1970 FIFA World Cup Qualification
Tournament details
Teams75 (from 6 confederations)
Tournament statistics
Matches played172
Goals scored542 (3.15 per match)
Top scorer(s)Brazil Tostão (10 goals)

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 29 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. (13 teams applied, but FIFA rejected the entries of Guinea and Zaire, leaving 11 teams. A 14th team from Africa, Rhodesia, entered through a non-CAF qualifying system.)
  • 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.

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.

Qualified teams

FIFA World Cup qualification 1970
Team Method of

qualification

 Date of

qualification

 Finals

appearance

 Streak Previous best performance
 MexicoHosts8 October 1964 7th6Group Stage (1930, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966)
 EnglandDefending Champions30 July 19666th6Winners (1966)
 BelgiumUEFA Group 6 Winners30 April 19695th1 (Last: 1954)Group Stage (1930, 1934, 1938, 1954)
 UruguayCONMEBOL Group 3 Winners10 August 19696th3Winners (1930, 1950)
 BrazilCONMEBOL Group 2 Winners24 August 19699th9Winners (1958, 1962)
 PeruCONMEBOL Group 1 Winners 31 August 19692nd1 (Last: 1930)Group Stage (1930)
 El SalvadorCONCACAF Winners 8 October 19691st1–
 SwedenUEFA Group 5 Winners 15 October 19695th1 (Last: 1958)Runners-Up (1958)
 West GermanyUEFA Group 7 Winners 22 October 19697th5Winners (1954)
 MoroccoCAF Winners 26 October 19691st1–
 Soviet UnionUEFA Group 4 Winners4 November 19694th4Fourth Place (1966)
 RomaniaUEFA Group 1 Winners16 November 19694th1 (Last: 1938)Group Stage (1930, 1934, 1938)
 ItalyUEFA Group 3 Winners22 November 19697th3Winners (1934, 1938)
 CzechoslovakiaUEFA Group 2 Winners3 December 19696th1 (Last: 1962)Runners-Up (1934, 1962)
 BulgariaUEFA Group 8 Winners 7 December 19693rd3Group Stage (1962, 1966)
 IsraelAFC/OFC Winners 14 December 19691st1–

Confederation qualification

AFC and OFC

North Korea withdrew because they refused to play Israel. There would be three rounds of play:

  • First Round: Israel, New Zealand and Rhodesia received byes and advanced to the Second Round directly. The remaining 3 teams, Australia, Japan and South Korea, played against each other twice in South Korea. The group winner would advance to the Second Round.
  • Second Round: The 4 teams were divided into 2 groups of 2 teams each. The teams played against each other twice. The group winners would advance to the Final Round.
  • Final Round: The 2 teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner would qualify.

First round

Pos Team Pld Pts
1  Australia 4 6
2  South Korea 4 4
3  Japan 4 2
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source:
Pos Team Pld Pts
1  Israel 2 3
2  Australia 2 1
Source: RSSSF

Second round

Group 1 Group 2

Pos Team Pld Pts
1=  Australia 2 2
1=  Rhodesia 2 2
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source:
Pos Team Pld Pts
1  Israel 2 3
2  Australia 2 1
Source: RSSSF

Pos Team Pld Pts
1  Israel 2 4
2  New Zealand 2 0
3  North Korea 0 0
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source:
Pos Team Pld Pts
1  Israel 2 3
2  Australia 2 1
Source: RSSSF

Final round

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Israel 3211021+1
2  Australia 1201112−1

CAF

FIFA rejected the entries of Guinea and Zaire. 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.

First round

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg3rd leg
Zambia  6–6  Sudan 4–2 2–4 (aet) 
Morocco  4–2  Senegal 1–0 1–22–0
Algeria  1–2  Tunisia 1–2 0–0 
Nigeria  4–3  Cameroon 1–1 3–2 
Libya  3–5  Ethiopia 2–0 1–5 
Ghana  Bye   

Second round

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg3rd leg
Tunisia  2–2  Morocco 0–0 0–0 (aet)2–2 (aet)
Ethiopia  2–4  Sudan 1–1 1–3 
Nigeria  3–2  Ghana 2–1 1–1 

Final round

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Morocco 5421153+2
2  Nigeria 4412187+1
3  Sudan 3403158−3

Morocco qualified.

CONCACAF

FIFA rejected the entry of Cuba. There would be three rounds of play:

  • First Round: The remaining 12 teams were divided into 4 groups of 3 teams each. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would advance to the Semifinal Round.
  • Semifinal Round: The 4 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 2 teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner would qualify.

First round

Group 1
Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  United States 64301116+5
2  Canada 5421183+5
3  Bermuda 14013212−10
Group 2
Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Haiti 5421195+4
2  Guatemala 4412153+2
3  Trinidad and Tobago 34112410−6
Group 3
Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Honduras 7431072+5
2  Costa Rica 5421173+4
3  Jamaica 04004211−9
Group 4
Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  El Salvador 64301105+5
2  Suriname 44202109+1
3  Netherlands Antilles 2410339−6

Second round

Group 1
Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Haiti 4220030+3
2  United States 0200203−3
Group 2
Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1=  El Salvador 2210131+2
1=  Honduras 2210113−2

Play-off

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  El Salvador 2110032+1
2  Honduras 0100123–1

Third round

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1=  Haiti 2210142+2
1=  El Salvador 2210124−2

Play-off

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  El Salvador 2110010+1
2  Haiti 0100101–1

CONMEBOL

The 10 teams were divided into 3 groups; two groups with 3 teams and one group with 4 teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.

Group 1

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Peru 5421174+3
2  Bolivia 4420256−1
3  Argentina 3411246−2

Group 2

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Brazil 126600232+21
2  Paraguay 8640265+1
3  Colombia 36114712−5
4  Venezuela 16015118−17

Group 3

Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Uruguay 7431050+5
2  Chile 4412154+1
3  Ecuador 1401328−6

UEFA

(30 teams competing for 8 berths)

FIFA rejected the entry of Albania. The remaining 29 teams were divided into 8 groups, 3 groups with 3 teams and 5 groups with 4 teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.

Group 1
Team Pld Pts
 Romania 68
 Greece 67
  Switzerland 65
 Portugal 64
 Group 2
Team Pld Pts
 Czechoslovakia 69
 Hungary 69
 Denmark 65
 Republic of Ireland 61
 Group 3
Team Pld Pts
 Italy 47
 East Germany 45
 Wales 40
Group 4
Team Pld Pts
 Soviet Union 47
 Northern Ireland 45
 Turkey 40
 Group 5
Team Pld Pts
 Sweden 46
 France 44
 Norway 42
 Group 6
Team Pld Pts
 Belgium 69
 Yugoslavia 67
 Spain 66
 Finland 62
Group 7
Team Pld Pts
 West Germany 611
 Scotland 67
 Austria 66
 Cyprus 60
 Group 8
Team Pld Pts
 Bulgaria 69
 Poland 68
 Netherlands 67
 Luxembourg 60

Goalscorers

10 goals
9 goals
7 goals
6 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 own goal

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 short-lived 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 were expelled from the Asian Football Confederation, and now compete in the European zone as they are now a member of UEFA.

    References

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