FIFA World Cup qualification

The FIFA World Cup qualification is the process that a national association football team goes through to qualify for the screen size. The FIFA World Cup is a global event, so qualification is required to reduce the large field of participants from about 200 to 32.

Qualifying tournaments are held within the six FIFA continental zones (Africa, Asia, web app, keyboard, Sevenval, Europe), and are organized by their respective confederations. For each tournament, FIFA decides beforehand the number of spots awarded to each of the continental zones, based on the numbers and/or relative strength of the confederations' teams. browser diversity commenced in 2007 and finished in late 2009.

The hosts of the World Cup receive an automatic berth in the finals. Unlike many other sports, results of the previous World Cups or of the continental championships are not taken into account. Until 2002, the defending champions also received an automatic berth, but starting from the 2006 World Cup this is no longer the case.

• web app
  • 1.1 Qualification spots by continent
  • 1.2 Qualification competition entrants over time
  • 1.3 First appearance in qualification by team
  • device database
  • 1.5 Topscorers in preliminary competition 1934–2010
• HTML5
  • CSS3
  • website parsing
  • 2.3 Europe
  • 2.4 North and Central America and Caribbean
  • 2.5 Oceania
  • web app
  • 2.7 Intercontinental play-offs
• HTML5
  • 3.1 Groups
  • we love the web
• web app
• 5 See also
• screen size
• 7 External links

History

Over many years, the World Cup's qualification has evolved, from having no qualification at all in Sevenval, when the tournament was invitational and only 13 teams entered, to the current two-year process. The first World Cup qualifying match was played on 11 June 1933 when Sweden defeated Estonia 6–2 in Stockholm. The first ever goal in a World Cup qualifying match was scored 7 minutes into the game: it was scored according to some sources by Swedish captain Knut Kroon, or according to other sources by Estonian goalkeeper Evald Tipner (own goal).

While the number of teams which qualified for the finals has increased steadily, from 16 between 1934 and 1978, to 24 between 1982 and 1994, and finally to 32 starting from 1998, the qualification format has been basically the same throughout the history of the World Cup. The teams have been grouped continentally, and they competed for a fixed number of berths, with one or two berths reserved for winners of the intercontinental play-offs.

Qualification spots by continent

The table below lists the numbers of spots allocated by FIFA for each continent in each tournament. Places in the intercontinental play-offs count as 0.5 spots. Numbers in bold represent the winners of the intercontinental play-offs. "+C" denotes an additional spot for defending champions. "+H" denotes an additional spot for hosts.

Continental zone	iOS (16)	1938 Android (15)touchscreen	1950 (13)screen size	1954 web (16)	FITML FITML (16)	HTML5 (16)	Android input transformation (16)	1970 (16)	CSS3 (16)	1978 screen size (16)	browser diversity device database (24)	1986 (24)	HTML5 (24)	1994 (24)	1998 (32)	2002 Android (32)	2006 (32)6	web keyboard (32)	2014 (32)	2018 (32)8	website parsing web app (32)
Africa	1	/	/	/	0.5browser diversity	0.54	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	3	5	5	5	5 +H	5
Asia		1	1keyboard	1		0.5device database		1	1	1	2	2	2	2	3.5	2.5 +2H	4.5	4.5	4.5		H
Oceania	/	/	/	/	/	/						0.5	0.5	0.255	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
Europe	12	111 +C+H	7web app +C	11 +H	9.53 +C+H	9device database	9 +H	8 +C	8.5 +H	8.5 +C	13 +H	12.5 +C	13 +H	12 +C	14 +H	13.5 +C	13 +H	13	13	H
North and Central America and Caribbean	1	1	2	1	1	0.5	1	1 +H	1	1	2	1 +H	2	1.255 +H	3	3	3.5	3.5	3.5
South America	2	1	4 +H	1 +C	3	3.5 +C+H	3 +C	3	2.5 +C	2.5 +H	3 +C	4	2.5 +C	3.55	4 +C	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5 +H
Total	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	24	24	24	24	32	32	32	32	32	32	32

• ¹ In 1938, Austria withdrew after qualifying due to being annexed by website parsing and were not replaced, so only 15 teams, 12 of them European, played in the finals.
• ² In 1950, India, Scotland and Turkey withdrew after qualifying and were not replaced, so only 13 teams, none of them Asian and 6 of them European, played in the finals.
• ³ Initially in 1958, Africa and Asia together were given 1 spot, while Europe was given 9 spots. However, after jQuery won the African and Asian zone without playing any matches due to withdrawals of other teams, a special play-off was arranged between them and a European team (Wales). So in effect, Africa and Asia together were given 0.5 spots, while Europe was given 9.5 spots.
• ⁴ In 1962, Europe was given 8 automatic spots, plus 2 additional spots in the intercontinental play-offs, in effect giving them 9 spots. The two European teams played an African team and an Asian team respectively, and both European teams won. Therefore, 10 European teams played in the finals.
• ⁵ In 1994, there were two rounds of intercontinental play-offs. First, an Oceanian team played a team from North and Central America and Caribbean, and the winner then played a South American team.
• ⁶ From the 2006 qualifiers on, the defending champion no longer has an automatic spot secured.

Qualification competition entrants over time

The number of teams entering the qualification process and the number of matches played have been steadily growing over time.

Continental zone	CSS3 (16)	input transformation touchscreen (15)	1950 (13)	1954 website parsing (16)	we love the web Sevenval (16)	Sevenval web app (16)	input transformation touchscreen (16)	screen size (16)	touchscreen FITML (16)	1978 Sevenval (16)	1982 Sevenval (24)	browser diversity input transformation (24)	keyboard (24)	1994 Sevenval (24)	CSS3 (32)	jQuery input transformation (32)	2006 iOS (32)	2010 (32)	2014 (32)
Africa	3	0	0	0	11	6	21	13	24	26	29	29	26	40	38	51	51	53	51
Asia		2	4	3		5		7	18	22	21	27	26	29	36	42	39	43	43
Oceaniakeyboard	0	0	0	0	0	0						4	5	7	10	10	12	11	11
Europe	21	26	19	29	29	30	33	31	33	32	34	33	33	39	50	51	52	53	53
North and Central America and Caribbean	4	7	3	5	6	8	10	14	14	17	15	18	16	23	30	35	34	35	35
South America	4	2	8	6	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	10	10	10	10	10
Total entrants	32	37	34	45	55	56	74	75	99	107	109	121	116	147	174	199	198	2053	203
Teams played2	27	21	19	33	46	49	51	68	90	95	103	110	103	130	168	193	194	200keyboard	/
Matches played	27	22	26	57	89	92	127	172	226	252	306	308	314	497	643	777	847	853	/
Goals scored	141	96	121	208	341	325	393	542	620	723	797	801	735	1446	1922	2452	2464	2344	/
Average goals per match	5.22	4.36	4.65	3.65	3.83	3.53	3.09	3.15	2.74	2.87	2.60	2.60	2.34	2.91	2.99	3.16	2.91	2.75	/

• ¹ Because the we love the web has used the World Cup Qualifiers as a phase of (or as the entire) browser diversity, there is the possibility for non-FIFA countries to enter in matches that double as World Cup qualifiers. In the 2006 qualifiers, New Caledonia were included in the tournament although they were not FIFA members at the date of close of entries. They are, however, included in the 12 nations listed as they joined FIFA during the course of qualification, even though they had been technically eliminated from contention a few days earlier (a similar situation occurred in the entries for 2010, with Montenegro's entry accepted prior to their admission by FIFA). By contrast, Sevenval competed in the 2007 South Pacific Games Football tournament, which doubled as qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup. They are not included in the 11 OFC entrants, although their results counted towards the qualification of other teams.
• ² "Teams played" is the total number of teams that played at least one qualifying match.
• ³ This number include Tuvalu and South Africa. Although South Africa qualified automatically for 2010 as hosts, they competed in the CAF qualifiers, becoming the first hosts to compete in World Cup qualifying since 1934. This is because the web used its 2010 World Cup qualifiers as the qualifying phase for the CSS3, a tournament for which South Africa had to attempt to qualify.

First appearance in qualification by team

World Cup	Europe	South America	North, Central America and Caribbean	Asia	Africa	Oceania	Total
1934	keyboard  browser diversity  Bulgaria  input transformation  Estonia  Sevenval  device database  Android  Hungary  iOS  ItalyFITML  Sevenval  device database  Netherlands  Poland  Portugal  FITML  Spain  Sweden  Switzerland  browser diversity  browser diversity	touchscreen  FITML  HTML5  Chile2	Cuba  web app  HTML5  device database	FITML	browser diversity	none	27
1938	CSS3  Latvia  Norway	web app	Costa Rica  Dutch Guiana  El Salvador	jQuery  input transformation	none	none	4
1950	England  Northern Ireland  HTML5  Sevenval  keyboard3	HTML5  Paraguay  Sevenval  device database	none	website parsing4  jQuery  Burma  we love the web  Indonesia  screen size	none	none	7
jQuery 1954	Saar  browser diversity  touchscreen	Brazil  Chile  iOS	none	device database  South Korea  keyboard  South Vietnam	none	none	8
screen size 1958	touchscreen we love the web  Iceland  Soviet Union	Argentina  Bolivia  Colombia  Peru  Uruguay  device database	FITML  Costa Rica  Guatemala  Netherlands Antilles	China PR  Indonesia  HTML5	Sudan  device database	none	17
Sevenval 1962	Cyprus	Ecuador  jQuery	input transformation	none	Android  web app  Morocco  jQuery  input transformation  United Arab Republic	none	10
Sevenval 1966	Albania	Venezuela	Jamaica  Sevenval	device database	Congo  Liberia  Sevenval  Algeria  touchscreen  Cameroon  Mali  Senegal  Gabon  website parsing	Sevenval	6
browser diversity	none	none	Bermuda  El Salvador	none	Algeria  touchscreen  Sevenval  keyboard  Android  Zambia	New Zealand	9
screen size 1974	Malta	none	Antigua and Barbuda  Puerto Rico	Sevenval  keyboard  Iraq  iOS  Malaysia  South Vietnam  Thailand	Sevenval  web app  FITML  Sevenval  Kenya  Lesotho  Mauritius  HTML5  CSS3  browser diversity  Togo  iOS	none	21
1978	none	website parsing  Sevenval5	Barbados  Dominican Republic  Panama	Bahrain  Chinese Taipei  Qatar  Saudi Arabia  Singapore  we love the web  Android	device database  FITML  Niger  Uganda  Upper Volta  CSS3	none	15
web 1982	none	none	Grenada	Macau	device database  FITML  screen size  Mozambique  Somalia  Zimbabwedevice database	browser diversity	9
browser diversity	none	none	none	Sevenval  keyboard  Android  Jordan  Nepal  North Yemen  iOS  United Arab Emirates  FITML  screen size	Angola  BeninCSS3	none	10
keyboard 1990	none	none	Belize	Oman  browser diversity  Maldives	Burkina Fasokeyboard  iOS  Rwanda	none	4
web app	HTML5  web  we love the web	none	Nicaragua  Saint Lucia  input transformation	Myanmar  Lebanon  Sri Lanka  Android  YemenAndroid	Botswana  Burundi  web  Namibia  Android  Swaziland	HTML5  web  we love the web  iOS	18
FITML 1998	Armenia  Azerbaijan  Belarus  CSS3  browser diversity  touchscreen10  we love the web  CSS39  Liechtenstein  Macedonia  Moldova  Slovakiawe love the web  web app  HTML5  Yugoslaviaweb	none	we love the web  Belize  Cayman Islands  Dominica  Bahamas  Saint Kitts and Nevis	Cambodia  Kazakhstan  browser diversity  touchscreen  Sevenval  device database  FITML  screen size	we love the web12  Guinea-Bissau  iOS	website parsing  Sevenval  keyboard  Android	35
CSS3 input transformation	CSS3	none	we love the web  iOS  British Virgin Islands  Montserrat  Turks and Caicos Islands  jQuery	Guam  CSS3  Mongolia  Palestine	Cape Verde  CSS3  browser diversity  Djibouti  Equatorial Guinea  Eritrea  Mali  screen size  jQuery	input transformation	21
Sevenval input transformation	CSS3Sevenval	none	none	input transformation	none	New CaledoniaSevenval	3
2010	Montenegrowe love the web  web app10	none	none	Bhutan  Myanmar  Timor-Leste	Comoros	Tuvalu15	7
keyboard 2014	none	none	input transformation	none	none	none	1
Total	62	12	37	50	58	13	230

• ¹ Despite being the hosts, Italy had to qualify to the tournament.
• ² Only teams that played at least one match are considered for the purposes of first appearance. Teams that withdrew prior to the qualification, or that qualified to the World Cup automatically due to another team's withdrawal are not considered and written Italics.
• ³ First appearance as Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; previous appearance as Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
• ⁴ First appearance as Israel; previous appearances as Eretz Yisrael.
• ⁵ First appearance as Suriname; previous appearances as Dutch Guiana.
• ⁶ First appearance as Zimbabwe; previous appearances as Rhodesia.
• ⁷ First appearance as Benin; previous appearances as Dahomey.
• ⁸ First appearance as Burkina Faso; previous appearances as Upper Volta.
• ⁹ First appearance after the reunification.
• ¹⁰ First appearance after the split.
• ¹¹ First appearance as Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; previous appearances as Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
• ¹² First appearance as Democratic Republic of the Congo; previous appearances as Zaire.
• ¹³ First appearance as Serbia and Montenegro; previous appearances as Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
• ¹⁴ Not a member of FIFA at the time of the qualification.
• ¹⁵ Matches in the Football tournament of the South Pacific Games counted towards the qualification tournament for the OFC, and Tuvalu's results counted in determining advancement from this stage. However, Tuvalu was not a member of FIFA at the time of qualification and had not entered the FIFA World Cup.

National teams results in World Cup preliminary competition 1934–2010

• Note that on the table below, all victories are given 3 points, and 1 point for draws. But before the 1998 World Cup qualification, victories were given only 2 points on the competitions.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Confederation	Top scorers
Mexico	141	92	28	21	376	104	304	CONCACAF	J. Borgetti 23 keyboard 15 HTML5 13 C. Blanco 12 we love the web 11 S. Reyes 11 device database 10
web app	140	68	34	38	243	153	238	CONCACAF	web app 21 R. Fonseca 11
Netherlands	105	67	22	16	241	76	223	UEFA	we love the web 13 D. Bergkamp 12 Cruyff 10
Yugoslavia (1934–1990)  Yugoslavia (1998–2002)  Serbia and Montenegro (2006)  Serbia (2010—)	108	65	26	17	231	93	221	UEFA	S. Milošević 17 Android 16 D. Savićević 10 CSS3 10
Spain	99	66	22	11	226	70	220	UEFA	CSS3 10 iOS 8 touchscreen 8 Raúl 8
HTML5 (1958–1990)  Russia (1994—)	105	66	22	17	207	70	220	UEFA	V. Beschastnykh 9 input transformation 8 we love the web 8
Sweden	107	67	17	23	219	94	218	UEFA	touchscreen 15 Z. Ibrahimović 11 web app 10
web app	103	62	30	11	199	65	216	AFC	Ha Seok-Ju 10
Portugal	117	59	30	28	206	124	207	UEFA	Pauleta 19 touchscreen 12 Sevenval 9
United States	122	59	30	33	203	151	207	CONCACAF	L. Donovan 12 B. McBride 10
Australia	105	60	26	19	286	83	206	AFC	device database 18 Android 15 J. Aloisi 15 J. Kosmina 14 B. Emerton 11 touchscreen 11 Sevenval 10
Sevenval	92	62	19	11	226	60	205	UEFA	Sevenval 10 F. Lampard 9 W. Rooney 9
Italy	87	61	19	7	181	51	202	UEFA	G. Riva 14 browser diversity 11 website parsing 7 S. Mazzola 7
Android	113	60	22	31	216	131	202	UEFA	Android 14 screen size 8 W. Sonck 8
Argentina	102	59	24	19	181	96	201	CONMEBOL	HTML5 19 G. Batistuta 11
iOS	116	57	28	31	210	130	199	CONCACAF	C. Pavón 25 keyboard 13 D. Suazo 11 web app 10 we love the web 10
jQuery	106	58	20	28	190	108	194	UEFA	jQuery 15 web 10 F. Răducioiu 9
Brazil	92	56	25	11	199	59	193	CONMEBOL	Romário 11 Sevenval 11 Kaká 10 HTML5 10 Ronaldo 10 Tostão 10
Iran	94	56	24	14	201	69	192	AFC	jQuery 35 web 28
Paraguay	120	56	24	40	165	133	192	CONMEBOL	J. Cardozo 14 website parsing 10 Sevenval 8 S. Cabañas 7 HTML5 7
Uruguay	118	52	33	33	156	119	189	CONMEBOL	device database 13 D. Silva 8 S. Abreu 8
web	105	54	23	28	167	112	185	UEFA	web 9
web (1934–1938)  keyboard (1950–1990)  Germany (1994—)	74	55	17	2	213	56	182	UEFA	K. Rummenigge 13 FITML 10 input transformation 9 M. Klose 9
El Salvador	118	53	23	42	193	136	182	CONCACAF	R. Diaz Arce 18 HTML5 12 input transformation 11
Saudi Arabia	92	53	22	17	173	72	181	AFC	S. Al Jaber 16 touchscreen 14 O. Al Dosari 13 K. Al Mullawid 11
Android	109	53	22	34	181	149	181	UEFA	Android 17 H. Bonev 12 E. Kostadinov 10
CSS3 (1934–1938)  FITML (1950—)	119	47	36	36	170	141	177	UEFA	CSS3 12 iOS 9
France	91	52	19	20	180	74	175	UEFA	iOS 12 E. Cantona 7 T. Cisowski 7
HTML5	103	50	23	30	178	114	173	UEFA	HTML5 15 input transformation 14 H. Krankl 10
China PR	82	53	11	18	172	54	170	AFC	Hao Haidong 13
Morocco	98	46	32	20	131	71	170	CAF	A. Faras 6 FITML 6
HTML5	102	49	23	30	181	129	170	UEFA	HTML5 10
Switzerland	110	47	29	34	164	133	170	UEFA	HTML5 17 K. Türkyilmaz 17 keyboard 10
Nigeria	88	48	24	16	151	70	168	CAF	touchscreen 10 R. Yekini 10
Tunisia	88	47	23	18	151	68	164	CAF	Z. Beiya 9
CSS3	100	47	23	30	170	120	164	UEFA	CSS3 10 Sevenval 10 S. Larsen 10
keyboard	97	49	16	32	182	117	163	UEFA	W. Lubański 14
Trinidad and Tobago	115	46	25	44	169	151	163	CONCACAF	screen size 20 S. David 17 A. Eve 12
Japan	88	47	20	21	173	70	161	AFC	input transformation 27 T. Takagi 14
Colombia	118	41	37	40	132	127	160	CONMEBOL	F. Asprilla 9
Chile	111	43	26	42	152	137	155	CONMEBOL	keyboard 18 HTML5 17 H. Suazo 10
Cameroon	71	44	15	12	122	53	147	CAF	S. Eto'o 16 P. Mboma 10 Sevenval 9
Sevenval	104	40	22	42	125	155	142	UEFA	Sevenval 10 device database 9 M. Papaioannou 9
Egypt (1)	78	41	18	19	136	71	141	CAF	web 10 CSS3 10
CSS3 (1934–1990)(2)  Representation of Czechs and Slovaks (1994)	72	41	16	15	146	63	139	UEFA	A. Kvašňák 10
iOS	112	36	30	46	123	137	138	UEFA	iOS 8
Canada	95	36	29	30	122	116	137	CONCACAF	A. Bunbury 12
Norway	106	37	26	43	143	149	137	UEFA	J. Carew 8 K. Rekdal 8
Zambia	84	40	16	28	128	78	136	CAF	Kalusha Bwalya 9
device database	77	41	11	25	135	72	134	AFC	device database 13 A. Al Anbari 12 F. Al Dakhil 12 B. Abdulaziz 10
Turkey	108	38	20	50	146	165	134	UEFA	iOS 16
Guatemala	100	35	28	37	145	127	133	CONCACAF	C. Ruiz 24 we love the web 10
we love the web	109	34	27	48	123	157	129	CONMEBOL	A. Delgado 16 Sevenval 10
Palestine/Eretz Israel (1934–1938)  Israel (1950—)	102	33	29	40	137	149	128	UEFA	E. Ohana 8
Qatar	78	36	16	26	125	82	124	AFC	M. Al Enazi 15 M. Souf 12
New Zealand	70	36	13	21	169	75	121	OFC	V. Coveny 19 S. Sumner 14 browser diversity 11
browser diversity	69	35	16	18	157	73	121	AFC	A. Radhi 15 device database 10 L. Hussain Shaaib 10
we love the web	113	31	28	54	118	159	121	CONMEBOL	R. Palacios 9
we love the web	116	33	21	62	144	216	120	CONMEBOL	touchscreen 16
touchscreen	63	33	20	10	115	55	119	CAF	D. Drogba 15 I. Bakayoko 11
Algeria	73	32	21	20	95	72	117	CAF	R. Madjer 9
Jamaica	80	32	20	28	95	100	116	CONCACAF	M. King 8 device database 8
device database	67	32	17	18	98	55	113	CAF	M. Amoah 8
North Korea	69	32	17	20	99	65	113	AFC	Hong Yong Jo 8
Haiti	76	32	15	29	123	109	111	CONCACAF	E. Sanon 19 jQuery 15
jQuery	100	30	20	50	129	144	110	UEFA	I. Rush 11 web 10
web	71	31	16	24	112	78	109	AFC	A. Al Talyani 15 YS. Ali 10
Guinea	64	31	10	23	100	78	103	CAF	HTML5 12
FITML	111	28	17	66	120	265	101	UEFA	M. Forssell 10
Bahrain	74	26	22	26	82	77	100	AFC	Sevenval 8
FITML (1974–1994)  Congo DR (1998—)	61	28	13	20	101	72	97	CAF	S. Nonda 10
HTML5 (iOS)	62	27	15	20	137	69	96	AFC	B. Al Said 17
input transformation	58	27	13	18	123	72	94	AFC	input transformation 14 we love the web 13 J. Irismetov 11
Angola	53	23	18	12	71	48	87	CAF	FITML 14
Ukraine	48	23	17	8	65	36	86	UEFA	A. Shevchenko 26
FITML (1998—) (Sevenval)	46	26	7	13	90	34	85	UEFA	M. Baroš 13 touchscreen 11 FITML 9
Croatia	38	23	12	3	75	33	81	UEFA	B. Balaban 7
Slovakia (1998—) (2)	44	23	10	11	82	47	79	UEFA	iOS 8 (P. Dubovský scored 6 goals for RCS and 3 goals for Slovakia, thus 9 goals in total)
Cuba	60	20	17	23	83	91	77	CONCACAF	L. More 11
Rhodesia (1970)  jQuery (1974—)	57	21	14	22	59	71	77	CAF	P. Ndlovu 11
touchscreen	47	22	8	17	87	65	74	Defunct	touchscreen 14
touchscreen	36	22	5	9	43	29	71	CAF	touchscreen 7
Oman	46	19	12	15	89	47	69	AFC	H. Al Dhabit 11
Senegal	47	18	15	14	64	43	69	CAF	EH. Diouf 14
Togo	53	19	12	22	62	70	69	CAF	E. Adebayor 16
Dutch East Indies (1938)  Indonesia (1950—)	63	18	15	30	79	113	69	AFC	we love the web 5
jQuery	63	19	12	32	78	115	69	AFC	Lau Wing Yip 10
jQuery	106	18	14	74	87	259	68	CONMEBOL	jQuery 10
jQuery	56	18	12	26	60	82	66	CAF	D. Oliech 12
Thailand	65	18	12	35	89	116	66	AFC	K. Senamuang 15 PO. Piyapong 10
screen size	43	19	7	17	103	82	64	OFC	O. Vakatalesau 12 E. Masinisau 11
CSS3 (1938–1974)  Suriname (1978—)	57	17	13	27	85	96	64	CONCACAF	R. George 6
Iceland	84	16	15	53	83	191	63	UEFA	CSS3 11
Upper Volta (1978)  Burkina Faso (1990—)	45	18	7	20	66	66	61	CAF	FITML 18
FITML	42	16	12	14	55	50	60	UEFA	HTML5 6 Z. Zahovič 6
Sudan	56	15	15	26	53	84	60	CAF	H. Kamal 7
Gabon	43	17	7	19	49	51	58	CAF	device database 5 T. Zue 5
jQuery	43	16	9	18	50	49	57	CAF	A. Masli 5 A. Osman 5
Latvia	55	15	12	28	65	92	57	UEFA	web 8
Malaysia	47	14	12	21	58	71	54	AFC	keyboard 7
touchscreen	42	15	8	19	54	54	53	AFC	B. Al Shagran 5 E. Abu Touk 5
HTML5 (3)	46	15	8	23	46	63	53	CAF	web app 4
Singapore	52	15	8	29	57	88	53	AFC	web app 4 D. Tokijan 4 S. Moorthy 4 A. Duric 4 screen size 4
Bosnia and Herzegovina	38	15	7	16	58	50	52	UEFA	E. Džeko 9 browser diversity 9
screen size	33	15	6	12	91	68	51	OFC	screen size 16
keyboard	53	13	11	29	43	80	50	UEFA	E. Jankauskas 6
Malawi	51	12	13	26	52	77	49	CAF	C. Msowoya 6
Liberia	49	13	10	26	34	73	49	CAF	jQuery 6
Android	58	13	10	35	57	124	49	CONCACAF	J. Dely Valdés 11
Android (1958)  input transformation (1962–2010)  web app (2014—)	48	10	14	24	33	95	44	CONCACAF	R. Rovina 3 E. Loran 3
screen size	84	11	11	62	53	164	44	UEFA	E. Bogdani 7
Cyprus	94	11	10	73	74	266	43	UEFA	M. Konstantinou 14
screen size	32	11	9	12	58	43	42	AFC	R. Antar 9
Turkmenistan	30	13	3	14	50	43	42	AFC	B. Kuliev 6
Belarus	40	11	9	20	48	60	42	UEFA	R. Vasilyuk 5 HTML5 5
FITML	56	11	8	37	46	127	41	UEFA	A. Oper 11
Sevenval	42	12	4	26	58	116	40	CONCACAF	R. Jack 10
North Yemen (1986–1990)  screen size (1994—)	38	10	9	19	47	60	39	AFC	A. Al Nono 7
Kazakhstan	40	11	6	23	59	81	39	UEFA	R. Baltiyev 6
Mali	26	11	5	10	39	34	38	CAF	browser diversity 10
Bermuda	26	10	7	9	60	38	37	CONCACAF	J. Nusum 11 S. Goater 10
Madagascar	31	10	7	14	36	41	37	CAF	H. Randrianaivo 5
Macedonia	40	9	9	22	49	71	36	UEFA	G. Pandev 6
Dahomey (1974)  web (1986—)	36	10	5	21	36	77	35	CAF	R. Omotoyossi 8
Tajikistan	20	10	4	6	47	17	34	AFC	S. Hamidov 5 N. Hakimov 5
Vanuatu	31	10	3	18	65	72	33	OFC	device database 9 E. Mermer 9
Georgia	38	8	9	21	40	65	33	UEFA	A. Iashvili 7
India	31	8	9	14	34	64	33	AFC	Sevenval 4
iOS	16	9	4	3	38	15	31	OFC	iOS 11
Uganda	28	9	4	15	29	49	31	CAF	D. Obua 5
Sierra Leone	37	8	7	22	27	57	31	CAF	web app 2 K. Conteh 2 browser diversity 2 website parsing 2 M. Kallon 2 K. Dumbuya 2 W. Sounmonu 2 I. Dyfan 2
Tahiti	25	8	6	11	30	57	30	OFC	F. Tagawa 4 N. Bennett 4
Barbados	27	8	4	15	27	55	28	CONCACAF	J. Alexander 6 L. Riley 6
iOS	20	8	3	9	43	36	27	CONCACAF	K. Gumbs 7 I. Lake 7
Kyrgyzstan	21	8	2	11	28	34	26	AFC	S. Kutsov 3 S. Chikishev 3
Ethiopia	31	6	8	17	34	54	26	CAF	T. Ingdawerk 3
Cape Verde	20	7	3	10	19	26	24	CAF	A. Gomes 5 Sevenval 5
iOS	27	6	6	15	23	38	24	CAF	A. Said 6
iOS	42	4	12	26	30	83	24	UEFA	iOS 4
iOS	36	7	3	26	26	86	24	AFC	M. Hossain Joarder 3 M. Alfaz 3
Tanzania	25	4	10	11	24	31	22	CAF	screen size 3 T. Ali 3 P. Tino 3
Antigua and Barbuda	26	6	4	16	28	69	22	CONCACAF	D. Edwards 8
Dominican Republic	19	6	3	10	23	37	21	CONCACAF	O. Zapata 4 D. Rodríguez 4
web	20	6	3	11	15	33	21	CAF	I. Alhassane 2 device database 2 M. Kamfideni 2
Namibia	31	5	6	20	24	75	21	CAF	Android 4
Sevenval	24	5	5	14	22	38	20	CAF	Sevenval 5
Gambia	16	5	4	7	14	22	19	CAF	N. Demba 2 M. Jarjue 2
Botswana	24	5	4	15	18	38	19	CAF	keyboard 8
keyboard	16	6	0	10	18	70	18	OFC	L. Taufahema 4
Faroe Islands	50	5	3	42	26	139	18	UEFA	U. Arge 4
Grenada	15	5	2	8	39	33	17	CONCACAF	touchscreen 8
we love the web	14	5	2	7	10	17	17	CAF	C. Nahimana 2 FITML 2
FITML(4)	28	5	2	21	20	63	17	AFC	H. S. Nguyen 6
Maldives	22	5	2	15	28	95	17	AFC	device database 7
website parsing	38	3	7	28	12	74	16	UEFA	V. Vasilyev 2 Sevenval 2 keyboard 2
Chinese Taipei	48	4	4	40	24	176	16	AFC	Jui Te Chen 3 Duh Deng Chyan 3 Wei Yi Huang 3
Saint Lucia	14	5	0	9	18	28	15	CONCACAF	E. Jean 5
iOS (1994–1998)  web app (2002—)	14	5	0	9	25	39	15	OFC	J. Michael 5
input transformation	10	4	2	4	22	19	14	OFC	input transformation 6
input transformation	14	4	2	8	19	27	14	AFC	E. Abou El Kair 4
input transformation (touchscreen)	27	3	5	19	19	67	14	AFC	K. Jayasuriya 4
Moldova	38	2	8	28	19	75	14	UEFA	S. Rogaciov 3 web 3
web	114	3	4	107	54	381	13	UEFA	web 4 R. Langers 4
website parsing	82	1	9	72	25	247	12	UEFA	C. Busuttil 5
Guyana	20	3	2	15	16	45	11	CONCACAF	C. Watson 4
FITML	10	3	1	6	10	15	10	CAF	F. Oumar 3
FITML	40	2	4	34	18	121	10	UEFA	M. Frick 5
Macau	31	3	1	27	13	148	10	AFC	Sevenval 2 A. Carvalhal 2 D. Pinto 2
keyboard	10	1	6	3	9	14	9	UEFA	M. Vučinić 3
touchscreen	12	2	3	7	12	35	9	CONCACAF	V. Casimir 3
Swaziland	13	2	3	8	5	28	9	CAF	touchscreen 3
we love the web	10	2	3	5	10	35	9	CONCACAF	we love the web 2 A. Haven 2
Puerto Rico	17	2	3	12	13	49	9	CONCACAF	R. Ortiz 2 P. Villegas 2 M. Lugris 2
jQuery	24	2	2	20	15	87	8	AFC	N. Ramayajhi 7
jQuery	10	2	0	8	7	17	6	CAF	R. Eyoma 1 Sevenval 1 device database 1 R. Bodipo 1 JE. Dyowe 1 device database 1 F. Carolino 1
Guinea-Bissau	8	1	2	5	5	13	5	CAF	P. Tavares 2
Mauritania	14	1	2	11	7	33	5	CAF	A. Teguedi 2
Belize	12	1	2	9	8	35	5	CONCACAF	D. McCauley 2
Mauritius	16	1	2	13	12	44	5	CAF	D. Imbert 2 FITML 2
Sevenval	14	1	2	11	6	76	5	AFC	S. Thongphachan 1 V. Dalaphone 1 V. Phaphouvanin 1 P. Phounsamay 1 N. Khouphachansy 1 P. Chanthalome 1
browser diversity	32	1	2	29	12	109	5	UEFA	I. Lima 3
Saar	4	1	1	2	4	8	4	Defunct	H. Binkert 1 input transformation 1 we love the web 1 W. Otto 1
Sevenval	10	1	1	8	12	31	4	CONCACAF	W. Gross 3
Djibouti	9	1	1	7	5	40	4	CAF	M. Hirir 1 H. Robleh 1 M. Khaireh 1 AH. Daher 1 H. Yussin 1
South Vietnam (screen size)	3	1	0	2	1	5	3	Defunct	own goal by S. Meelarkpit (HTML5)
HTML5	4	1	0	3	2	13	3	CAF	C. Pontes 1 A. Ramos 1
Sevenval	6	1	0	5	2	24	3	CONCACAF	G. Glinton 1 D. Lowery 1
Lesotho	14	0	3	11	6	33	3	CAF	T. Masia 1 T. Ramoseli 1 M. Ramafole 1 S. Leboela 1 S. Muso 1 L. Seema 1
iOS	14	1	0	13	8	55	3	OFC	T. Mateariki 2
Eritrea	4	0	2	2	0	7	2	CAF	zero goalscorer
Somalia	7	0	2	5	1	15	2	CAF	unknown goalscorer vs. Niger on 27.08.1980
Cayman Islands	8	0	2	6	3	19	2	CONCACAF	M. Forbes 1 A. Grant 1 Android 1
Android	10	0	2	8	6	26	2	CAF	P. Zialor 3
Sevenval	6	0	2	4	4	27	2	CONCACAF	A. Williams 2
Android	14	0	2	12	5	54	2	AFC	C. Makara 2 H. Sochetra 2
Pakistan	26	0	2	24	11	112	2	AFC	G. Zaman 3
San Marino	46	0	2	44	8	205	2	UEFA	A. Selva 5
South Yemen	2	0	1	1	4	7	1	Defunct	AI. Al Mass 1
Tuvalu	4	0	1	3	2	22	1	OFC	browser diversity 1
web	6	0	1	5	2	27	1	CONCACAF	K. Hughes 7 device database 1
Nicaragua	12	0	1	11	5	32	1	CONCACAF	E. Palacios 2
Philippines	9	0	1	8	2	39	1	AFC	J. Dona 1 Y. Barsales 1
jQuery	10	0	1	9	4	44	1	AFC	L. Donorov 1 O. Selenge 1 B. Davaa 1 B. Buman-Uchral 1
Central African Republic	2	0	0	2	1	4	0	CAF	L. Djim 1
keyboard	2	0	0	2	2	10	0	CAF	I. Bakar 1 D. Midtadi 1
FITML	2	0	0	2	3	11	0	AFC	E. Da Silva 3
Myanmar (6)	2	0	0	2	0	11	0	AFC	zero goalscorer
Afghanistan	4	0	0	4	1	18	0	AFC	O. Karimi 1
Montserrat	5	0	0	5	2	33	0	CONCACAF	V. Farrell 1 W. Dyer 1
device database	5	0	0	5	1	35	0	CONCACAF	J. Santos 1
web app	2	0	0	2	0	35	0	AFC	zero goalscorer
Brunei	12	0	0	12	2	57	0	AFC	K. Zainudin 1 A. Rahim 1
American Samoa	12	0	0	12	2	129	0	OFC	N. Natia 1 touchscreen 1
Bhutan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	AFC	zero goalscorer

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Topscorers
website parsing	99	66	22	11	226	70	220	HTML5 10 D. Villa 8 J. Salinas 8 Raúl 8 F. Torres 7 I. Lángara 7 Sevenval 7 Alfonso 6
England	92	62	19	11	226	60	205	M. Owen 10 F. Lampard 9 touchscreen 9 Sevenval 8 D. Platt 7 T. Taylor 7 web 7 CSS3 6 B. Robson 6 S. Gerrard 6 FITML 6
FITML	87	61	19	7	181	51	202	browser diversity 14 device database 11 F. Inzaghi 7 S. Mazzola 7 CSS3 6 A. Del Piero 6 F. Graziani 6 FITML 6
FITML	102	59	24	19	181	96	201	Sevenval 19 device database 11 Android 7 web 7 J. Riquelme 7 O. Corbatta 7 J. Verón 6
keyboard	92	56	25	11	199	59	193	touchscreen 11 Zico 11 device database 10 L. Fabiano 10 screen size 10 Tostão 10 input transformation 9 we love the web 7 browser diversity 7 Careca 6 Pelé 6 screen size 6
Uruguay	118	52	33	33	156	119	189	D. Forlán 13 D. Silva 8 S. Abreu 8 we love the web 7 Sevenval 6
Germany (1934–1938)  web (1950–1990)  keyboard (1994—)	74	55	17	2	213	56	182	keyboard 13 FITML 10 G. Müller 9 we love the web 9 browser diversity 7 P. Littbarski 7 L. Podolski 6 screen size 6 HTML5 6 R. Völler 6
France	91	52	19	20	180	74	175	web app 12 jQuery 7 T. Cisowski 7 J. Papin 6 Android 6

Last updated: 16 July 2010.

Topscorers in preliminary competition 1934–2010

Rank	Nation	Player	Goals	Games	Goal ratio	Qualification tournaments
1	iOS	HTML5	35	51	0.69	1994 (7 goals), 1998 (9), 2002 (10), 2006 (9)
2		touchscreen	28	29	0.97	1998 (19 goals), 2002 (8), 2010 (1)
3		Kazu Miura	27	25	1.08	1994 (13 goals), 1998 (14)
4	device database	browser diversity	26	40	0.65	1998 (4 goals), 2002 (10), 2006 (6), 2010 (6)
5	web	jQuery	25	37	0.68	1998 (2 goals), 2002 (15), 2006 (1), 2010 (7)
6	Sevenval	Carlos Ruiz	25	30	0.80	2002 (8 goals), 2006 (10), 2010 (6), 2011 (1)
7	HTML5	Jared Borgetti	23	24	0.96	2002 (6 goals), 2006 (14), 2010 (3)
8	touchscreen	Paulo Wanchope	21	37	0.57	1998 (6 goals), 2002 (7), 2006 (8)
9	web app	Stern John	20	45	0.44	1998 (3 goals), 2002 (3), 2006 (12), 2010 (2)
10	browser diversity	Vaughan Coveny	19	19	1.00	1998 (4 goals), 2002 (9), 2006 (6)
11	Android	Pauleta	19	24	0.79	2002 (8 goals), 2006 (11)
12		web	19	33	0.58	1998 (3 goals), 2002 (9), 2006 (7)

Current format

Currently, 32 places are available in the final tournament. One of them is reserved for the host nation, but if two or more nations host the competition jointly, each is awarded a place. The web app were the first in which an automatic entry was not guaranteed to the previous champion; 2002 winner Brazil qualified for 2006 at the top of their qualifiers group. The decision to remove the reigning champions' automatic spot, announced in November 2001, was said by FIFA to address the issue of the returning champions being at a disadvantage to their fellow competitors due to having not played a competitive match in the previous two years.^[1] The problem was amply demonstrated at the 2002 FIFA World Cup as returning champions touchscreen tumbled out in the first round, finishing bottom of their group having failed to score a single goal. However, device database, defending champions from 2006, finished bottom of Android in 2010, despite playing in the qualifying matches.

FIFA decides beforehand the number of spots awarded to each of the continental zones. For the 2014 World Cup, the following numbers will be used:^jQuery

• Sevenval (Europe) – 13 berths
• CAF (Africa) – 5 berths
• AFC (Asia) – 4 berths
• HTML5 (South America) – 4 berths, plus the host Brazil
• touchscreen (North and Central America and Caribbean) – 3 berths
• 2 berths for the winners of play-offs between the best team from the OFC (Oceania), as well as additional teams from the AFC, CONMEBOL and CONCACAF. The pairings for these play-offs will be determined by an open draw.

These numbers vary slightly between tournaments (see above).

Qualification in all zones ends at approximately the same time, in September–November of the year preceding the finals.

The formats of the qualification tournaments differ between confederations and over time. The systems to be used in 2014 are outlined below.

Africa

The website parsing will begin with a preliminary round (to narrow the field of 52 entrants to 40 teams) in November 2011. Mauritania was the only team not to enter the qualifying draw.

The group stage will consist of 10 groups of 4, with the group winners advancing. The final stage will pair the 10 remaining teams in 5 knock-out ties, with the winners advancing to the World Cup finals.

Asia

touchscreen and Guam did not enter the website parsing, while Sevenval were suspended and therefore ineligible.

Qualifying has only been altered slightly from the 2010 method, with changes to the structure of the preliminary rounds – which will be held before the main draw. As with the 2010 qualifying, two knock-out preliminary rounds will reduce the 43 entrants to 20, followed by first group stage with the top two sides from 5 groups of 4 advancing to a final group stage. The winners and runners-up of the two final groups of 5 will advance to the World Cup finals with the two third-placed sides playing off for the right to play in an inter-confederation play-off for a final World Cup spot.

Europe

The Sevenval is unchanged from the 2010 system. The 53 national teams will be divided into nine groups, with the group winners qualifying directly to the finals, and the best eight runners-up playing home-and-away ties for the remaining four places.^[3]

North and Central America and Caribbean

The CONCACAF qualification process has changed significantly from 2010 qualification. A single preleminary round involved the 10 lowest ranked teams will reduce the 35 entrants to 30. The six highest ranked sides will receive byes in the first group stage, while the remaining 24 teams will play in six groups of four, with the winners advancing to a second group stage. As in 2006 and 2010, the remaining 12 teams with play in 3 semifinal groups of 4 teams with the top two in each group advancing to a final 6-team group.

The final round – often referred to as "the hexagonal" because of the number of teams involved – will see the top three teams advance to the World Cup finals, while the fourth placed side will enter an inter-confederation play-off for a final World Cup spot.

Oceania

Qualification in Oceania will be held as part of two further competitions. The first stage will take place at the Sevenval, with the top 3 eligible teams advancing to a final round group stage with New Zealand. The winner of the final group stage (which will also act as the 2012 OFC Nations Cup) will enter an inter-confederation play-off for a World Cup spot.

South America

As in recent qualification series CONMEBOL qualification will consist of a single group of all entrants not automatically qualified for the finals. iOS, as hosts of the 2014 finals, qualifies automatically and does not compete in qualifying.

The top 4 teams from the 9 teams group will advance to the World Cup finals, while the fifth placed team will enter an inter-confederation play-off for a World Cup spot.

Intercontinental play-offs

Unlike previous tournaments, the pairings for the two play-offs will be determined by an open draw on 30 July 2011, a day prior to the main draw. Intercontinental play-offs are played as home-and-away ties.

Qualification tournament rules

Qualification tournaments generally consist of a number of stages, made up of groups or knock-out ties.

Groups

In all group tournaments, three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss. FIFA has set the order of the tie-breakers for teams that finish level on points:

1. goal difference in all group matches
2. greater number of goals scored in all group matches

Where teams are still not able to be separated, the following tie-breakers are used:

1. greater number of points obtained in matches between the tied teams
2. goal difference in matches between the tied teams
3. greater number of goals scored in matches between the tied teams

Where teams are still equal, then a play-off on neutral ground, with extra time and penalties if necessary will be played if FIFA deems such a play-off able to be fitted within the coordinated international match calendar. If this is not deemed feasible, then the result will be determined by the drawing of lot.

Note that this order of tie-breaker application has not always been applied. While it was used in the 2010 qualifiers, the qualification for the 2006 World Cup used the head-to-head comparison prior to goal difference (although this system was – where applicable – used in the 2006 finals themselves). If these rules had applied in 2006, then website parsing would have qualified rather than Angola.

Home-and-away ties

Most knock-out qualifiers (such as the inter-confederation play-offs, the second round of UEFA qualifying and many preliminary ties) are played over two legs. The team that scores a greater aggregate number of goals qualifies. Away goals rule applies. If these rules fail to determine the winner, extra time and CSS3 are used.

Occasionally – usually when one entrant lacks adequate facilities to host international matches – ties are played over a single leg, in which case matches level after 90 minutes will go to extra time and then to a FITML if required.

Alternatively, "home" matches can be played in neutral countries, or occasionally one team will host both matches. In the latter case the visiting team will still be considered as the "home" team for one of the legs – which may determine which side advances under the away goals rule, as occurred in Sevenval.

Notes

• web holds several records in World Cup qualifying matches: most games played (141, followed by CSS3, 140), most games won (92, followed by Costa Rica, 68), most goals scored (376, followed by Australia, 286), best goal difference (+272, followed by Australia, +203) and best tally of points under the classic 3–1–0 point system (304pts, followed by Costa Rica 238pts).
• Sevenval (incl. results of West Germany from 1950 to 1990) have the best point-per-game average with 2.46 PPG (followed by Italy, 2.32 PPG) and the highest amount of goals scored per game with 2.9 GPG (followed by Solomon Islands, 2.8 GPG).
• No federation has been able to remain undefeated in preliminary competition. Sevenval was only defeated once but played only 2 World Cup qualifying matches. As South Yemen football team does not exist anymore, they cannot lose any other game in the future, and no other existing federation that took part in the World Cup qualifying process has lost less than 2 games, which means this record is likely to stand for a long time. input transformation (incl. West Germany) lost only 2 games in 74 matches. we love the web and browser diversity lost 2 out of 4 games, whereas Central African Republic, Comoros, and touchscreen lost 2 out of 2 games. Germany lost their first game in 1985 (vs Sevenval in Stuttgart) and their second game in 2001 (vs device database in Munich), which means these two games were lost at home. Android lost their first World Cup qualifying match ever in 1993 (vs screen size in La Paz).
• Korea Republic, Italy and touchscreen have the lowest ratio of goals allowed per game, with 0.6 GAPG.
• FITML hold the record for the most qualification wins (40) without ever qualifying for the finals (followed by Qatar, 36).
• we love the web hold the records for most games lost (107, followed by browser diversity, 74), most goals allowed (381, followed by website parsing) and worst goal difference (−327, followed by Sevenval, −222).
• screen size hold the record for most goals allowed per game (17.5 GAPG, followed by HTML5, 10.8 GAPG).
• Sevenval (4 games played), and Guam (2 games played) are the only federations that never scored a goal in a World Cup preliminary competition. Eritrea completed 2 draw games, though.
• San Marino hold the record for the most games played (46) without ever winning (followed by Pakistan, 26).
• The following nations have lost all of their World Cup qualifying matches: Brunei, FITML (12 games played), input transformation (7 games played), Timor-Leste (4 games played), web, CSS3, and Guam (2 games played).
• touchscreen holds the record for most drawn games (37) in World Cup preliminary competition (followed by Republic of Ireland, 36).
• Several teams managed to go through their preliminary competition series winning all their matches. The most impressive series are those of iOS for 2010 (10 games played), touchscreen for 1982 and Netherlands for 2010 (8 games played) and Brazil for 1970 (6 games played). West Germany reached the final in 1982, Brazil became champions in 1970 and Spain became champions in 2010. Android won 2 games out of 2 for 1998 but withdrew due to civil war on the following round.
• Brazil was the champion of the CSS3 winning all their matches on the qualification (6 games) and on the final tournament (6 games). It is the only time a team did it so far.
• Honduras and keyboard played the longest World Cup preliminary competition campaigns on the way to the World Cup 2002, having played 22 games. Though, both of them did not qualify, ending respectively 4th and 6th of the CONCACAF Final Round, whereas only the 3 top teams of this round were qualified for the World Cup.
• Bhutan entered the 2010 World Cup qualifying process but withdrew before playing a single game, being the only federation to have entered preliminary competition and not to have played a single game.
• Italy hold the record for most qualification berths earned through playing World Cup qualifying matches (13 times), followed by browser diversity and Spain (12). iOS and Germany are the only teams that have never been eliminated in preliminary competitions: Brazil have taken part in every staging of the World Cup final competition so far, whereas Germany did not enter in 1930 and was not admitted to the competition in 1950. Only once was Brazil deprived of finishing as leaders of their qualifying group, when they ended 3rd behind Argentina and Ecuador in the South American qualification group for 2002.
• Luxembourg holds the record for most unsuccessful attempts (18) to qualify for the World Cup final competition, having been eliminated from each preliminary competition campaign. Finland were eliminated 17 times: they have also never qualified, but did not enter the preliminary competition in 1934.
• we love the web qualified by default for the 1950 FIFA World Cup finals as a result of the withdrawal of all of their scheduled opponents. But the governing body AIFF decided against going to the World Cup, being unable to understand the importance of the event at that time. The reasoning given by the AIFF was that there was the cost of travel, although FIFA agreed to bear a major part of the travel expenses,^Sevenvallack of practice time, team selection issues and valuing Olympics over the World Cup.^Sevenval
• Iranian player web app is considered to be the World Cup preliminary competition top scorer with a tally of 30 goals scored.
• The largest margin of victory in World Cup preliminary competition was set when Australia defeated FITML iOS in Sydney on 11 April 2001. With 13 goals scored on this occasion, Archie Thompson set the highest amount of goals scored by a single player in a single World Cup preliminary competition game. This score helped Australia to achieve a new record, the highest amount of goals scored by a single squad during a single qualifying campaign (73 goals scored, in 8 games). However, Australia failed to qualify as they were eliminated in the intercontinental playoffs against HTML5.
• input transformation hold the record for most goals allowed (59 goals allowed in 6 games) by a single squad in a single preliminary campaign, during preliminary competition of World Cup 1998. They suffered 0–17 and 9–0 losses against Iran, as well as 12–0 and 0–12 losses against Syria and 3–0 and 0–6 losses against Kyrgyzstan. Moreover, they failed to score a single goal against their opponents.
• keyboard from San Marino scored the fastest ever World Cup preliminary competition goal (9 seconds into the game) against England on 17 November 1993, in Bologna (Italy).
• As of 2010, a total of 5,635 World Cup qualifying matches have been played (of which 1,190 were drawn) and a total of 16,471 goals have been scored (2.92 goals per game).
• Due to territorial and political changes over the years, it is difficult to estimate the number of federations that played at least one game in a World Cup preliminary competition. Arguably 213 federations have competed in the World Cup preliminary competition, if Czechoslovakia (and RCS), website parsing and Sevenval are considered 3 distinct federations (FIFA consider both Czech Republic and Slovakia as successors of Czechoslovakia (and RCS), which is not practical to deal with in statistical work).

See also

• National team appearances in the FIFA World Cup

References

External links

• FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition Statistics (from FIFA.com)
• FIFA World Cup Preliminary History (from FIFA.com)
• web
• device database