Football World Cup 1990 / qualification

Qualification for the Soccer World Cup 1990

Participant in qualifying for the 1990 World Cup

The qualifying matches for the men's soccer World Cup in 1990 took place from April 17, 1988 to November 19, 1989. 110 countries had started the World Cup qualification, only 22 national teams remained at the end of the qualification. Argentina as defending champions and Italy as hosts completed the field of finalists. All qualification options include either the championship or the cup system.

For the World Cup tournament in Italy in 1990 a total of 112 teams had registered, including

• 33 teams from Europe
• 10 teams from South America
• 15 teams from North and Central America
• 24 teams from Africa
• 25 teams from Asia
• 5 teams from Oceania with Israel and Taiwan

Qualified teams

Since Argentina were the defending champions and Italy were the hosts of the 1990 World Cup finals , there were 22 free places available in the final round for the remaining 110 teams.

13 to Europe	Romania	Sweden	England	Soviet Union	Austria
	Netherlands	BR Germany	Yugoslavia	Scotland	Spain
	Ireland	Belgium	Czechoslovakia
2½ to South America	Uruguay	Brazil	Colombia *
2 to North and Central America	Costa Rica	United States
2 to Africa	Egypt	Cameroon
2 to Asia	South Korea	UAE
½ to Oceania	*
Defending champion:	Argentina			Host:	Italy

With the withdrawal of six teams and the suspension of Mexico by FIFA, the number of teams participating in the qualifying matches dropped to 103.

European Zone / UEFA

32 teams determined 13 World Cup finalists in four groups of five and three groups of four. All group winners and all runners-up in the groups of five were qualified for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. Of the three runners-up in the groups of four, only the two with the best points qualified for the 1990 World Cup. Without qualifying games, host Italy was added as the 14th European representative.

Group 1

19.10.88 19.10.88 02.11.88 02.11.88 26.04.89 26.04.89	Greece - Denmark Bulgaria - Romania Denmark - Bulgaria Romania - Greece Bulgaria - Denmark Greece - Romania	1: 1 1: 3 1: 1 3: 0 0: 2 0: 0	05/17/89 05/17/89 10/11/89 10/11/89 11/15/89 11/15/89	Denmark - Greece Romania - Bulgaria Bulgaria - Greece Denmark - Romania Romania - Denmark Greece - Bulgaria	7: 1 1: 0 4: 0 3: 0 3: 1 1: 0		country	Gates	Pt
						1.	Romania **	10: 05	9: 3
						2.	Denmark	15: 06	8: 4
						3.	Greece	03:15	4: 8
						4th	Bulgaria	06: 08	3: 9

Group 2

19.10.88 19.10.88 05.11.88 08.03.89 26.04.89 07.05.89	Poland - Albania England - Sweden Albania - Sweden Albania - England England - Albania Sweden - Poland	1: 0 0: 0 1: 2 0: 2 5: 0 2: 1	06/03/89 09/06/89 10/08/89 10/11/89 10/25/89 11/15/89	England - Poland Sweden - England Sweden - Albania Poland - England Poland - Sweden Albania - Poland	3: 0 0: 0 3: 1 0: 0 0: 2 1: 2		country	Gates	Pt
						1.	Sweden **	09: 03	10: 02
						2.	England **	10: 00	09: 03
						3.	Poland	04: 08	05: 07
						4th	Albania	03:15	00:12

Group 3

08/31/88 10/12/88 10/19/88 10/19/88 11/02/88 11/30/88 04/12/89 04/26/89 05/10/89 05/20/89	Iceland - Soviet Union Turkey - Iceland Soviet Union - Austria GDR - Iceland Austria - Turkey Turkey - GDR GDR - Turkey Soviet Union - GDR Turkey - Soviet Union GDR - Austria	1: 1 1: 1 2: 0 2: 0 3: 2 3: 1 0: 2 3: 0 0: 1 1: 1	05/31/89 06/14/89 08/23/89 09/06/89 09/06/89 09/20/89 10/8/89 10/25/89 11/15/89 11/15/89	Soviet Union - Iceland Iceland - Austria Austria - Iceland Iceland - GDR Austria - Soviet Union Iceland - Turkey GDR - Soviet Union Turkey - Austria Soviet Union - Turkey Austria - GDR	1: 1 0: 0 2: 1 0: 3 0: 0 2: 1 2: 1 3: 0 2: 0 3: 0		country	Gates	Pt
						1.	Soviet Union **	11: 04	11: 05
						2.	Austria **	09: 09	09: 07
						3.	Turkey	12:10	07: 09
						4th	German Democratic Republic	09:13	07: 09
						5.	Iceland	06:11	06:10

Group 4

08/31/88 09/14/88 10/19/88 10/19/88 04/26/89 05/31/89	Finland - Germany Netherlands - Wales Germany - Netherlands Wales - Finland Netherlands - Germany Wales - Germany	0: 4 1: 0 0: 0 2: 2 1: 1 0: 0	05/31/89 09/06/89 04/10/89 10/11/89 11/15/89 11/15/89	Finland - Netherlands Finland - Wales Germany - Finland Wales - Netherlands Germany - Wales Netherlands - Finland	0: 1 1: 0 6: 1 1: 2 2: 1 3: 0		country	Gates	Pt
						1.	Netherlands **	08: 02	10: 02
						2.	Federal Republic of Germany **	13: 03	09: 03
						3.	Finland	04:16	03: 09
						4th	Wales	04: 08	02:10

Group 5

14.09.88 28.09.88 19.10.88 22.10.88 02.11.88 19.11.88 11.12.88 08.02.89 08.03.89 26.04.89	Norway - Scotland France - Norway Scotland - Yugoslavia Cyprus - France Cyprus - Norway Yugoslavia - France Yugoslavia - Cyprus Cyprus - Scotland Scotland - France Scotland - Cyprus	1: 2 1: 0 1: 1 1: 1 0: 3 3: 2 4: 0 2: 3 2: 0 2: 1	04/29/89 05/21/89 06/14/89 09/05/89 09/06/89 10/11/89 10/11/89 10/28/89 11/15/89 11/18/89	France - Yugoslavia Norway - Cyprus Norway - Yugoslavia Norway - France Yugoslavia - Scotland Yugoslavia - Norway France - Scotland Cyprus - Yugoslavia Scotland - Norway France - Cyprus	0: 0 3: 1 1: 2 1: 1 3: 1 1: 0 3: 0 1: 2 1: 1 2: 0		country	Gates	Pt
						1.	Yugoslavia **	16: 06	14: 02
						2.	Scotland **	12:12	10: 06
						3.	France	10: 07	09: 07
						4th	Norway	10: 09	06:10
						5.	Cyprus	06:20	01:15

Group 6

05/21/88 09/14/88 10/19/88 11/16/88 12/11/88 12/21/88 01/22/89 02/08/89 03/08/89 03/23/89	Northern Ireland - Malta Northern Ireland - Ireland Hungary - Northern Ireland Spain - Ireland Malta - Hungary Spain - Northern Ireland Malta - Spain Northern Ireland - Spain Hungary - Ireland Spain - Malta	3: 0 0: 0 1: 0 2: 0 2: 2 4: 0 0: 2 0: 2 0: 0 4: 0	04/12/89 04/26/89 04/26/89 05/28/89 06/04/89 09/06/89 10/11/89 10/11/89 11/15/89 11/15/89	Hungary - Malta Malta - Northern Ireland Ireland - Spain Ireland - Malta Ireland - Hungary Northern Ireland - Hungary Hungary - Spain Ireland - Northern Ireland Spain - Hungary Malta - Ireland	1: 1 0: 2 1: 0 2: 0 2: 0 1: 2 2: 2 3: 0 4: 0 0: 2		country	Gates	Pt
						1.	Spain **	20: 03	13: 03
						2.	Ireland **	10: 02	12: 04
						3.	Hungary	08:12	08: 08
						4th	Northern Ireland	06:12	05:11
						5.	Malta	03:18	02:14

Group 7

21.09.88 18.10.88 19.10.88 16.11.88 16.11.88 15.02.89 26.04.89 29.04.89 09.05.89 01.06.89	Luxembourg - Switzerland Luxembourg - CSSR Belgium - Switzerland Portugal - Luxembourg CSSR - Belgium Portugal - Belgium Portugal - Switzerland Belgium - CSSR CSSR - Luxembourg Luxembourg - Belgium	1: 4 0: 2 1: 0 1: 0 0: 0 1: 1 3: 1 2: 1 4: 0 0: 5	07.06.89 06.09.89 20.09.89 06.10.89 11.10.89 11.10.89 25.10.89 25.10.89 15.11.89 15.11.89	Switzerland - CSSR Belgium - Portugal Switzerland - Portugal CSSR - Portugal Luxembourg - Portugal Switzerland - Belgium CSSR - Switzerland Belgium - Luxembourg Portugal - CSSR Switzerland - Luxembourg	0: 1 3: 0 1: 2 2: 1 0: 3 2: 2 3: 0 1: 1 0: 0 2: 1		country	Gates	Pt
						1.	Belgium **	15: 05	12: 04
						2.	CSSR **	13: 03	12: 04
						3.	Portugal	11: 08	10: 06
						4th	Switzerland	10:14	05:11
						5.	Luxembourg	03:22	01:15

Comparison between the runners-up in the three groups of four

1	Group 4	Federal Republic of Germany **	13: 3	9: 3
2	Group 2	England **	10-0	9: 3
3	Group 1	Denmark	15: 6	8: 4

South American Zone / CONMEBOL

Nine teams played in three groups of three. The two group winners with the best points were qualified for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. The weakest group winner had to go to a playoff against the Oceania winner . The winner of this playoff was also qualified for the 1990 World Cup. Defending champions Argentina were added without qualifying matches.

Group 1

08/20/89 08/27/89 09/03/89 09/10/89 09/17/89 09/24/89	Bolivia - Peru Peru - Uruguay Bolivia - Uruguay Peru - Bolivia Uruguay - Bolivia Uruguay - Peru	2: 1 0: 2 2: 1 1: 2 2: 0 2: 0		country	Gates	Pt
			1.	Uruguay **	7: 2	6: 2
			2.	Bolivia	6: 5	6: 2
			3.	Peru	2: 8	0: 8

Group 2

08/20/89 08/27/89 09/03/89 09/10/89 09/17/89 09/24/89	Colombia - Ecuador Paraguay - Colombia Ecuador - Colombia Paraguay - Ecuador Colombia - Paraguay Ecuador - Paraguay	2: 0 2: 1 0: 0 2: 1 2: 1 3: 1		country	Gates	Pt
			1.	Colombia *	5: 3	5: 3
			2.	Paraguay	6: 7	4: 4
			3.	Ecuador	4: 5	3: 5

Group 3

07/30/89 08/06/89 08/13/89 08/20/89 08/27/89 09/03/89	Venezuela - Brazil Venezuela - Chile Chile - Brazil Brazil - Venezuela Chile - Venezuela Brazil - Chile	0: 4 1: 3 1: 1 6: 0 5: 0 2: 0		country	Gates	Pt
			1.	Brazil **	13: 01	7: 1
			2.	Chile	09: 04	5: 3
			3.	Venezuela	01:18	0: 8

Intercontinental playoffs

10/15/1989	Colombia	-	Israel	1-0
10/30/1989	Israel	-	Colombia **	0-0

North, Central American and Caribbean Zones / CONCACAF

In the first qualifying round, five participants from 10 teams were determined for the second qualifying round through five playoff pairings, another five teams came into round two by a bye without a fight. The five winners of the five playoff pairings of the second round (indicated by * ) advanced to the CONCACAF finals. The group winners and runners-up in the CONCACAF finals qualified for the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

First round
04/17/1988	Guyana	-	Trinidad & Tobago	0: 4
05/08/1988	Trinidad & Tobago	-	Guyana	1-0
04/30/1988	Cuba	-	Guatemala	0: 1
05/15/1988	Guatemala	-	Cuba	1: 1
05/12/1988	Jamaica	-	Puerto Rico	1-0
05/29/1988	Puerto Rico	-	Jamaica	1: 2
06/19/1988	Antigua and Barbuda	-	Netherlands Antilles	0: 1
07/29/1988	Netherlands Antilles	-	Antigua & Barbuda	3: 1 a.d.
07/17/1988	Costa Rica	-	Panama	1: 1
07/31/1988	Panama	-	Costa Rica	0: 2
Second round
10/30/1988	Trinidad & Tobago	-	Honduras	0-0
11/13/1988	Honduras	-	Trinidad & Tobago *	1: 1
10/09/1988	Guatemala	-	Canada	1-0
October 15, 1988	Canada	-	Guatemala *	3: 2
07/24/1988	Jamaica	-	United States	0-0
08/13/1988	USA *	-	Jamaica	5: 1
10/01/1988	Netherlands Antilles	-	El Salvador	0: 1
10/16/1988	El Salvador *	-	Dutch Antilles	5-0
	Costa Rica *	-	Mexico	without a fight

• Mexico was suspended for two years by FIFA in 1988 after the Mexican Federation failed to adhere to player age limits when qualifying for the Seoul Olympics.

Finals

03/19/89 04/02/89 04/16/89 04/30/89 05/13/89 05/28/89 06/11/89 06/17/89 06/25/89 07/16/89	Guatemala - Costa Rica Costa Rica - Guatemala Costa Rica - USA USA - Costa Rica USA - Trinidad & Tobago Trinidad & T. - Costa Rica Costa Rica - Trinidad & T. USA - Guatemala El Salvador - Costa Rica Costa Rica - El Salvador	1: 0 2: 1 1: 0 1: 0 1: 1 1: 1 1: 0 2: 1 2: 4 1: 0	07/30/89 08/13/89 08/20/89 09/03/89 09/17/89 10/8/89 11/05/89 11/19/89 - -	Trinidad & T. - El Salvador El Salvador - Trinidad & T. Guatemala - Trinidad & T. Trinidad & T. - Guatemala El Salvador - USA Guatemala - USA USA - El Salvador Trinidad & Tobago - USA Guatemala - El Salvador El Salvador - Guatemala	2: 0 0: 0 0: 1 2: 1 0: 1 0: 0 0: 0 0: 1 - -		country	Gates	Pt
						1.	Costa Rica **	10: 6	11: 05
						2.	USA **	06: 3	11: 05
						3.	Trinidad and Tobago	07: 5	09: 07
						4th	Guatemala	04: 7	03: 09
						5.	El Salvador	02: 8	02:10

Asian Zone / AFC

22 teams played in the first round in six groups. The six group winners qualified for the Asian finals in Singapore. The group winners and runners-up in the Asian finals qualified for the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

Group 1

01/06/89 01/06/89 01/13/89 01/13/89 01/20/89 01/20/89	Qatar - Jordan Oman - Iraq Oman - Qatar Jordan - Iraq Qatar - Iraq Jordan - Oman	1: 0 1: 1 0: 0 0: 1 1: 0 2: 0	01/27/89 01/27/89 02/03/89 02/03/89 02/10/89 02/10/89	Jordan - Qatar Iraq - Oman Qatar - Oman Iraq - Jordan Oman - Jordan Iraq - Qatar	1: 1 3: 1 3: 0 4: 0 0: 2 2: 2		country	Gates	Pt
						1.	Qatar *	08: 03	9: 03
						2.	Iraq	11: 05	8: 04
						3.	Jordan	05: 07	5: 07
						4th	Oman	02:11	2:10

Group 2

Bahrain waived	03/10/89 03/15/89 03/20/89 03/25/89 03/30/89 04/05/89	North Yemen - Syria Saudi Arabia - Syria North Yemen - Saudi Arabia Syria - North Yemen Syria - Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia - North Yemen	0: 1 5: 4 0: 1 2: 0 0: 0 1: 0		country	Gates	Pt
				1.	Saudi Arabia *	7: 4	7: 1
				2.	Syria	7: 5	5: 3
				3.	North Yemen	0: 5	0: 8
					Bahrain

Group 3

South Yemen waived	01/06/89 01/13/89 01/20/89 01/27/89 02/03/89 02/10/89	Pakistan - Kuwait Kuwait - United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates - Pakistan Kuwait - Pakistan United Arab Emirates - Kuwait Pakistan - United Arab Emirates	0: 1 3: 2 5: 0 2: 0 1: 0 1: 4		country	Gates	Pt
				1.	Ver. Arab. Emirates *	12: 04	6: 2
				2.	Kuwait	06: 03	6: 2
				3.	Pakistan	01:12	0: 8
					South Yemen

Group 4

05/23/89 05/23/89 05/25/89 05/25/89 05/27/89 05/27/89	Tournament in South Korea Nepal - Malaysia South Korea - Singapore South Korea - Nepal Malaysia - Singapore Nepal - Singapore South Korea - Malaysia	0: 2 3: 0 9: 0 1: 0 0: 3 3: 0	06/03/89 06/03/89 06/05/89 06/05/89 06/07/89 06/07/89	Tournament in Singapore Singapore - Malaysia Nepal - South Korea Malaysia - South Korea Singapore - Nepal Singapore - South Korea Malaysia - Nepal	2: 2 0: 4 0: 3 7: 0 0: 3 3: 0		country	Gates	Pt
						1.	South Korea *	25: 00	12: 00
						2.	Malaysia	08: 08	07: 05
						3.	Singapore	12: 09	05: 07
						4th	Nepal	00:28	00:12

Group 5

02/19/89 02/23/89 02/23/89 02/27/89 02/28/89 03/04/89	Thailand - Bangladesh China - Bangladesh Thailand - Iran Bangladesh - Iran Thailand - China Bangladesh - China	1: 0 2: 0 0: 3 1: 2 0: 3 0: 2	03/08/89 03/17/89 03/30/89 07/15/89 07/22/89 07/29/89	Bangladesh - Thailand Iran - Bangladesh Iran - Thailand China - Iran Iran - China China - Thailand	3: 1 1: 0 3: 0 2: 0 3: 2 2: 0		country	Gates	Pt
						1.	People's Republic of China *	13: 03	10: 02
						2.	Iran	12: 05	10: 02
						3.	Bangladesh	04: 09	02:10
						4th	Thailand	02:14	02:10

Group 6

05/21/89 05/22/89 05/27/89 05/28/89 06/04/89 06/04/89	Indonesia - North Korea Hong Kong - Japan Hong Kong - North Korea Indonesia - Japan Hong Kong - Indonesia Japan - North Korea	0: 0 0: 0 1: 2 0: 0 1: 1 2: 1	06/11/89 06/18/89 06/25/89 06/25/89 07/02/89 07/09/89	Japan - Indonesia Japan - Hong Kong North Korea - Japan Indonesia - Hong Kong North Korea - Hong Kong North Korea - Indonesia	5: 0 0: 0 2: 0 3: 2 4: 1 2: 1		country	Gates	Pt
						1.	North Korea *	11: 05	9: 3
						2.	Japan	07: 03	7: 5
						3.	Indonesia	05:10	5: 7
						4th	Hong Kong	05:10	3: 9

Asia finals

10/12/89 10/12/89 10/13/89 10/16/89 10/16/89 10/17/89 10/20/89	UA Emirates - North Korea China - Saudi Arabia South Korea - Qatar Qatar - Saudi Arabia South Korea - North Korea China - VA Emirates South Korea - China	0: 0 2: 1 0: 0 1: 1 1: 0 1: 2 1: 0	10/20/89 10/21/89 10/24/89 10/24/89 10/25/89 10/28/89 10/28/89 10/28/89	North Korea - Qatar UA Emirates - Saudi Arabia UA Emirates - Qatar China - North Korea South Korea - Saudi Arabia UA Emirates - South Korea * Saudi Arabia - North Korea * Qatar - China	2: 0 0: 0 1: 1 1: 0 2: 0 1: 1 2: 0 2: 1		country	Gates	Pt
						1.	South Korea **	5: 1	8: 2
						2.	Ver. Arab. Emirates **	4: 3	6: 4
						3.	Qatar	4: 5	5: 5
						4th	People's Republic of China	5: 6	4: 6
						5.	Saudi Arabia	4: 5	4: 6
						6th	North Korea	2: 4	3: 7

Tournament in Singapore; * two games in Malaysia

African Zone / CAF

Eight teams had a bye in the 1st round , three more benefited from the withdrawal of three teams. Ten teams went into the five playoffs of the 1st round, the five winners of which also qualified for the group games of the 2nd round . The 2nd round was played in four groups of four. The four group winners qualified for the two playoff pairings of the third round . The two winners of the playoffs qualified for the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

1 round:

Group 1
08/07/1988	Angola	-	Sudan	0-0
11/11/1988	Sudan	-	Angola *	1: 2
	Zimbabwe *	-	Lesotho	renounced
	Zambia *	-	Rwanda	renounced
07/16/1988	Uganda	-	Malawi	1-0
07/30/1988	Malawi *	-	Uganda	3: 1
Group 2
06/03/1988	Libya	-	Burkina Faso	3-0
07/03/1988	Burkina Faso	-	Libya *	2-0
08/07/1988	Ghana	-	Liberia	0-0
08/21/1988	Liberia *	-	Ghana	2-0
08/05/1988	Tunisia	-	Guinea	5-0
08/21/1988	Guinea	-	Tunisia *	3-0
	Gabon *	-	Togo	renounced

2nd round:

Group A

01/06/89 01/08/89 01/20/89	Algeria - Zimbabwe Ivory Coast - Libya Libya - Algeria * Libya did not play, the game was declared lost, Libya withdrew; Games not rated	3: 0 1: 0 0: 2 *	01/22/89 06/11/89 06/25/89 08/13/89 08/25/89	Zimbabwe - Ivory Coast Ivory Coast - Algeria Zimbabwe - Algeria Ivory Coast - Zimbabwe Algeria - Ivory Coast	0: 0 0: 0 1: 2 5: 0 1: 0		country	Gates	Pt
						1.	Algeria *	6: 01	7: 1
						2.	Ivory Coast	5: 01	4: 4
						3.	Zimbabwe	1:10	1: 7
						4th	Libya

Group B

06.01.89 07.01.89 21.01.89 22.01.89 10.06.89 11.06.89	Egypt - Liberia Kenya - Malawi Malawi - Egypt Liberia - Kenya Kenya - Egypt Liberia - Malawi	2: 0 1: 1 1: 1 0: 0 0: 0 1: 0	06/24/89 06/25/89 08/11/89 08/12/89 08/26/89 08/26/89	Malawi - Kenya Liberia - Egypt Egypt - Malawi Kenya - Liberia Egypt - Kenya Malawi - Liberia	1: 0 1: 0 1: 0 1: 0 2: 0 0: 0		country	Gates	Pt
						1.	Egypt *	6: 2	8: 4
						2.	Liberia	2: 3	6: 6
						3.	Malawi	3: 4	5: 7
						4th	Kenya	2: 4	5: 7

Group C

07.01.89 08.01.89 22.01.89 22.01.89 10.06.89 11.06.89	Nigeria - Gabon Cameroon - Angola Gabon - Cameroon Angola - Nigeria Nigeria - Cameroon Angola - Gabon	1: 0 1: 1 1: 3 2: 2 2: 0 2: 0	06/25/89 06/25/89 08/12/89 08/13/89 08/27/89 08/27/89	Angola - Cameroon Gabon - Nigeria Nigeria - Angola Cameroon - Gabon Cameroon - Nigeria Gabon - Angola	1: 2 2: 1 1: 0 2: 1 1: 0 1: 0		country	Gates	Pt
						1.	Cameroon *	9: 6	9: 3
						2.	Nigeria	7: 5	7: 5
						3.	Angola	6: 7	4: 8
						4th	Gabon	5: 9	4: 8

Group D

01/08/89 01/08/89 01/22/89 01/22/89 06/11/89 06/11/89	Morocco - Zambia Zaire - Tunisia Tunisia - Morocco Zambia - Zaire Zaire - Morocco Zambia - Tunisia	1: 0 3: 1 2: 1 4: 2 0: 0 1: 0	06/25/89 06/25/89 08/13/89 08/13/89 08/27/89 08/27/89	Zambia - Morocco Tunisia - Zaire Morocco - Tunisia Zaire - Zambia Morocco - Zaire Tunisia - Zambia	2: 1 1: 0 0: 0 1: 0 1: 1 1: 0		country	Gates	Pt
						1.	Tunisia *	5: 5	7: 5
						2.	Zambia	7: 6	6: 6
						3.	Zaire	7: 7	6: 6
						4th	Morocco	4: 5	5: 7

3rd round:

10/08/1989	Algeria	-	Egypt	0-0
11/17/1989	Egypt **	-	Algeria	1-0
10/08/1989	Cameroon	-	Tunisia	2-0
11/19/1989	Tunisia	-	Cameroon **	0: 1

Oceanic Zone / OFC

Only three teams from Oceania took part in qualifying for the 1990 World Cup. For political reasons, Taiwan and Israel were assigned to the Oceania group. The Oceania winner also had to play a playoff against the weakest group winners of all three South American groups of three . Only the winner of this intercontinental duel finally qualified for the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

1 round

11/26/1988	Fiji	-	Australia	1-0
December 3rd, 1988	Australia *	-	Fiji	5: 1
12/11/1988	Taiwan	-	New Zealand	0-4 in New Zealand
December 15, 1988	New Zealand *	-	Taiwan	4: 1
	Israel *			bye

2nd round

05.03.89 12.03.89 19.03.89 02.04.89 09.04.89 16.04.89	Israel - New Zealand Australia - New Zealand Israel - Australia New Zealand - Australia New Zealand - Israel Australia - Israel	1: 0 4: 1 1: 1 2: 0 2: 2 1: 1		country	Gates	Pt
			1.	Israel *	5: 4	5: 3
			2.	Australia	6: 5	4: 4
			3.	New Zealand	5: 7	3: 5

Intercontinental playoffs

10/15/1989	Colombia	-	Israel	1-0
10/30/1989	Israel	-	Colombia **	0-0