21 teams entered the 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for the African, Asian, and Oceanian zone (Confederation of African Football, Asian Football Confederation, and what later would become the Oceania Football Confederation).
21 teams entered, but the entries of the Philippines and the Republic of the Congo were rejected.
| Tourney Name: | 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC and OFC) |
| Dates: | November 21st 1965 - November 24th 1965 |
| Num Teams: | 2[1] |
| Confederations: | 2[2] |
| Matches: | 2 |
| Goals: | 11 |
| Attendance: | 115000 |
| Top Scorer: | Pak Seung-Zin (3 Goals) |
| Prevseason: | 1962 (AFC) ← 1962 (CAF) |
| Nextseason: | 1970 (AFC and OFC) → 1970 (CAF) |
South Africa, which had been moved to the Asia/Oceania zone, were disqualified in September 1964 after being previously suspended by FIFA due to apartheid, and all fifteen African zone teams withdrew in protest in October 1964 after FIFA, citing competitive and logistical issues, confirmed that there would be no direct qualification for an African team.
South Korea were subsequently forced to withdraw on 2 November 1965 due to logistical difficulties after the three-team tournament was moved from Japan to Cambodia, leaving only Australia and North Korea to contest the final place: North Korea easily won both legs to qualify.
The plans were for four rounds of play:
The original group draws were:
| Group 1 |
| Group 2 |
| Group 3 |
| Group 4 |
| Group 5 |
| Group 6 |
The Second Round pairings were scheduled as follows: Group 1 winners v Group 5 winners, Group 2 winners v Group 4 winners and Group 3 winners v Group 6 winners. These would be played home-and-away, with the winners advancing to the Final Round.
As all fifteen teams withdrew in protest after FIFA declined to allocate a direct qualifying place for an African team, the African First and Second Rounds were scratched.
Originally, this was scheduled as a four-team tournament between Australia, North Korea, South Africa and South Korea, to be played in Japan.
Before the tournament began, South Africa were disqualified after being suspended by FIFA due to apartheid, and South Korea were subsequently forced to withdraw due to logistical difficulties after the tournament was moved to Cambodia.
Further complicating matters, North Korea lacked diplomatic relations with most countries and did not have a FIFA-standard venue at the time, while Australian immigration laws then in force meant the North Korean team would be unlikely to receive visas to enter the country.
As such, finding a venue for the matches proved difficult until Head of State Norodom Sihanouk, an ally of Kim Il-sung, allowed the matches to be held in Phnom Penh.
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North Korea won 9–2 on aggregate: due to the withdrawal of all African teams, the Final Round was scratched and North Korea qualified.
The following team from AFC qualified for the final tournament.
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | data-sort-type="number" | Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 (debut) |
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
Im Seung-Hwi Pak Doo-Ik