1966 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

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)
← 1962 1970 →

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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