1990 FIFA World Cup qualification

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).

To see the dates and results of the qualification rounds for each continental zone, click on the following articles:

• Europe (UEFA)

Group 1 - Romania qualified.

Group 2 - Sweden and England qualified.

Group 3 - Soviet Union and Austria qualified.

Group 4 - Netherlands and West Germany qualified.

Group 5 - Yugoslavia and Scotland qualified.

Group 6 - Spain and Republic of Ireland qualified.

Group 7 - Belgium and Czechoslovakia qualified.

• South America (CONMEBOL)

Group 1 - Uruguay qualified.

Group 2 - Colombia advanced to the Intercontinental Play-off.

Group 3 - Brazil qualified.

• North, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF)

Costa Rica and United States qualified.

• Africa (CAF)

Egypt and Cameroon qualified.

• Asia (AFC)

Korea Republic and United Arab Emirates qualified.

• Oceania (OFC)

Israel advanced to the Intercontinental Play-off.

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

Final qualification status

  Country qualified for World Cup

  Country failed to qualify

  Country did not enter World Cup

  Country not a FIFA member

The following 24 teams qualified for the 1990 FIFA World Cup:

Team	Qualified as	Appearance in finals	Consecutive Streak	Previous best performance
Argentina	Champions	10th	5	Winners (1978, 1986)
Austria	UEFA Group 3 Runners-up	6th	1 (Last: 1982)	Third place (1954)
Belgium	UEFA Group 7 Winners	8th	3	Fourth place (1986)
Brazil	CONMEBOL Group Winners	14th	14	Winners (1958, 1962, 1970)
Cameroon	CAF Final Round Winners	2nd	1 (Last: 1982)	Group Stage (1982)
Colombia	CONMEBOL v OFC Play-off Winners	2nd	1 (Last: 1962)	Group Stage (1962)
Costa Rica	CONCACAF Championship Winners	1st	1	–
Czechoslovakia	UEFA Group 7 Runners-up	8th	1 (Last: 1982)	Runners-up (1934, 1962)
Egypt	CAF Final Round Winners	2nd	1 (Last: 1934)	First Round (1934)
England	UEFA Group 2 Runners-up	9th	3	Winners (1966)
Italy	Hosts	12th	8	Winners (1934, 1938, 1982)
South Korea	AFC Final Round Winners	3rd	2	Group Stage (1954, 1986)
Netherlands	UEFA Group 4 Winners	5th	1 (Last: 1978)	Runners-up (1974, 1978)
Republic of Ireland	UEFA Group 6 Runners-up	1st	1	–
Romania	UEFA Group 1 Winners	5th	1 (Last: 1970)	Group Stage (1930, 1934, 1938, 1970)
Scotland	UEFA Group 5 Runners-up	7th	5	Group Stage (1954, 1958, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986)
Spain	UEFA Group 6 Winners	8th	4	Fourth place (1950)
Sweden	UEFA Group 2 Winners	8th	1 (Last: 1978)	Runners-up (1958)
United Arab Emirates	AFC Final Round Runners-up	1st	1	–
United States	CONCACAF Championship Runners-up	4th	1 (Last: 1950)	Third place (1930)
Uruguay	CONMEBOL Group Winners	9th	2	Winners (1930, 1950)
Soviet Union	UEFA Group 3 Winners	7th	3	Fourth place (1966)
West Germany	UEFA Group 4 Runners-up	12th	10	Winners (1954, 1974)
Yugoslavia	UEFA Group 5 Winners	8th	1 (Last: 1982)	Fourth place (1930, 1962)

8 of the 24 teams subsequently failed to qualify for the 1994 finals: Austria, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, England, Scotland, United Arab Emirates, and Uruguay. Yugoslavia would be banned from the 1994 finals due to sanctions that were imposed on them by the United Nations as a result of the Bosnian War, bringing the total number of teams who failed to qualify for the subsequent tournament to 9.

7 goals

• Marc Van Der Linden
• Hwang Sun-Hong

6 goals

• Ma Lin
• Mo Johnston
• Ahmed Radhi
• Mahmoud Yaseen Al-Soufi

• On 12 August 1989, Samuel Okwaraji collapsed and died whilst playing for Nigeria in their qualifying match against Angola, ten minutes before the end.
• One of the most bizarre incidents in World Cup history occurred on 3 September 1989. During the Brazil vs Chile CONMEBOL qualifying match in Rio de Janeiro, Chile needed victory to retain any hope of qualification, but trailed 0–1 to Brazil. Around twenty minutes into the second half, Chilean goalkeeper Roberto "Cóndor" Rojas fell to the pitch with an apparent injury to his forehead. A firework, thrown from the stands by a Brazilian fan named Rosenery Mello do Nascimento,[1] was smouldering about some yards away. After carrying Rojas off the pitch, the Chilean players and coaches refused to return claiming conditions were not safe, and the match went unfinished. After studying video footage of the match showing that the firework had not made any contact with Rojas, FIFA awarded Brazil a 2–0 win, eliminating Chile from the 1990 World Cup. As punishment, Chile were barred from the qualifying process for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, and Roberto Rojas was banned for life[2] (subsequently lifted in 2001[3]) for his role in falsifying the story simulating an attack by the Brazilian fans. The incident is called the Maracanazo by the Chilean national team since it took place in the Maracanã Stadium.
• The decisive second leg of the CAF Final Round, tie between Egypt and Algeria in Cairo saw ugly scenes at its conclusion. The game was won 1–0 by Egypt, sending them to the 1990 World Cup at the expense of their opponent. After the final whistle, Algerian players and officials mobbed the referee and threw plant pots into the crowd. At the post-game conference, the Egyptian team doctor was blinded in one eye after being hit with a broken bottle thrown by an Algerian player. This was believed to be star striker Lakhdar Belloumi who was sentenced to prison for this offense, but he denied any wrongdoing and a twenty-year international arrest warrant was eventually quashed in 2009. Teammates had previously testified that reserve goalkeeper Kamel Kadri was instead the culprit.

• 1990 FIFA World Cup Preliminaries at FIFA.com