Jump to content

1974 FIFA World Cup qualification

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Bender the Bot (talk | contribs) at 01:06, 20 November 2016 (→UEFA – CONMEBOL Intercontinental Play-off: clean up; http→https for Google Books and other Google services using AWB). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

1974 FIFA World Cup Qualification
Tournament details
Teams99 (from 6 confederations)
Tournament statistics
Matches played226
Goals scored620 (2.74 per match)
← 1970
1978 →

A total of 99 teams entered the 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 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.

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

Continental Zones

To see the dates and results of the qualification rounds for each continental zone, click on the following articles:

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.
Group 1 - Uruguay qualified.
Group 2 - Argentina qualified.
Group 3 - Chile advanced to the UEFA / CONMEBOL Intercontinental Play-off.
Haiti qualified.
Zaire qualified.
Australia qualified.

Intercontinental Play-offs

Main article: Soviet Union vs Chile 1974 FIFA World Cup play-off

The teams would play against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner would qualify.

UEFA – CONMEBOL Intercontinental Play-off

26 September 1973 Soviet Union  0 – 0  Chile Moscow, Soviet Union
Referee: Marques (Brazil)
21 November 1973 Chile  w/o  Soviet Union Santiago, Chile

The second leg was scratched and Chile qualified automatically after the Soviet Union refused to play the return leg due to the recent Chilean coup d'état and left-wing prisoners being executed in the Santiago stadium. The match did 'go ahead', with eleven Chilean players facing zero Soviet players. The match started before thousands of bemused spectators,[1] with half a dozen Chilean players slowly passing the ball to each other in mock play until the captain walked the ball into the net.[2]

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 Finals Appearance Streak Last Appearance
 Argentina 6th 1 1966
 Australia 1st 1 –
 Brazil (c) 10th 10 1970
 Bulgaria 4th 4 1970
 Chile 5th 1 1966
 East Germany 1st 1 –
 Haiti 1st 1 –
 Italy 8th 4 1970
 Netherlands 3rd 1 1938
 Poland 2nd 1 1938
 Scotland 3rd 1 1958
 Sweden 6th 2 1970
 Uruguay 7th 4 1970
 West Germany (h) 8th 6 1970
 Yugoslavia 6th 1 1962
 Zaire 1st 1 –

(h) - qualified automatically as hosts

(c) - qualified automatically as defending champions

Notes

  • 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. ^ http://www.planetworldcup.com/GUESTS/peter20020103.html
  2. ^ Video of Chileans scoring against non-existent Soviet opponents in Santiago
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1974_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification&oldid=750484078"