	USSR	1: 3 (0: 0)
10/27/1965	Copenhagen	Denmark	-	Greece	1: 1 (1: 1)
10/27/1965	Cardiff	Wales	-	USSR	2: 1 (1: 1)
December 01, 1965	Wrexham	Wales	-	Denmark	4: 2 (3: 1)

Group 8

In qualifying group 8, a duel between Italy and Scotland was expected . The Italians relied on their stars like Giacinto Facchetti , Sandro Mazzola or Gianni Rivera , while the Scots relied primarily on their star striker Denis Law . The Polish team was believed to have an outsider chance, while the Finnish team was more likely to play the role of scoring points. The predictions made before the start of the qualifying matches have come true. In fact, the decision about the final group win was only made in the very last game. Scotland and Italy were tied at the time, although Italy had the better cards due to their home advantage. In the end, the win was 3-0 for the Italians, although the overall strength of the Italians at home in this qualification was impressive and ultimately made the difference for winning the group.

Closing table
Pl.	country	Gates	Pt.
1	Italy	17: 03	9: 03
2	Scotland	08: 08	7: 05
3	Poland	11:10	6: 06
4th	Finland	05:20	2:10

Game results:

10/21/1964	Glasgow	Scotland	-	Finland	3: 1 (3: 0)
04/11/1964	Genoa	Italy	-	Finland	6: 1 (3: 0)
04/18/1965	Warsaw	Poland	-	Italy	0-0
May 23, 1965	Chorzów	Poland	-	Scotland	1: 1 (0: 0)
May 27, 1965	Helsinki	Finland	-	Scotland	1: 2 (1: 1)
06/23/1965	Helsinki	Finland	-	Italy	0: 2 (0: 1)
09/26/1965	Helsinki	Finland	-	Poland	2: 0 (2: 0)
10/13/1965	Glasgow	Scotland	-	Poland	1: 2 (1: 0)
October 24, 1965	Szczecin	Poland	-	Finland	7: 0 (6: 0)
11/01/1965	Rome	Italy	-	Poland	6: 1 (2: 0)
11/09/1965	Glasgow	Scotland	-	Italy	1: 0 (0: 0)
December 07, 1965	Naples	Italy	-	Scotland	3: 0 (1: 0)

Group 9

The course of qualification group 9 - which only consisted of two teams due to the withdrawal of the Syrians - reminded the Spaniards of qualifying for the 1954 World Cup : a 0-1 defeat away, a 4-1 win at home and then one Playoff. At that time there was a 2: 2 n.V .; the following drawing of lots finally fell out for the blatant outsider Turkey . After a 0: 1 in Dublin and a 4: 1 in Seville, a playoff had to be scheduled again in 1965, in which José Ufarte only scored the redeeming and decisive 1-0 for the reigning European champions in the 80th minute, thus qualifying -KO as was spared in 1954.

Closing table
Pl.	country	Gates	Pt.
1	Spain	4: 2	2: 2
2	Ireland	2: 4	2: 2
3	Syria	withdrawn

Game results:

05/05/1965	Dublin	Ireland	-	Spain	1: 0 (0: 0)
10/27/1965	Seville	Spain	-	Ireland	4: 1 (2: 1)
Playoff:
11/10/1965	Paris	Spain	-	Ireland	1: 0 (0: 0)

South America

Since Brazil had already qualified as defending champions, the remaining nine of the ten registered South American football nations fought for three places in the finals intended for South America. The teams played in three groups of three teams each, the group winners qualified for the final tournament. The game was played back and forth, in the event of a tie, a decision game decided. The South American group classification was as follows:

Group 1

South America qualifying group 1 was a short walk for Uruguay . With four wins in four games, the South Americans bought their ticket to the final. The team only had a little trouble playing in Peru , when they were on the verge of defeat and could only score the decisive goal 12 minutes before the end.

Closing table
Pl.	country	Gates	Pt.
1	Uruguay	11: 02	8-0
2	Peru	08: 06	4: 4
3	Venezuela	04:15	0: 8

Game results:

May 16, 1965	Lima	Peru	-	Venezuela	1: 0 (0: 0)
May 23, 1965	Montevideo	Uruguay	-	Venezuela	5: 0 (2: 0)
05/30/1965	Caracas	Venezuela	-	Uruguay	1: 3 (1: 1)
06/02/1965	Caracas	Venezuela	-	Peru	3: 6 (1: 3)
06/06/1965	Lima	Peru	-	Uruguay	0: 1 (0: 0)
06/13/1965	Montevideo	Uruguay	-	Peru	2: 1 (1: 1)

Group 2

The final round qualification had imagined the World Cup third in 1962, the Chilean national soccer team , to be easier. With Colombia in particular , they thought they would have an easy game. At first this was also confirmed, as the 7-2 success in the first duel showed. But then there was a completely unexpected 2-0 defeat in the second leg, and in Ecuador they only reached a draw. The group favorite had to win in the last game in order to qualify after a detour via a play-off. The Chileans succeeded in the first stage with a 3-1 win and the second stage, the decider, was finally won 2-1.

Closing table
Pl.	country	Gates	Pt.
1	Chile	12: 07	5: 3
2	Ecuador	06: 05	5: 3
3	Colombia	04:10	2: 6

Game results:

07/20/1965	Barranquilla	Colombia	-	Ecuador	0: 1 (0: 1)
07/25/1965	Guayaquil	Ecuador	-	Colombia	2: 0 (0: 0)
08/01/1965	Santiago de Chile	Chile	-	Colombia	7: 2 (4: 0)
08/07/1965	Barranquilla	Colombia	-	Chile	2: 0 (0: 0)
08/15/1965	Guayaquil	Ecuador	-	Chile	2: 2 (1: 1)
08/22/1965	Santiago de Chile	Chile	-	Ecuador	3: 1 (1: 1)
Playoff:
10/12/1965	Lima	Chile	-	Ecuador	2: 1 (2: 0)

Group 3

Argentina lived up to their role as favorites and ended their four qualifying matches without a loss. Only the 0-0 draw against Paraguay was a minor blemish, which Argentina didn't take as a tragedy.

Closing table
Pl.	country	Gates	Pt.
1	Argentina	9: 2	7: 1
2	Paraguay	3: 5	3: 5
3	Bolivia	4: 9	2: 6

Game results:

07/25/1965	Asunción	Paraguay	-	Bolivia	2: 0 (1: 0)
08/01/1965	Buenos Aires	Argentina	-	Paraguay	3: 0 (3: 0)
08/08/1965	Asunción	Paraguay	-	Argentina	0-0
08/17/1965	Buenos Aires	Argentina	-	Bolivia	4: 1 (3: 0)
08/22/1965	La Paz	Bolivia	-	Paraguay	2: 1 (1: 1)
08/29/1965	La Paz	Bolivia	-	Argentina	1: 2 (1: 2)

North and Central America

Nine North and Central American national teams fought for a free place in the finals. The teams initially played in three preliminary round groups with three participants each. The three group winners then determined the World Cup finalist in a final round. The game was played in the first and final round in the first and second leg, in the event of a tie, a decision game was decided. However, the three teams in Group 1 agreed to play the group games in two tournaments. First all three teams met in Kingston (Jamaica); a week later the "second round" took place in Cuba's capital Havana.

Preliminary round

Group 1

Closing table
Pl.	country	Gates	Pt.
1	Jamaica	5: 2	5: 3
2	Netherlands Antilles	2: 3	4: 4
3	Cuba	3: 5	3: 5

Game results:

January 16, 1965	Kingston	Jamaica	-	Cuba	2: 0 (1: 0)
01/20/1965	Kingston	Netherlands Antilles	-	Cuba	1: 1 (0: 0)
01/23/1965	Kingston	Jamaica	-	Netherlands Antilles	2: 0 (1: 0)
01/30/1965	Havana	Cuba	-	Netherlands Antilles	0: 1 (0: 1)
02/03/1965	Havana	Netherlands Antilles	-	Jamaica	0-0
02/07/1965	Havana	Cuba	-	Jamaica	2: 1 (2: 1)

Group 2

Closing table
Pl.	country	Gates	Pt.
1	Costa Rica	9: 01	8-0
2	Suriname	8: 09	2: 6
3	Trinidad and Tobago	5:12	2: 6

Game results:

02/07/1965	Port of Spain	Trinidad & Tobago	-	Suriname	4: 1 (3: 1)
02/12/1965	San Jose	Costa Rica	-	Suriname	1: 0 (0: 0)
02/21/1965	San Jose	Costa Rica	-	Trinidad & Tobago	4: 0 (1: 0)
02/28/1965	Paramaribo	Suriname	-	Costa Rica	1: 3 (0: 2)
03/07/1965	Port of Spain	Trinidad & Tobago	-	Costa Rica	0: 1 (0: 1)
03/14/1965	Paramaribo	Suriname	-	Trinidad & Tobago	6: 1 (3: 0)

Group 3

Closing table
Pl.	country	Gates	Pt.
1	Mexico	8: 2	7: 1
2	United States	4: 5	4: 4
3	Honduras	1: 6	1: 7

Game results:

02/28/1965	San Pedro Sula	Honduras	-	Mexico	0: 1 (0: 1)
03/04/1965	Mexico city	Mexico	-	Honduras	3: 0 (2: 0)
03/07/1965	los Angeles	United States	-	Mexico	2: 2 (1: 1)
03/12/1965	Mexico city	Mexico	-	United States	2: 0 (1: 0)
03/17/1965	San Pedro Sula	Honduras	-	United States	0: 1 (0: 0)
03/21/1965	Tegucigalpa	United States	-	Honduras	1: 1 (0: 0)

Final round

Of all the nations that took part in the World Cup qualification, Mexico had to go the longest way to England. Eight games were played, but the record was impressive: six wins, two draws and 20: 4 goals. Even if the top-class opponents were missing in the qualification - only in the final round Costa Rica could be considered a challenge - Mexico reached the World Cup finals for the sixth time.

Closing table
Pl.	country	Gates	Pt.
1	Mexico	12: 02	7: 1
2	Costa Rica	08: 02	4: 4
3	Jamaica	03:19	1: 7

Game results:

04/25/1965	San Jose	Costa Rica	-	Mexico	0-0
05/03/1965	Kingston	Jamaica	-	Mexico	2: 3 (2: 1)
05/07/1965	Mexico city	Mexico	-	Jamaica	8: 0 (2: 0)
05/11/1965	San Jose	Costa Rica	-	Jamaica	7: 0 (1: 0)
May 16, 1965	Mexico city	Mexico	-	Costa Rica	1: 0 (1: 0)
May 22, 1965	Kingston	Jamaica	-	Costa Rica	1: 1 (0: 0)

Africa, Asia, Oceania

A total of 21 teams from the three continental associations had registered for the World Cup qualification, including 16 from Africa, four from Asia and one from Oceania. Two Asian teams (Israel and Syria) were assigned to the European qualification for regional reasons. The remaining 19 teams should play according to the ideas of FIFA for a free final round place.

The qualification mode was originally intended to consist of a separate preliminary round for the African and Asian / Oceanic teams. At the end of the day, the three African group winners of the preliminary round and the winner of the Asian-Oceanic eliminations in the knockout system with a return leg should determine the final round participant.

But there were difficulties from the start. First there was the problem that South Africa was particularly hostile to the rest of the African states because of its apartheid policy . For this reason, South Africa had been assigned to the Asia group to prevent boycotts of other African teams. But in the end the international pressure was so great that FIFA finally suspended South Africa. Another big problem was the fact that the remaining 18 teams were only allowed one place in the finals. This led to a bitter conflict between the African football association CAF and FIFA, which ultimately led to all 15 African teams withdrawing from the qualification. From the Asia / Oceania group, South Korea joined the withdrawal of the African teams for the same reason, so that in the end only Australia and North Korea remained in the qualification.

Preliminary round Africa

The 15 African teams should initially compete in the first round in six groups (three with two and three with three teams each). The six group winners should then determine in a second round the three teams that should meet the winner of the Asia / Oceania group in the semi-finals of the qualification. Due to the withdrawal of all African teams, however, qualifying matches were not held. The group division and the tournament mode had the following appearance:

1 round

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Group 5	Group 6
Ghana	Sudan	Tunisia	Morocco	Ethiopia	Egypt
Guinea	Cameroon	Algeria	Senegal	Gabon	Libya
		Liberia	Mali		Nigeria

2nd round

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3
Winner group 1	Winner group 2	Winner group 3
Winner group 5	Winner group 4	Winner group 6

Preliminary round Asia / Oceania

In this qualification, the Asian teams (North Korea, South Korea) remaining after Israel and Syria were moved to the European qualification should meet the Oceania representative Australia and South Africa , which was assigned to this qualification for political reasons. However, after South Africa was suspended by FIFA and South Korea withdrew from qualifying, only Australia and North Korea remained in this qualifying round.

Due to the current situation, the FIFA Emergency Committee, chaired by President Stanley Rous in Frankfurt am Main, decided to determine the 16th participant in two games between North Korea and Australia. It was said that both games would be played on neutral soil in Cambodia in the course of November. In Sweden, this resolution destroyed hopes because there - similar to the "precedent" of 1958 (at that time, Wales, as second in UEFA Group 4, was given a chance afterwards and ultimately qualified in the two-legged game against Israel) - had calculated chances as second in the group behind Germany.

These two teams met in two games in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. It was originally planned that the winner of the Asia / Oceania qualification should enter the semi-finals of the African representatives. With their withdrawal, North Korea, as the winner of the Asia / Oceania group, qualified directly for the World Cup finals.

Closing table
Pl.	country	Gates	Pt.
1	North Korea	9: 2	4-0
2	Australia	2: 9	0: 4
3	South Korea	withdrawn
4th	South Africa	suspended

Game results:

11/21/1965	Phnom Penh	North Korea	-	Australia	6: 1 (1: 0)
11/24/1965	Phnom Penh	Australia	-	North Korea	1: 3 (1: 1)

Web links

• RSSSF - Qualification for the Football World Cup 1966

Individual evidence

1. ↑ dfb.de: "Victory in Sweden: Uwe Seeler opens the gate to the 1966 World Cup"
2. ↑ The USA renounced their home rights
3. ^ "World Cup finals: 16th place for North Korea or Australia" in "Welt und Sport" (Monday edition of the "Volkszeitung Kärnten") No. 926 of October 4, 1965, page 2, POS. Column 3, below
4. ↑ "Fifa: North Korea or Australia"; POS. Columns 2 and 3, around the middle . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna October 2, 1965, p. 12 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).