1978 FIFA World Cup qualification explained

Tourney Name:	1978 FIFA World Cup Qualification
Num Teams:	107
Confederations:	6
Matches:	252
Goals:	723
Prevseason:	1974
Nextseason:	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 17 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

See main article: 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC and OFC).

Iran qualified.

CAF

See main article: 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF).

Tunisia qualified.

CONCACAF

See main article: 1977 CONCACAF Championship.

Mexico qualified.

CONMEBOL

See main article: 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL).

First round

Group 1

width=30	Rank	width=165 style="text-align:left;"	Team	width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20	width=20	width=20	width=20	width=20
1		6	4	2	2	0	8	1	+7
2		4	4	1	2	1	3	3	0
3		2	4	0	2	2	1	8	-7

Group 2

width=30	Rank	width=165 style="text-align:left;"	Team	width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20	width=20	width=20	width=20	width=20
1		7	4	3	1	0	8	3	+5
2		4	4	1	2	1	5	4	+1
3		1	4	0	1	3	2	8	-6

Group 3

width=30	Rank	width=165 style="text-align:left;"	Team	width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20	width=20	width=20	width=20	width=20
1		6	4	2	2	0	8	2	+6
2		5	4	2	1	1	5	3	+2
3		1	4	0	1	3	1	9	-8

Final round

width=30	Rank	width=165 style="text-align:left;"	Team	width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20	width=20	width=20	width=20	width=20
1		4	2	2	0	0	9	0	+9
2		2	2	1	0	1	5	1	+4
3		0	2	0	0	2	0	13	-13

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

UEFA

See main article: 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA).

Hungary advanced to the UEFA–CONMEBOL play-off.

Inter-confederation play-offs: UEFA v CONMEBOL

See main article: article and 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA–CONMEBOL play-off).

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

Qualified teams

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

width=220	Team	width=120	Date of qualification	width=80	Finals appearance	width=50	Streak	width=80	Last appearance
(Hosts)	6 July 1966	7th	2	1974
	30 October 1977	4th	1	1958
	14 July 1977	11th	11	1974
	16 November 1977	7th	1	1966
	30 November 1977	7th	1	1966
	25 November 1977	1st	1	–
	3 December 1977	9th	5	1974
	19 October 1977	8th	1	1970
	26 October 1977	4th	2	1974
	17 July 1977	3rd	1	1970
	21 September 1977	3rd	2	1974
	12 October 1977	4th	2	1974
	30 November 1977	5th	1	1966
	30 October 1977	7th	3	1974
	11 December 1977	1st	1	–
(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.