The 1990 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 1990 FIFA World Cup featured 24 teams with one place reserved for the host nation, Italy, and one place for the defending champions, Argentina. The remaining 22 places were determined by a qualification process, in which 116 teams, from the six FIFA confederations, competed. Most of the successful teams were determined within these confederations, with a limited number of inter-confederation play-offs occurring at the end of the process.
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 116 (from 6 confederations) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 314 |
| Goals scored | 735 (2.34 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Marc Van Der Linden Hwang Sun-hong (7 goals each) |
← 1986 1994 → | |
The first qualification match was played on 17 April 1988 and qualification concluded on 19 November 1989. A total of 735 goals were scored in the 314 qualifying matches (an average of 2.34 per match).
Entrants
At the close of entries on 30 September 1987, a total of 116 football associations had entered the 1990 World Cup. This entry figure was five lower than those who originally entered the previous tournament, a then-World Cup record of 121 entries.
Three entries were rejected by FIFA: Belize, Mauritius and Mozambique due to their outstanding financial debts, taking the number of accepted teams down to 113. With both the hosts and holders qualifying automatically for the finals, 111 nations were therefore scheduled to compete in the qualifying competitions. Gabon, Oman and Pakistan were making their first appearance in the World Cup.
Seven teams withdrew during the qualifying process without playing a match: Bahrain, India, Lesotho, Maldives, Rwanda, South Yemen and Togo. Mexico were disqualified from the CONCACAF qualifying tournament before playing a game for fielding overage players in the qualifying stages for the 1988 Olympic Games. Libya withdrew during the CAF group stage, but had already (successfully) played in the first round. Therefore, the total number of teams playing at least one fixture during the 1990 World Cup competition was 105 (103 during qualifying).
Qualified teams
The following 24 teams qualified for the 1990 FIFA World Cup:
| Team | Method of qualification | Date of qualification | Finals appearance | Streak | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | Defending champions | 29 June 1986 | 10th | 5 | Winners (1978, 1986) |
| Austria | UEFA group 3 runners-up | 15 November 1989 | 6th | 1 (last: 1982) | Third place (1954) |
| Belgium | UEFA group 7 winners | 25 October 1989 | 8th | 3 | Fourth place (1986) |
| Brazil | CONMEBOL group 3 winners | 10 September 1989 | 14th | 14 | Winners (1958, 1962, 1970) |
| Cameroon | CAF final round winners | 19 November 1989 | 2nd | 1 (last: 1982) | Group stage (1982) |
| Colombia | CONMEBOL v OFC play-off winners | 30 October 1989 | 2nd | 1 (last: 1962) | Group stage (1962) |
| Costa Rica | CONCACAF Championship winners | 16 July 1989 | 1st | 1 | — |
| Czechoslovakia | UEFA group 7 runners-up | 15 November 1989 | 8th | 1 (last: 1982) | Runners-up (1934, 1962) |
| Egypt | CAF final round winners | 17 November 1989 | 2nd | 1 (last: 1934) | First round (1934) |
| England | UEFA group 2 runners-up | 11 October 1989 | 9th | 3 | Winners (1966) |
| Italy | Hosts | 19 May 1984 | 12th | 8 | Winners (1934, 1938, 1982) |
| South Korea | AFC final round winners | 25 October 1989 | 3rd | 2 | Group stage (1954, 1986) |
| Netherlands | UEFA group 4 winners | 15 November 1989 | 5th | 1 (last: 1978) | Runners-up (1974, 1978) |
| Republic of Ireland | UEFA group 6 runners-up | 15 November 1989 | 1st | 1 | – |
| Romania | UEFA group 1 winners | 15 November 1989 | 5th | 1 (last: 1970) | Group stage (1930, 1934, 1938, 1970) |
| Scotland | UEFA group 5 runners-up | 15 November 1989 | 7th | 5 | Group stage (1954, 1958, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986) |
| Spain | UEFA group 6 winners | 11 October 1989 | 8th | 4 | Fourth place (1950) |
| Sweden | UEFA group 2 winners | 25 October 1989 | 8th | 1 (last: 1978) | Runners-up (1958) |
| United Arab Emirates | AFC final round runners-up | 28 October 1989 | 1st | 1 | — |
| United States | CONCACAF Championship runners-up | 19 November 1989 | 4th | 1 (last: 1950) | Third place (1930) |
| Uruguay | CONMEBOL group 2 winners | 24 September 1989 | 9th | 2 | Winners (1930, 1950) |
| Soviet Union | UEFA group 3 winners | 15 November 1989 | 7th | 3 | Fourth place (1966) |
| West Germany | UEFA group 4 runners-up | 15 November 1989 | 12th | 10 | Winners (1954, 1974) |
| Yugoslavia | UEFA group 5 winners | 11 October 1989 | 8th | 1 (last: 1982) | Fourth place (1930, 1962) |
Confederation qualification
AFC
Qualification for AFC teams consisted of two rounds. Round one saw the teams divided into 6 groups, each team playing the others in their group twice. The winner of each group then went into a final group where they played each other once.
The qualification process began with 25 national teams vying for two spots. Korea Republic and United Arab Emirates qualified.
| Legend |
|---|
| Countries that directly qualified for the 1990 World Cup |
Final positions (final round)
| Rank | Team | Pld | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Korea | 5 | 8 |
| 2 | United Arab Emirates | 5 | 6 |
| 3 | Qatar | 5 | 5 |
| 4 | China | 5 | 4 |
| 5 | Saudi Arabia | 5 | 4 |
| 6 | North Korea | 5 | 3 |
CAF
Rwanda and Togo both withdrew. The remaining teams played playoff games on a home and away basis. The Winners advance to the group stage. Group stage, the 16 teams are divided into 4 groups of 4 teams. The winners advance to the final round. Final round, the 4 teams play playoff games on a home and away basis, the winners would qualify.
- Egypt and Cameroon qualified.
CONCACAF
Qualification took place over three rounds, with the first two rounds being qualification for the CONCACAF Championship. In the first round, ten teams played in a two leg match with the five winners qualifying for the second round where they joined Canada, Honduras, El Salvador, United States and Mexico. Before the games, Mexico was disqualified for fielding over-age players at the 1988 CONCACAF U-20 Tournament which allowed Costa Rica a walkover. The remaining eight teams played playoff games against each other with the winners advancing to the final round.
In the final round, the five teams would played each other on a home and away basis with the top two teams qualifying for the World Cup.
| Legend |
|---|
| Countries that directly qualified for the 1990 World Cup |
Final positions (final round)
| Rank | Team | Pld | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Costa Rica | 8 | 11 |
| 2 | United States | 8 | 11 |
| 3 | Trinidad and Tobago | 8 | 9 |
| 4 | Guatemala | 8 | 3 |
| 5 | El Salvador | 8 | 2 |
CONMEBOL
The 9 teams are divided into 3 groups of 3 teams
- Group 1 – Uruguay qualified.
- Group 2 – Colombia advanced to the Intercontinental Play-off.
- Group 3 – Brazil qualified.
OFC
Qualification for OFC teams consisted of two rounds. Four teams entered initially as they played in two home-and-away matches with the winners qualifying for the second round. They would be joined by Israel who had the bye in the first round with the three teams playing each other twice and the winner advancing to the intercontinental play-off against a CONMEBOL member. Israel won the group and advanced
| Legend |
|---|
| Countries that advanced to the OFC–CONMEBOL play-off |
| Team | Pld | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Israel | 4 | 5 |
| Australia | 4 | 4 |
| New Zealand | 4 | 3 |
UEFA
The 32 teams are divided into 7 groups, 4 groups of 5 teams and 3 groups of 4 teams each.
| Legend |
|---|
| Countries that directly qualified for the 1990 World Cup |
Final positions (group stage)
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Inter-confederation play-offs: CONMEBOL v OFC
The winning team of the OFC qualification tournament played the CONMEBOL group winner with the weakest record in a home-and-away play-off. The winner of this play-off qualified for the 1990 FIFA World Cup.
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colombia | 1–0 | Israel | 1–0 | 0–0 |
Top goalscorers
- 7 goals
- Marc Van Der Linden
- Hwang Sun-hong
- 6 goals
- Ma Lin
- Mo Johnston
- Ahmed Radhi
- Mahmoud Yaseen Al-Soufi
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