The 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the five

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

confederations A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

. The

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in th ...

featured 16 teams with one place reserved for the host nation,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, and one reserved for defending champions

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The remaining 14 places were determined by a qualification process in which the other 72 entered teams, from the five

confederations, competed.

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; types ...

and

CONMEBOL The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Surina ...

qualification was determined within the confederations, whilst

AFC AFC may stand for: Organizations * Action for Children, a UK children's charity * AFC Enterprises, the franchisor of Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits * Africa Finance Corporation, a pan-African multilateral development finance institution * A ...

and CAF teams (alongside

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

) competed for one place at the tournament. Of these 72 teams, 51 competed, while

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by Hon ...

Congo-Brazzaville The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

and

the Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

had their entries rejected. In the Africa/Asia/Oceania zone: *

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

were disqualified after being suspended by FIFA due to

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. * All 15 African nations later withdrew in protest after FIFA, citing competitive and logistical issues, confirmed there would be no direct qualification for an African team, with

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

(who were grouped in Europe) withdrawing in support of the African teams. *

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

were later forced to withdraw due to logistical issues after the Asia/Oceania tournament was moved from Japan to Cambodia. The first qualification match, between

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and share ...

, was played on 24 May 1964 and the first goal in qualification was a penalty, scored by Dutch defender Daan Schrijvers. Qualification ended on 29 December 1965, when

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

eliminated

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

in a group tiebreaker to become the final qualifier for the World Cup. There were 393 goals scored over 127 games, for an average of 3.09 goals per game and 51 teams played in qualification.

Qualified teams

Qualification process

The 16 spots available in the 1966 World Cup were distributed among the continental zones as follows: * Europe (

): ''10 places'', 1 of them went to automatic qualifier

, while the other 9 places were contested by 32 teams (including

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and

). * South America (

): ''4 places'', 1 of them went to automatic qualifier

, while the other 3 places were contested by 9 teams. * North, Central America and Caribbean (

): ''1 place'', contested by 10 teams. * Africa and Asia ( CAF/

): ''1 place'', contested by 19 teams (including

from

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of and a population of around 44.5 million ...

). UEFA, CONMEBOL and CONCACAF had a guaranteed number of places, whereas the CAF and AFC had to contest a play-off to determine which confederation would be represented. After the first round of 1966 FIFA World Cup finals, the percentage of teams from each confederation that passed through to the Quarter-finals was as follows: *

(Asia): 100% (1 of 1 places) * CAF (Africa): n/a (0 of 0 places) *

(North, Central American and Caribbean): 0% (0 of 1 places) *

(South America): 50% (2 of 4 places) * Oceania (No confederation): n/a (0 of 0 places) *

(Europe): 50% (5 of 10 places)

Summary of qualification

Tiebreakers

For FIFA World Cup qualifying stages using a league format, the method used for separating teams level on points was the same for all Confederations. If teams were even on points at the end of group play, the tied teams played a play-off at a neutral ground.

Confederation qualification

AFC, CAF and Oceania

21 teams – Australia, three teams from AFC and 17 teams from CAF – applied to take part in qualification, but the entries of

and

were rejected.

, who had been expelled from CAF in 1958 due to the country's apartheid policies, were placed with the Asian and Oceanian teams. Also,

were not a member of a confederation at the time (the OFC was not founded until 1966). The qualification process began with four national teams split between two sections for qualification:

and

competed in European qualification for geographical reasons, whilst

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

and

were to take part in a group alongside

and

. The winner of this group would then go on to play the three group winners from the second round of CAF qualifiers. However, South Africa was disqualified after being suspended by

, and all 15 members of CAF withdrew in protest after FIFA declined to allocate them a direct qualifying place. Less than three weeks before the tournament, South Korea were forced to withdraw due to logistical difficulties after the tournament was moved from Japan to Cambodia.

African boycott

Qualification for the 15 remaining African teams saw them sorted into six groups: three groups of two and three groups of three. The winners of these groups were then to play a two-legged tie in the following combinations: Group 1 winners v Group 5 winners, Group 2 winners v Group 4 winners and Group 3 winners v Group 6 winners, with the winners advancing to play in the final group with each other and the winner of the Asia/Oceania group. However, these African nations were aggrieved that their second-round winners would be required to enter a final round against the winners of the Asia/Oceania group in order to qualify for the final tournament. These nations demanded that Africa be represented in the tournament, and also objected to the readmission of

to FIFA. Due to pressure from the African nations and CAF, South Africa was suspended again on 21 September 1964, and were subsequently disqualified. However, after FIFA declined to change the qualifying format or the allocation of places, citing competitive and logistical issues, all fifteen African teams immediately withdrew in protest: subsequently, CAF informed FIFA that they would refuse to participate in qualifying for

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

unless at least one African team had an automatic place in the World Cup. In 1968, FIFA unanimously voted to grant an automatic place for CAF from the 1970 World Cup onwards.

CONCACAF

10 teams initially entered, but the entry of

was rejected. The remaining nine teams were placed in to three groups of three, with the winner of each group proceeding to a final group. The winner of this group would go on to the final tournament.

CONMEBOL

has already qualified as reigning champions, the remaining nine CONMEBOL teams were split in to three groups of 3, playing each other twice (home and away). The top team from each group qualified.

Final positions (group stage)

In Group B, Chile and Ecuador finished level on points, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would qualify. Chile won the match to win the group.

UEFA

qualified automatically as hosts and a further 30 European teams took part in qualification. They were joined by

and

, although Syria then withdrew in support of the African teams. The teams were divided into 9 groups - four groups of 3 and five groups of 4. Syria's withdrawal meant that group 9 only contained two teams.

Final positions (group stage)

In Group 1, Belgium and Bulgaria finished level on points, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would qualify. Bulgaria won the match 2–1. In Group 9, the Republic of Ireland and Spain finished level on points, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would qualify. Spain won the match 1–0.

Goalscorers

;7 goals *

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* Sandro Mazzola *

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Ady Schmit Adolphe Schmit (born 17 August 1940), known as Ady Schmit, is a Luxembourgish former footballer. Schmit played most of his career in France. He scored three of his six goals for the Luxembourg national team on 8 October 1961 during a 4–2 win i ...

* José Luis Aussin * Ignacio Jáuregui * Ramiro Navarro * Frans Geurtsen *

Theo Laseroms Matheus Wilhelmus Theodorus "Theo" Laseroms (8 March 1940 – 25 April 1991) was a Dutch football defender who made a name for himself when he played for Feijenoord. He gained six caps for the Netherlands national team. Club career Laseroms, ...

Bennie Muller Bennie Muller (born 14 August 1938) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a midfielder for Ajax and the Netherlands national team. Early life Muller was born in the Jewish Quarter of Amsterdam-East. His grandfather was a frui ...

* Daan Schrijvers * Im Seung-Hwi *

Pak Doo-Ik Pak Doo-ik ( Chosungul: 박두익; Hanja: 朴斗翼; born 17 December 1943) is a North Korean former football player. He is well known for being the footballer who scored the goal which knocked out Italy from the group stage of the 1966 World C ...

Willie Irvine William John Irvine (born 18 June 1943) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Born in Eden, County Antrim, into a large family, he grew up in the nearby town of Carrickfergus. He did well at school, ...

Terry Neill William John Terence Neill (8 May 1942 – 28 July 2022) was a Northern Irish football player and manager. A centre-back, he captained and later managed Arsenal, guiding the club to a European final in 1980 and three consecutive FA Cup final ...

* Per Kristoffersen *

Olav Nilsen Nils Olav Nilsen (24 January 1942 – 11 October 2021) was a Norwegian footballer who played as a striker in his early career, but was later used as a midfielder. He scored 19 goals in 62 matches for the Norway national team. On club level Ni ...

Arne Pedersen Arne Knut Pedersen (1 November 1931 – 16 November 2013) was a Norwegian footballer. He was a deep-lying inside forward, or offensive midfielder by today's terminology, who spent his entire playing career at his hometown club Fredrikstad FK, w ...

* Finn Seemann * Kai Sjøberg *

Ole Stavrum Ole Einar Stavrum (born 22 May 1940) is a Norwegian footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Ca ...

Celino Mora Celino Mora (born 21 October 1945) is a Paraguayan footballer. He played in 23 matches for the Paraguay national football team from 1967 to 1970. He was also part of Paraguay's squad for the 1967 South American Championship The 1967 South A ...

Vicente Rodríguez Vicente Rodríguez Guillén (; born 16 July 1981), known simply as Vicente, nicknamed ''El puñal de Benicalap'' (''The dagger of Benicalap''), is a Spanish former professional footballer. A left winger with outstanding technique, pace and sc ...

* Juan Carlos Rojas *

Nemesio Mosquera Nemesio Edulivio Mosquera Jiménez (born 19 December 1936) is a Peruvian footballer. He played in five matches for the Peru national football team in 1963. He was also part of Peru's squad for the 1963 South American Championship The 1963 ...

* Jesús Peláez Miranda * Víctor Zegarra * Roman Lentner * Mário Coluna * Jaime Graça *

Sorin Avram Sorin Aristotel Avram (29 March 1943 – 29 September 2015) was a Romanian football player and coach. He started his career in 1956, by joining the youth team of Letea Bacău. From there he moved to Dinamo Bacău in 1959 and then to Viitorul ...

Alexandru Badea Alexandru Badea (8 March 1938 – 17 July 1986) was a Romanian footballer. International career Alexandru Badea played four matches at international level for Romania, scoring two goals. He made his debut against Eusébio's Portugal in a 1966 F ...

* Dan Coe *

Carol Creiniceanu Carol Creiniceanu (1 February 1939 – 14 January 2012) was a Romanian association football player. He was part of the Romanian team that reached quarterfinals at the 1964 Summer Olympics. International career Carol Creiniceanu played three gam ...

* Ion Pârcălab *

Stevie Chalmers Thomas Stephen Chalmers (26 December 1935 – 29 April 2019) was a Scottish footballer who played as a centre-forward and spent the majority of his career with Celtic. He is the club's fifth-highest goalscorer with 236 goals and is consid ...

* Dave Gibson *

Billy McNeill William McNeill (2 March 1940 – 22 April 2019) was a Scottish football player and manager. He had a long association with Celtic, spanning more than sixty years as a player, manager and club ambassador. McNeill captained Celtic's 'Lisbon Lio ...

Davie Wilson David Wilson (10 January 1937 – 14 June 2022)Boris Kazakov Boris Aleksandrovich Kazakov (russian: Борис Александрович Казаков) (born November 6, 1940 in Kuibyshev; died November 25, 1978 in Kuibyshev) was a Soviet football player. He died when he tried to drive his car over the ...

Galimzyan Khusainov Galimzyan Salikhovich Khusainov ( tt-Cyrl, Галимҗан Салих улы Хөсәенев, russian: Галимзян Салихович Хусаинов) (27 June 1937 – 5 February 2010) was a Soviet football player of Tatar ethnicity who ...

Mikheil Meskhi Mikheil Meskhi (Georgian: მიხეილ მესხი; Russian: Михаил Шалвович Месхи; born 12 January 1937 in Tbilisi; died 22 April 1991 in Tbilisi) was a Georgian footballer. Nicknamed the "Georgian Garrincha" for ...

Yozhef Sabo Yozhef Yozhefovich Sabo ( uk, Йожеф Йожефович Сабо; hu, Szabó József; born 29 February 1940) is a former Ukrainian football player and football manager. He is of Hungarian background. He is baptized as a Greek-Catholic. ...

Valery Voronin Valery Ivanovich Voronin (russian: Валерий Иванович Воронин; 17 July 1939 – 22 May 1984) was a Soviet Association football, footballer who represented FC Torpedo Moscow, Torpedo Moscow and the Soviet Union national foot ...

Carlos Lapetra Carlos Lapetra Coarasa (29 November 1938 – 24 December 1995) was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward. He spent ten of his 11 years as a professional with Zaragoza, appearing in 279 official games (62 goals) and winning three major ti ...

* José Ufarte *

Kenneth Kluivert Kenneth Ramon Kluivert (born 26 August 1941) is a Surinamese former footballer who played as a left winger for S.V. Robinhood in the SVB Hoofdklasse, and for the Suriname national football team. He is the father of former Dutch International f ...

* Kurt Hamrin *

Ove Kindvall Bengt Ove Kindvall (born 16 May 1943) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a striker. He started his career at IFK Norrköping, where he played until he joined Feyenoord in 1966 and became professional. The same year, he w ...

* Anton Allemann *

Robert Hosp Robert Hosp (13 December 1939 – 5 October 2021) was a Swiss footballer who played as a forward. He represented the Switzerland national team at the 1966 FIFA World Cup. At club level, he most notably played for FC Lausanne-Sport FC Laus ...

* Alvin Corneal * Jeff Gellineau * Bobby Sookram *

Ayhan Elmastaşoğlu Ayhan Elmastaşoğlu (born 23 August 1941) is a retired Turkish professional footballer. Elmastaşoğlu is best known for his 12 year stint with Galatasaray from 1960-1972. He helped Galatasaray win 5 Süper Ligs, 4 Turkish Cups, and 2 Turkish S ...

* Nedim Doğan *

Helmut Bicek Helmut Bicek is a retired U.S. soccer player who spent most of his career with the Los Angeles Soccer Club. He earned five caps, scoring two goals, with the U.S. national team between 1960 and 1965. Bicek earned his first caps and scored his fi ...

Walt Schmotolocha Walter “Walt” Schmotolocha ( uk, Вальтер Шмотолоха) is a former U.S. soccer forward who earned two caps with the U.S. national team. International career On March 7, 1965, he scored a goal in the 61st minute of a 2-2 tie with ...

* Danilo Menezes *

José Urruzmendi José Eusebio Urruzmendi Aycaguer (born 25 August 1944) is a Uruguayan football striker who played for Uruguay in the 1966 FIFA World Cup. He also played for Club Nacional de Football Club Nacional de Football (, ''National Football Club'' o ...

Freddy Elie Fréderic José Elie Arlet (10 March 1946 – 2 November 2023) was a Haitian-born Venezuelan football player and manager. Born in Haiti, he made 20 appearances for the Venezuela national team between 1964 and 1977. Career Freddy Elie stood ou ...

Rafael Santana Rafael Francisco Santana de la Cruz (born January 31, 1958) is a former Major League Baseball shortstop who won a World Series ring with the 1986 New York Mets. He currently serves as the Dominican Republic scouting and player development sup ...

* Humberto Francisco Scovino * Argenis Tortolero * Ron Davies *

Wyn Davies Ronald Wyn Davies (born 20 March 1942) is a Welsh former professional footballer who made over 550 Football League appearances in the 1960s and 1970s, and who was also capped by Wales. Domestic career Although he began his career with Wrexham, ...

Mike England Harold Michael England (born 2 December 1941) is a Welsh former footballer and manager. Playing career Playing as a central defender, England began his career at Blackburn Rovers in 1959, before moving to Tottenham Hotspur in July 1966, ultimat ...

Ronnie Rees Ronald Raymond Rees (born 4 April 1944) is a former Welsh international footballer. He played predominantly as a winger and was able to play down either flank. Rees was a graduate of the Coventry City youth team, and was given his debut for t ...

* Alfred Heiß *

Uwe Seeler Uwe Seeler (; 5 November 1936 – 21 July 2022) was a German footballer and football official. As a striker, he was a prolific scorer for Hamburger SV and also made 72 appearances for the West Germany national team. Widely regarded as one of ...

* Heinz Strehl * Horst Szymaniak *

Dražan Jerković Dražan Jerković (; 6 August 1936 – 9 December 2008) was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional football manager and player. His professional playing career spanned from 1954 to 1966, during which he played for Dinamo Zagreb and AA La Gantoise. ...

Vladica Kovačević Vladimir "Vladica" Kovačević (, ; 7 January 1940 – 28 July 2016) was a Yugoslav and Serbian footballer who played as a forward. Club career Born in Ivanjica, Kovačević moved to Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) ...

* Džemaludin Mušović *

Velibor Vasović Velibor Vasović (Serbian Cyrillic: Велибор Васовић; 3 October 1939 – 4 March 2002) was a Serbian footballer and manager, also one of the legendary players of Partizan Belgrade and Ajax and one of greatest defenders of his gener ...

;1 own goal *

José Ramos Delgado José Manuel Ramos Delgado (25 August 1935 – 3 December 2010) was an Argentine footballer and manager. He played for the Argentina national football team in two World Cups and had a successful tenure in Brazilian football with Santos. He we ...

(playing against

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

) *

Ivan Vutsov Ivan Kolev Vutsov ( bg, Иван Кoлeв Вуцов; 14 December 1939 – 18 January 2019) was a Bulgarian football player and coach. His career included periods playing for and later managing the Bulgarian national team. He played in three mat ...

(playing against

) *

Kostas Panayiotou Konstantinos "Kostas" Panayiotou ( el, Κωνσταντίνος "Κώστα" Παναγιώτου; 1937 – 17 June 2014) was a Cypriot footballer who played as a defender and made 19 appearances for the Cyprus national team. Career Early in ...

(playing against

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

) *

Stig Holmqvist Stig Holmqvist (13 February 1936 – 6 April 2020) was a Finnish footballer who played as a midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up ...

(playing against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

) * Ricardo González (playing against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

) *

José Ángel Iribar José Ángel Iribar Kortajarena (born 1 March 1943), nicknamed ''El Chopo'' ("the Populus, Poplar"), is a Spanish retired Association football, football Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper and Manager (association football), manager. ...

(playing against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

) * Graham Williams (playing against the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

)

References

External links

RSSSF - 1966 World Cup Qualification
{{DEFAULTSORT:1966 Fifa World Cup Qualification

Qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

FIFA World Cup qualification