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 : 9 places, 1 of them went to automatic qualifier England, while the other 8 places were contested by 29 teams.
North, Central America and Caribbean : 2 places, 1 of them went to automatic qualifier Mexico, while the other 1 place was contested by 13 teams.
Africa : 1 place, contested by 13 teams.
Asia and Oceania : 1 place, contested by 7 teams.
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. 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.
10 of the 16 teams subsequently failed to qualify for the 1974 finals: Belgium, Czechoslovakia, El Salvador, England, Israel, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Romania and Soviet Union.
' FIFA rejected the entry of Albania and both Iceland and Malta withdrew before the draw. The remaining 29 teams were divided into 8 groups of 3 or 4 teams each. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.
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
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Peru qualified. The Bolivia v Peru match on 10 August 1969 is infamous for being fixed by Argentina in favour of Bolivia. Match referee Sergio Chechelev annulled a valid goal from Peru without any justification, allowing Bolivia to win 2-1. Years later, Chechelev admitted that Argentina had paid him to favour Bolivia. This has been the only time that Argentina failed to qualify to a World Cup tournament.
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
1
6
4
3
0
1
11
6
+5
2
5
4
2
1
1
8
3
+5
3
1
4
0
1
3
2
12
−10
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- United States advanced to the Semifinal Round.
Group 2
Rank
Team
1
5
4
2
1
1
9
5
+4
2
4
4
1
2
1
5
3
+2
3
3
4
1
1
2
4
10
−6
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Haiti advanced to the Semifinal Round.
Group 3
Rank
Team
1
7
4
3
1
0
7
2
+5
2
5
4
2
1
1
7
3
+4
3
0
4
0
0
4
2
11
−9
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Honduras advanced to the Semifinal Round.
Group 4
Rank
Team
1
6
4
3
0
1
10
5
+5
2
4
4
2
0
2
10
9
+1
3
2
4
1
0
3
3
9
−6
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- El Salvador advanced to the Semifinal Round.
Semifinal Round
Group 1
Rank
Team
1
4
2
2
0
0
3
0
+3
2
0
2
0
0
2
0
3
−3
---- Haiti advanced to the Final Round.
Group 2
Rank
Team
1=
2
2
1
0
1
3
1
+2
1=
2
2
1
0
1
1
3
−2
---- El Salvador and Honduras finished level on points, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would advance to the Final Round. El Salvador advanced to the Final Round. Additionally, these matches featured prominently in the Football War.
Final Round
Rank
Team
1=
2
2
1
0
1
4
2
+2
1=
2
2
1
0
1
2
4
−2
---- El Salvador and Haiti finished level on points, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would qualify. El Salvador qualified.
Africa (CAF">Confederation of African Football">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 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
Second round
Final Round
Morocco qualified.
Asia and Oceania (AFC">Asian Football Confederation">AFC/OFC">Oceania Football Confederation">OFC)
withdrew because they refused to play with 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
Rank
Team
1
6
4
2
2
0
7
4
3
2
4
4
1
2
1
6
5
1
3
2
4
0
2
2
4
8
−4
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Australia advanced to the Second Round.
Second round
Group 1
Rank
Team
1=
2
2
0
2
0
1
1
0
1=
2
2
0
2
0
1
1
0
---- Australia and Rhodesia finished level on points, and a play-off was played to decide who would advance to the Final Round. Australia advanced to the Final Round.
Group 2
---- Israel advanced to the Final Round. North Korea, despite their good performance in the previous tournament staged in England in 1966, refused to play in Israel for political reasons.
