Uefa 1978 Fifa World Cup Qualification

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.

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.

Group 1

Pos	Team v t e	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

Group 2

Pos	Team v t e	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

Group 3

Pos	Team v t e	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

Group 4

Pos	Team v t e	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

Group 5

Pos	Team v t e	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

Group 6

Pos	Team v t e	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

Group 7

Pos	Team v t e	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

Group 8

Pos	Team v t e	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

Group 9

Pos	Team v t e	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.

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)