A total of 121 teams entered the 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing
for a total of 24 spots in the final tournament.
Mexico, as the hosts, and Italy, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving
22 spots open for competition.
The draw took place on 7 December 1983 at Zürich, Switzerland.
The 24 spots available in the 1986 World Cup would be distributed among the continental
zones as follows: Europe: 13.5 places, 1 of them went to automatic
qualifier Italy, while the other 12.5 places were contested by 32 teams.
The winner of the 0.5 place would advance to the intercontinental play-offs.
South America: 4 places, contested by 10 teams.
North, Central America and Caribbean: 2 places, 1 of them went to automatic qualifier Mexico,
while the other 1 place was contested by 17 teams.
Africa: 2 places, contested by 29 teams.
Asia: 2 places, contested by 27 teams.
Oceania: 0.5 place, contested by 4 teams.
The winner of the 0.5 place would advance to the intercontinental play-offs.
A total of 110 teams played at least one qualifying match.
A total of 308 qualifying matches were played, and 801 goals were scored.
Continental zones To see the dates and results of the qualification
rounds for each continental zone, click on the following articles:
Europe Group 1 – Poland qualified.
Belgium advanced to the UEFA play-offs.
Group 2 – West Germany and Portugal qualified.
Group 3 – England and Northern Ireland qualified.
Group 4 – France and Bulgaria qualified.
Group 5 – Hungary qualified.
Netherlands advanced to the UEFA play-offs.
Group 6 – Denmark and USSR qualified.
Group 7 – Spain qualified.
Scotland advanced to the UEFA–OFC intercontinental play-off.
Play-offs – Belgium qualified over Netherlands.
South America Group 1 – Argentina qualified.
Peru and Colombia advanced to the CONMEBOL play-offs.
Group 2 – Uruguay qualified.
Chile advanced to the CONMEBOL play-offs.
Group 3 – Brazil qualified.
Paraguay advanced to the CONMEBOL play-offs.
Play-offs – Paraguay qualified over Chile, Colombia and Peru.
North America Canada qualified.
Africa Algeria and Morocco qualified.
Asia Iraq and Korea Republic qualified.
Oceania Australia advanced to the UEFA–OFC intercontinental
play-off Intercontinental play-offs
The teams would play against each other on a home-and-away basis.
The winner would qualify.
UEFA–OFC intercontinental play-off Scotland qualified.
Qualified teams
The following 24 teams qualified for the 1986 FIFA World Cup:
(h) – qualified automatically as hosts (c) – qualified automatically as defending
champions Notes
West Germany lost a World Cup qualifying match for the first time ever on 16 October 1985,
when they were defeated 0–1 by Portugal in Stuttgart.
Including games played by Germany before the 2nd World War, they had played 36 World Cup
qualifying matches before.
Brazil did better by remaining undefeated until 25 July 1993, when they were beaten
by Bolivia in La Paz, after 31 World Cup qualifying matches without a single loss.
Scotland manager Jock Stein died during their qualifier at Wales, suffering a heart attack
immediately after the Scots scored a late equaliser.
External links FIFA World Cup Official Site - 1986 World
Cup Qualification RSSSF - 1986 World Cup Qualification