1966 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

Tournament details
Dates	9 May - 29 December 1965
Teams	31[1] (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	82
Goals scored	250 (3.05 per match)
Attendance	2,982,508 (36,372 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Eusébio (7 goals)

The 32 teams were drawn into nine groups of three or four teams each; however, after the withdrawal of Syria, one group had just two teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.

Groups

Group 1

Main article: 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 1

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1=	Belgium	4	3	0	1	11	3	+8	6
1=	Bulgaria	4	3	0	1	9	6	+3	6
3	Israel	4	0	0	4	1	12	−11	0

Group 2

Main article: 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 2

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	West Germany	4	3	1	0	14	2	+12	7
2	Sweden	4	2	1	1	10	3	+7	5
3	Cyprus	4	0	0	4	0	19	−19	0

Group 3

Main article: 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 3

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	France	6	5	0	1	9	2	+7	10
2	Norway	6	3	1	2	10	5	+5	7
3	Yugoslavia	6	3	1	2	10	8	+2	7
4	Luxembourg	6	0	0	6	6	20	−14	0

Group 4

Main article: 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 4

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Portugal	6	4	1	1	9	4	+5	9
2	Czechoslovakia	6	3	1	2	12	4	+8	7
3	Romania	6	3	0	3	9	7	+2	6
4	Turkey	6	1	0	5	4	19	−15	2

Group 5

Main article: 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 5

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Switzerland	6	4	1	1	7	3	+4	9
2	Northern Ireland	6	3	2	1	9	5	+4	8
3	Netherlands	6	2	2	2	6	4	+2	6
4	Albania	6	0	1	5	2	12	−10	1

Group 6

Main article: 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 6

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Hungary	4	3	1	0	8	3	+5	7
2	East Germany	4	1	2	1	5	5	0	4
3	Austria	4	0	1	3	1	6	−5	1

Group 7

Main article: 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 7

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Soviet Union	6	5	0	1	19	6	+13	10
2	Wales	6	3	0	3	11	9	+2	6
3	Greece	6	2	1	3	10	14	−4	5
4	Denmark	6	1	1	4	7	18	−11	3

Group 8

Main article: 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 8

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Italy	6	4	1	1	17	3	+14	9
2	Scotland	6	3	1	2	8	8	0	7
3	Poland	6	2	2	2	11	10	+1	6
4	Finland	6	1	0	5	5	20	−15	2

Group 9

Main article: 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 9

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1=	Spain	2	1	0	1	4	2	+2	2
1=	Republic of Ireland	2	1	0	1	2	4	−2	2
—	Syria	Withdrew

Goalscorers

7 goals

• Eusébio

6 goals

• Mimis Papaioannou

5 goals

• Paul Van Himst
• Georgi Asparuhov
• Sandro Mazzola
• Johnny Crossan
• Włodzimierz Lubański
• Anatoliy Banishevskiy

4 goals

• Nikola Kotkov
• František Knebort
• Roy Vernon
• Milan Galić

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

• Ivan Vutsov (playing against Belgium)
• Kostas Panayiotou (playing against West Germany)
• Stig Holmqvist (playing against Italy)
• José Ángel Iribar (playing against Ireland)
• Graham Williams (playing against the Soviet Union)

Qualified teams

The following 9 countries qualified for the 1966 FIFA World Cup

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1
Bulgaria	Group 1 winners	29 December 1965	1 (1962)
West Germany	Group 2 winners	14 November 1965	4 (19342, 19382, 1954, 1958)
France	Group 3 winners	6 November 1965	5 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1958)
Portugal	Group 4 winners	21 November 1965	0 (debut)
Switzerland	Group 5 winners	14 November 1965	5 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962)
Hungary	Group 6 winners	9 October 1965	5 (1934, 1938, 1954, 1958, 1962)
Soviet Union	Group 7 winners	27 October 1965	3 (1958, 1962, 1966)
Italy	Group 8 winners	5 December 1965	4 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962)
Spain	Group 9 winners	10 November 1965	3 (1934, 1950, 1962)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

²Competed as Germany

References