1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

Tournament details
Teams	31 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Top scorer(s)	Roberto Bettega (9 goals)
← 1974 1982 →

Listed below are the dates and results for the qualification to the 1978 FIFA World Cup rounds for the European zone (UEFA) in association football. For an overview of the qualification rounds, see the article 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification.

The European zone was allocated 9.5 places (out of 16) in the final tournament. West Germany, the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 8.5 spots open for competition between 31 teams. Albania were the only UEFA team to not enter the competition.

The 31 teams were divided into 9 groups of 3 or 4 teams each (five groups with 3 teams and four groups with 4 teams). The teams would play against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winners of groups 1 to 8 would qualify, the winner of group 9 would advance to the UEFA / CONMEBOL Intercontinental Play-off.

The draw for the qualifying groups took place in Guatemala City on 20 November 1975. During the draw procedure, entrants were drawn into the 9 qualifying groups from the four pots of seeds.

Below is a table containing all nine qualifying groups. Teams that qualified and secured a place in the final tournament are highlighted in green, while teams who were eliminated are highlighted in red. The team that secured a place in the UEFA / CONMEBOL Intercontinental Play-off is highlighted in blue. Teams are ordered by final group position.

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Group 5	Group 6	Group 7	Group 8	Group 9
Poland	Italy	Austria	Netherlands	France	Sweden	Scotland	Spain	Hungary
Portugal Denmark Cyprus	England Finland Luxembourg	East Germany Turkey Malta	Belgium Northern Ireland Iceland	Bulgaria Republic of Ireland	Norway Switzerland	Czechoslovakia Wales	Romania Yugoslavia	Soviet Union Greece

Key:

• Teams highlighted in green qualified for the finals.
• Teams highlighted in blue advanced to the UEFA / CONMEBOL Intercontinental Play-off.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Poland	6	5	1	0	17	4	+13	11
2	Portugal	6	4	1	1	12	6	+6	9
3	Denmark	6	2	0	4	14	12	+2	4
4	Cyprus	6	0	0	6	3	24	−21	0

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Italy	6	5	0	1	18	4	+14	10
2	England	6	5	0	1	15	4	+11	10
3	Finland	6	2	0	4	11	16	−5	4
4	Luxembourg	6	0	0	6	2	22	−20	0

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Austria	6	4	2	0	14	2	+12	10
2	East Germany	6	3	3	0	15	4	+11	9
3	Turkey	6	2	1	3	9	5	+4	5
4	Malta	6	0	0	6	0	27	−27	0

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Netherlands	6	5	1	0	11	3	+8	11
2	Belgium	6	3	0	3	7	6	+1	6
3	Northern Ireland	6	2	1	3	7	6	+1	5
4	Iceland	6	1	0	5	2	12	−10	2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	France	4	2	1	1	7	4	+3	5
2	Bulgaria	4	1	2	1	5	6	−1	4
3	Republic of Ireland	4	1	1	2	2	4	−2	3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Sweden	4	3	0	1	7	4	+3	6
2	Norway	4	2	0	2	3	4	−1	4
3	Switzerland	4	1	0	3	3	5	−2	2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Scotland	4	3	0	1	6	3	+3	6
2	Czechoslovakia	4	2	0	2	4	6	−2	4
3	Wales	4	1	0	3	3	4	−1	2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Spain	4	3	0	1	4	1	+3	6
2	Romania	4	2	0	2	7	8	−1	4
3	Yugoslavia	4	1	0	3	6	8	−2	2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Hungary	4	2	1	1	6	4	+2	5
2	Soviet Union	4	2	0	2	5	3	+2	4
3	Greece	4	1	1	2	2	6	−4	3

Hungary advanced to the UEFA–CONMEBOL play-off.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Hungary	9–2	Bolivia	6–0	3–2

9 goals

7 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

• 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification
• 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)
• 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)
• 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)
• 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC and OFC)