Greece qualified for the finals of a world championship for the first time as the winner of Europe Group 5. The following results were achieved in the qualification:
In Group D, Nigeria, Bulgaria and Argentina finished the group stage in that order with two wins and one loss each, and all reached the round of 16. Greece as the fourth team, arguably the weakest team in the tournament, went home after the preliminary round. The three leading teams had exciting encounters with each other, with Nigeria in particular making a positive impression and only suffering a 1: 2 defeat against Argentina. The Bulgarians, who, under the direction of Stoitchkov, Ivanov and Letchkov, defeated the Argentines 2-0, were also strong.