1978 FIFA World Cup qualification

1978 FIFA World Cup Qualification
Tournament details
Dates	7 March 1976 – 11 December 1977
Teams	107 (from 6 confederations)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	252
Goals scored	723 (2.87 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Roberto Bettega (9 goals)
	← 1974 1982 →

A total of 107 teams entered the 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, which began with the preliminary qualification draw on 20 November 1975 at Guatemala City. Argentina, as the hosts, and West Germany, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition.

The 16 places would be distributed among the continental zones as follows:

Europe (UEFA): 9 or 10 places. One place went to automatic qualifier West Germany, while nine places were contested by 31 teams. The team coming ninth in qualifying would advance to the intercontinental play-offs against a team from CONMEBOL.
South America (CONMEBOL): 3 or 4 places. One place automatically went to host nation Argentina, while the other three places were contested by nine teams. The team coming third in qualifying would advance to the intercontinental play-offs (against a team from UEFA).
North, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF): 1 place, contested by 16 teams.
Africa (CAF): 1 place, contested by 26 teams.
Asia (AFC) and Oceania (OFC): 1 place, contested by 22 teams.

A total of 95 teams played at least one qualifying match. A total of 252 qualifying matches were played, and 723 goals were scored (an average of 2.87 per match).

Confederation qualification

AFC and OFC

Iran qualified.

CAF

Tunisia qualified.

CONCACAF

Mexico qualified.

CONMEBOL

First round

Group 1

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Brazil	6	4	2	2	0	8	1	+7
2	Paraguay	4	4	1	2	1	3	3	0
3	Colombia	2	4	0	2	2	1	8	−7

Group 2

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Bolivia	7	4	3	1	0	8	3	+5
2	Uruguay	4	4	1	2	1	5	4	+1
3	Venezuela	1	4	0	1	3	2	8	−6

Group 3

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Peru	6	4	2	2	0	8	2	+6
2	Chile	5	4	2	1	1	5	3	+2
3	Ecuador	1	4	0	1	3	1	9	−8

Final round

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Brazil	4	2	2	0	9	0	+9
2	Peru	2	2	1	1	5	1	+4
3	Bolivia	0	2	0	2	0	13	−13

Brazil and Peru qualified. Bolivia advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.

UEFA

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	Poland	6	11
2	Portugal	6	9
3	Denmark	6	4
4	Cyprus	6	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	Italy	6	10
2	England	6	10
3	Finland	6	4
4	Luxembourg	6	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	Austria	6	10
2	East Germany	6	9
3	Turkey	6	5
4	Malta	6	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group 4

Group 5

Group 6

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	Netherlands	6	11
2	Belgium	6	6
3	Northern Ireland	6	5
4	Iceland	6	2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	France	4	5
2	Bulgaria	4	4
3	Republic of Ireland	4	3

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	Sweden	4	6
2	Norway	4	4
3	Switzerland	4	2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group 7

Group 8

Group 9

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	Scotland	4	6
2	Czechoslovakia	4	4
3	Wales	4	2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	Spain	4	6
2	Romania	4	4
3	Yugoslavia	4	2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	Hungary	4	5
2	Soviet Union	4	4
3	Greece	4	3

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Hungary advanced to the UEFA–CONMEBOL play-off.

Inter-confederation play-offs: UEFA v CONMEBOL

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

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Hungary	9–2	Bolivia	6–0	3–2

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the 1978 FIFA World Cup:

Team	Date of qualification	Finals appearance	Streak	Last appearance
Argentina (hosts)	6 July 1966	7th	2	1974
Austria	30 October 1977	4th	1	1958
Brazil	14 July 1977	11th	11	1974
France	16 November 1977	7th	1	1966
Hungary	30 November 1977	7th	1	1966
Iran	25 November 1977	1st	1	—
Italy	3 December 1977	9th	5	1974
Mexico	19 October 1977	8th	1	1970
Netherlands	26 October 1977	4th	2	1974
Peru	17 July 1977	3rd	1	1970
Poland	21 September 1977	3rd	2	1974
Scotland	12 October 1977	4th	2	1974
Spain	30 November 1977	5th	1	1966
Sweden	30 October 1977	7th	3	1974
Tunisia	11 December 1977	1st	1	—
West Germany (defending champions)	7 July 1974	9th	7	1974

Top goalscorers

9 goals

Roberto Bettega

7 goals

6 goals

Notes

For the first time, over 100 teams entered qualification for the World Cup.
Statistically, this was the most difficult World Cup to qualify for. Taking the two automatic places into account, and excluding twelve teams who withdrew before playing, 95 teams competed for the remaining 14 places (14.7%). The number of spots was increased to 24 for the next World Cup.
Tunisia's victory over Morocco on penalties was the first penalty shootout in World Cup qualification matches.

1978 FIFA World Cup qualification

Confederation qualification

AFC and OFC

CAF

CONCACAF

CONMEBOL

First round

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Final round

UEFA

Inter-confederation play-offs: UEFA v CONMEBOL

Qualified teams

Top goalscorers

Notes

External links

Information related to 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification

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