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1974 FIFA World Cup qualification

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1974 FIFA World Cup Qualification
Tournament details
Dates14 November 1971 – 13 February 1974
Teams99 (from 6 confederations)
Tournament statistics
Matches played226
Goals scored620 (2.74 per match)
Top scorer(s)Trinidad and Tobago Steve David (12 goals)
← 1970
1978 →

99 teams entered the 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for 16 spots in the final tournament. West Germany, as the hosts, and Brazil, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition.

The 16 spots available in the 1974 World Cup would be distributed among the continental zones as follows:

  • Europe (UEFA): 9.5 places, 1 of them went to automatic qualifier West Germany, while the other 8.5 places were contested by 32 teams. The winner of the 0.5 place would advance to the Intercontinental Play-offs (against a team from CONMEBOL).
  • South America (CONMEBOL): 3.5 places, 1 of them went to automatic qualifier Brazil, while the other 2.5 places were contested by 9 teams. The winner of the 0.5 place would advance to the Intercontinental Play-offs (against a team from UEFA).
  • North, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF): 1 place, contested by 14 teams.
  • Africa (CAF): 1 place, contested by 24 teams.
  • Asia (AFC) and Oceania (OFC): 1 place, contested by 18 teams.

90 teams played at least one qualifying match. 226 qualifying matches were played, and 620 goals were scored (an average of 2.74 per match).

Confederation qualification

AFC and OFC

Main article: 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC and OFC)
Australia qualified.

CAF

Main article: 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)
Zaire qualified.

CONCACAF

Main article: 1973 CONCACAF Championship
Haiti qualified.

CONMEBOL

Main article: 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)
Group 1 - Uruguay qualified.
Group 2 - Argentina qualified.
Group 3 - Chile advanced to the UEFA / CONMEBOL Intercontinental Play-off.

UEFA

Main article: 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)
Group 1 - Sweden qualified.
Group 2 - Italy qualified.
Group 3 - Netherlands qualified.
Group 4 - East Germany qualified.
Group 5 - Poland qualified.
Group 6 - Bulgaria qualified.
Group 7 - Yugoslavia qualified.
Group 8 - Scotland qualified.
Group 9 - Soviet Union advanced to the UEFA / CONMEBOL Intercontinental Play-off.

Inter-confederation play-offs: UEFA v CONMEBOL

Main article: 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA–CONMEBOL play-off)

The teams would play against each other on a home-and-away basis, with the winner qualifying to the finals.

The second leg was scratched as the Soviet Union were disqualified after they refused to travel to Santiago for the return leg due to the 1973 Chilean coup d'état and the executions of left-wing prisoners in the Santiago stadium. The match did "go ahead" with the eleven Chilean players facing zero Soviet players before thousands of bemused spectators,[1] and half a dozen Chilean players slowly passed the ball to each other in mock play until the captain walked the ball into the net.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Soviet Union  w.o.[note 1]  Chile 0–0 0–2[note 1]

Qualified teams

Final qualification status
  Country qualified for World Cup
  Country failed to qualify
  Country did not enter World Cup
  Country not a FIFA member

The following 16 teams qualified for the 1974 FIFA World Cup:

Team Date of qualification Finals appearance Streak Last appearance
 Argentina 7 October 1973 6th 1 1966
 Australia 13 November 1973 1st 1 –
 Brazil (Defending Champions) 21 June 1970 10th 10 1970
 Bulgaria 14 November 1973 4th 4 1970
 Chile 21 November 1973 5th 1 1966
 East Germany 13 November 1973 1st 1 –
 Haiti 14 December 1973 1st 1 –
 Italy 20 October 1973 8th 4 1970
 Netherlands 18 November 1973 3rd 1 1938
 Poland 17 October 1973 2nd 1 1938
 Scotland 26 September 1973 3rd 1 1958
 Sweden 27 November 1973 6th 2 1970
 Uruguay 8 July 1973 7th 4 1970
 West Germany (Hosts) 6 July 1966 8th 6 1970
 Yugoslavia 13 February 1974 6th 1 1962
 Zaire 9 December 1973 1st 1 –

Top goalscorers

12 goals
11 goals
7 goals

Notes

  1. ^ a b The Soviet Union refused to play in Chile for the second leg, so Chile were awarded a 2–0 walkover victory.
  • For the first time in the qualifiers, goal difference was used as a tie-breaker for teams who finished level on points. Aggregate score was also used to determine the winners of two-legged ties.
  • Australia was the first team from OFC to qualify for a World Cup.

References

  1. ^ "Planet World Cup - Peter Goldstein (Columnist) Jan 03 2002".
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